WHSO-Project

World History of Science Online: Databases of Bibliographical and Archival Sources 

IUHPS/DHS

Document: Methodological Guidelines for the elaboration of bibliographical databases.

Elaborated by: Secretary General of the  DHS/ Commission on Bibliography and Documentation.

Annex: “Guidelines for History of Science and technology (HST) file at Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN)” (6 pages).

“Guidelines for History of Science and technology (HST) file at Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN)”.  

The Commission on Bibliography and Documentation of the DHS has elaborated a set of guidelines that were drawn up to advise contributors to the History of Science and Technology (HST) file supported by the Research Libraries Group (RLG). These guidelines are being considered as a starting point to develop the  guidelines for the “World History of Science Online: databases of archival and bibliographical sources” project.

Some considerations must be taken into account:

Guidelines for the History of Science and Technology (HST) file at Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN)  

            At its meeting in Liege in September, 1995, the Commission on Bibliography and Documentation recommended that the Executive Committee of the International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science endorse the History of Science and Technology file (HST) maintained by the Research Libraries Group (RLG), of Mountain View, California, as the base on which to develop an international database for the history of science, technology, and medicine.  RLG's HST file, distributed on the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN), at present includes the annual bibliographies published in Isis from 1975 and those published in Technology and Culture from 1987. Plans are to add other appropriate bibliographies, beginning with national bibliographies, such as the Bibliografia Italiana di Storia della Scienza produced by the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza in Florence, to be added early in 1997.

            The procedure for joining the international database can be initiated by applying to the subcommittee appointed by the Bibliography and Documentation Commission to review candidates (see below for contact person).  The subcommittee will decide upon the appropriateness of adding the file, based on such considerations as completeness of bibliographical description, uniqueness of the material to be added, consistency of publication of the bibliography, and the standards of the electronic format.  If approved by the subcommittee and Commission, the bibliography will be submitted to RLG for its review.  If approved by RLG, the applicant will then correspond directly with RLG to implement addition to the HST database.

            In order to make the bibliographies in the HST file as consistent as possible in terms of format and indexing, the Commission on Bibliography and Documentation has established guidelines to be followed by any group wishing to add its bibliography.  The guidelines are intended especially to assist new bibliographies in developing an electronic format that will be compatible with international standards.  Bibliographies with already established formats that are not consistent with these guidelines can be added to the HST file by means of RLG's conversion routines, providing that the necessary elements for a complete bibliogaphic record are present in consistent order. RLG's own requirements ("Resource file request and evaluation form") can be found in Appendix 1.

1.  Composition format.

            To be eligible for inclusion in the HST file, bibliographies must be compiled in a database management program that allows for a tagged field structure in which each important element of the bibliographical record is entered in separate fields, or is delimited by a consistent code.  The record format used by RLG for its databases is USMARC.  New bibliographies are encouraged to use USMARC format.  However, since USMARC is a detailed format designed to accomodate a wide variety of cataloging problems, much of the required structure is not essential for subjectrestricted bibliographies.  Therefore, a simplified structure based on USMARC is outlined in these guidelines.  RLIN's conversion routines will be able to translate this structure into a format similar to those records already in the HST file, but it is MANDATORY THAT THE STRUCTURE OF ELEMENTS WITHIN A CITATION REMAINS CONSISTENT, AND THAT THE DELIMITERS INDICATING SEPARATION OF FIELDS AND SUB-FIELDS REMAIN UNAMBIGUOUS AND UNCHANGING.  This is especially important when a field is divided into several subfields, such as Tag 5.

2.  Outline of field structure.

             Optional and required fields are listed here.  Optional fields (marked *) are those needed for the internal management and printing of the bibliography, but unnecessary for conversion to RLIN records.  Each field will be commented on in detail in part 3 of these guidelines.

                        Field tag          Name of field

                        0l            Record identification number

                        02            Document type

                        *03            Classification code

                        04            Author(s)

                        05            Title/subtitle

                        06            Imprint

                        07            Collation

                        08            Series name and number (for monographs)

                        09            Journal title (for articles)

                        10            Journal citation

                        11            Article in a book

                        *12            Abstract

                        *13            Author index

                        14            Subject index

                        15            Record status

3.  Field structure.

Tag 1.  Record identification number (mandatory)

            A sequential control number to record the input of records into the bibliography.  The number must remain unique to a particular citation.  Thus, the record number for a 1997 bibliography would begin with the prefix "97", a 1998 bibliogarphy with "98"  (97-01, 97-02, 98-01, 98-02).  This record number will be used by RLG to construct the permanent record number within the HST file, so that a record can be retrieved and replaced when correction to that record is necessary.  RLG will supply a permanent source code for each contributor; this code will appear as part of the record identification number.  It need not be supplied by the contributor of the record.

Tag 2.  Document type (mandatory)

            A letter code to describe the type of citation being entered.  This can be a useful code for the internal formatting of citations for printing the bibliography, and may be used in the HST file as a means of limiting a search.  Suggested codes (where B=book, M=Monograph, J=journal,  P=periodical, A=analytic)

                        Monograph (book)  B or M

                        Journal article   J or P

                        Article in a book  A

Tag 3.  Classification codes (optional; subdivided)

            A code internal to each bibliography that permits the bibliography to be printed in subject classified order.  The classification codes used are not specified and will vary from bibliography to bibliography.  The codes have significance for the HST file only if they are used also to provide subject terminology.  In that case, a thesaurus matching the codes to the subject terminology must be maintained and submitted to RLG (see appendix 1, number 11).

Tag 4.  Author(s)  (mandatory; subdivided)

            Include the author's full name, last name first.  Author's dates are not recommended, but if used they should be consistently enclosed in parentheses.  This field should be able to be subdivided, with each subdivision tagged, so multiple authors can be entered.  In the HST file, only the first author will appear as main entry; other authors's names will be listed in an "other authors" note in the display.

