Cataloging of Multimedia E-Journals

[Gerry Mckiernan]

               _Cataloging of Multimedia E-Journals_

   I recently searched the OCLC database for bibliographic records for each of the titles in my registry of multimedia electronic journals, M-Bed(sm). M-Bed(sm) is available at:

     http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/M-Bed.htm

Of the 41 titles currently listed, 34 had records. Of these, only five (5)  - less than 15% of those with records -  had a mention of the availability of a multimedia component in the record!! To say the least I was surprised and quite perplexed that a major component of such journals has been completely ignored in a vast majority of cases.

   I am further perplexed that while a number of records make note of the need for the Acrobat plug-in there is no mention of the other
plug-ins required for using the associated multimedia.

   From this brief survey, I've concluded that catalogers in general are not aware of the multimedia dimensions of such journals and that journals such as these would be difficult to identify due to the lack of standard and uniform description of the multimedia.

   This raises several issues, namely the current status of standard terminology within the cataloging community for such multimedia, the appropriate location with the catalog record (the five records which mentioned multimedia did so in the 516, 520, 538 MARC fields) and the appropriate General Material Designation (GMD)
for such 'publications' In this case, all had 'Computer file' as the
GMD. Would it be more appropriate to use 'Interactive Media'
as the GMD for multimedia e-journals? [This approach would be
an extension of  the _Guidelines for Bibliographic Description of Interactive Media_ published by the 
American Library Association in 1994 and authored
by the Interactive Multimedia Guidelines Review Task Force chaired by Laurel Jizba, now of Portland State University]

   I'd very much appreciate my colleagues thoughts and reactions to my observations and conclusions
regarding the cataloging of multimedia electronic e-journals (or any other issues that this posting may inspire regarding multimedia e-journals).

    As Always, Any and All comments, contributions, 
questions, queries, critiques, etc. etc. are Most Welcome!

/Gerry McKiernan
Theoretical Librarian 
Iowa State University 
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu