Content area
Full text
Introduction
Smith (2003) defines a union catalogue as “a catalogue that contains not only a listing of bibliographic records from more than one library but also locations to identify the holdings of the contributing libraries.” A union catalogue helps users identify relevant resources from more than one library or library collection (Lynch, 1997). Okiy (2005) believes that the role of libraries is critical in attaining the objectives of teaching and learning for research productivity and community services. A library provides all necessary information regarding resources and services to users; however, due to a lack of funds, libraries cannot offer all the necessary resources and services. Therefore, the concept of resource sharing emerged, and it was needed to provide a platform for exploring library resources. Thus, the need for a union catalogue is realized. The technology and information revolution, specifically the internet, has emphasized the importance of a union catalogue for offering reliable information to library users. Chand and Chauhan (2008) highlight that developing a union catalogue is an ongoing process that requires consistent collaboration and participation from member libraries.
Universities are central to higher education, research and innovation. Being the heart of a university, the library helps achieve its mission and goals. University libraries in advanced countries have union catalogues. They are linked to each other to find the resources of consortium libraries, such as the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) Inc., which has a union catalogue of MARC records. WorldCat has about 550 million records as of July 2023, and two million are added every year (OCLC, 2023a, 2023b). Systeme Universtaire du Documentation, the union catalogue of French universities provides access to resources of universities and research organizations with an interlibrary loan (ILL) facility. It includes more than 15 million bibliographic records (Mairaj, 2013; Catalogue-SUDOC, 2023). K10Plus is the union catalogue of Germany having more than 200 million bibliographical records of the majority of academic libraries (BSZGBV, 2023). Library consortia in Wuhan, China are also worth mentioning for union catalogues. It consists of two types: national consortia launched by the Education Ministry and regional consortia, which provide union catalog services and coordinate work. It also offers collaboration, a joint catalog and resource sharing within the province. These consortia have led to the development of...