            4.1  Corporate authors (optional)

            For institutional publications the name of the institution should be used as author in this field, in the language of the institution, and in a standardized form, preferably  that recommended by the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition (AACR2).

            4.2  Conference proceedings (optional)

            For published conference proceedings the name of the conference should be used as author in this field, in the language of the conference's sponsor, or, if international, in English.  A standardized name should be used, preferably that recommended by AACR2.

Tag 5.  Title/subtitle  (mandatory; subdivided)

            Provide the full title, including, in the case of monographs, editors,  translators, and edition statement.  All elements, except in cases where transliteration is required, should be in the language of the title page.  The field should be divided into the following delimited subfields:

            5.1  Title

            5.2  Subtitle (dividing into title/subtitle is optional)

            5.3  Translation or transliteration of title (optional)

            5.4  Other information: Editors, translators, introductions, etc.

            5.5  Statement of edition

Abbreviations should be used only if they are used on the title page.  These guidelines do not establish a standard for entering diacritics, but whatever standard is adopted, it must be followed consistently.

Tag 6.  Imprint (mandatory; subdivided)

            Include the place of publication and publisher in the language of the title page, and the date of publication.  Since the date will be used to limit searches in the HST file, it is important that the date be in a subfield or be delimited consistently.

Tag 7.  Collation (mandatory; subdivided)

            7.1  Include number of volumes

            7.2  Include pagination

            7.3  Include indication of illustrations, maps, diagrams

            7.4  Include indication of bibliographies, bibliographical notes, indexes

Tag 8.  Monographic series name and number (mandatory; subdivided)

            Provide full series name, including name of institution if an institutional series, and the number in the series.  The series number should be either in a subfield or delimited from the series title.

Tag 9.  Journal title (mandatory)

            Give the full title of the journal the citation is in.  If abbreviations are used, they must be used consistently and a file matching the full title of the journal to the abbreviation must be supplied to RLG.  The HST file will display only the full title.

Tag 10.  Journal citation (mandatory; subdivided)

            For citation to a journal article, include the date of publication, the volume number, the issue number when pagination is not continuous, and the inclusive pages of the article.  Since the date in this field will be used to limit a search in the HST file, it must be unambiguous.  We recommend this field be divided as follows:

            10.1 date of publication

            10.2 volume number, issue number (when pagination is not continuous), inclusive pages

Tag 11.  Article in a book  (mandatory)

            When describing an article in a monograph, include in this field the inclusive pagination of the article, the name(s) of the editor(s) of the monograph, and the title of the monograph.  The imprint information should be recorded in tag 6; the author(s) of the article in tag 4; and the title of the article in tag 5.

Tag 12.  Abstract  (optional)

            An unlimited-length field in which a descriptive note may be included,  or a table of contents for volumes of collected papers.  This field will be converted by RLG to a 520 field, or, if it contains a transcribed table of contents, possibly to a 505 field.  The language of the abstract is optional.  However, if a table of contents is transcribed, it should be in the language of the original.

            12.1  Abstract: A descriptive text about the contents of the work.

            12.2  Table of contents: A partial or complete transcription of the work's table-of-contents page.

Tag 13.  Author index  (mandatory--unless tag 4 is designated as the preferred indexing field)

            A subdivided field in which all authors' full names  (including editors and contributors to volumes of collected papers) are included in a standard form.  This field will be used by RLG as the standard form for all works by an author, unless the contributor designates tag 4 as the preferred author-name field.  Contributors to the RLIN database are urged to keep names as standard as possible.  Because of the alphabetical display of author's names in RLIN, slight variations (those that do not cause a change in alphabetizaton) will not impede finding all the works of an author.  The use of prefixes such as von, de, van, as the alphabetizing element should be avoided.  A brief guide follows, but the bibliographer is referred to AACR2 as a complete authority for name forms.  Do not use the followng prefixes for alphabetization:

                        Dutch, Flemish: van der, ter, ten, van, van't, van de, de

                        German: von, von der

                        Portugese: da, dos

                        Spanish: de, de las, de

Tag 14.  Subject index (mandatory; subdivided)

            Enter all subject terms as separate elements in this field, including names of individuals and institutions.

            14.1.  Names.  The names of persons as subjects should be entered in as full a form as possible, together with the subject's birth and death dates.  Many of these name forms have already been established in the HST file and it is strongly recommended that the form established there be used.  This is true also for the names of institutions.

            14.2  Subjects.  Enter all subject terms, including the time period, in separate elements.  If the subject term is not in English, an English equivalent should be included in a separate element.  The recommended English terminology for the most commonly used subjects can be found in Appendix 2 of this document.  Bibliographers are urged to use subject terminology already established in the HST file whenever possible.

Tag 15.  Record status (mandatory for replacement records)

             Use this field only if the record is intended to replace or to delete a record already in the RLIN HST file.  The record identification number (Tag 1) must always be the same as the record to be corrected or deleted.

            15.1. Record transaction code: Use the following values:

                                    c - corrected record (Action: This version will replace the existing version in the database)

                                    d - record to be deleted (Action: The matching record in the database will be deleted)

            15.2  Transaction date: Supply a date in the form month/day/year. 

The contact person for groups interested in joining the HST file is:

Henry Lowood, Secretary to the Commission

Stanford University Libraries

Stanford CA 94305-4060

email: lowood@leland.stanford.edu

These guidelines have been prepared for the  Commission on Bibliography and Documentation of the International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science by:

Anna Citernesi, Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Firenze, Henry Lowood, Stanford University Libraries, John Neu, University of Wisconsin Memorial Library