From: Jutta Reed-Scott <jutta_at_cni.org>
NRMM RECORDS AVAILABLE ONLINE
More than 579,000 records in the National Register of Microform
Masters (NRMM) are now available online on OCLC and RLIN. The
Association of Research Libraries (ARL), working in partnership
with the Library of Congress, has completed the decade long
effort to create online bibliographic reports for all NRMM
reports. The NRMM, the largest single file and most important
source of preservation microform masters in the United States,
consists of reports of microform masters produced by hundreds of
different libraries and publishers from 1965 through 1983. It was
published by the Library of Congress until 1984.
With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities
(NEH), the goal of creating machine-readable records for all NRMM
reports that could be converted has been accomplished. NRMM
online records represent:
* 536,784 monographs in Roman languages
* 12,953 monographs in non-Roman languages
* 7,083 musical scores
* 22,736 serials (Harvard, NYPL, LC holdings only)
For all libraries, the automation of the NRMM files improves
access to preservation microfilm masters, ensures against
duplication of microfilming and reduces bibliographic searching
time and costs. It is no longer necessary to search in the
printed, multi-volume NRMM. The online NRMM makes possible a one-
step search, which dramatically reduces the amount of staff time
needed for pre-filming searches. The danger of missing a record
is also minimized since the machine-readable records are
accessible by several access points.
ARL has established a Web site to provide more detailed
information about the content of the online version of the NRMM,
including statistics on the number of records processed,
descriptions of formats, bibliographic standards, and information
on obtaining the films.
The URL is: http://www.arl.org/preserv/nrmm.html
--
Jutta Reed-Scott
Consultant for Preservation and
Collections Services
Association of Research Libraries
21 Dupont Circle, N.W.
Washington, D.C 20036
(202) 296-2296 (v) or
(781) 647-5158 (v)
Internet: jutta_at_arl.org
Received on Wed Apr 15 1998 - 18:25:21 EDT