Quality Issues in Vendor-Provided E-Monograph Records

Abstract

As e-book batchloading workloads have increased, the quality of vendor-provided MARC records has emerged as a major concern for libraries. This paper discusses a study of record quality in e-monograph record sets undertaken at the University of Minnesota with the goal of improving and increasing the efficiency of preload editing processes. Through the systematic analysis of eighty-nine record sets from nineteen different providers, librarians identified the most common errors and the likely effect on access. They found that while some error types were very common, specific errors are often unique and complex, making devising a set of broadly applicable strategies to correct them difficult. Based on these results, the author identifies future challenges for maintaining quality in batchloaded record sets and suggests several possible directions for improving record quality.