Collection-Level Description: Friend or Foe?

Abstract

A number of recent trends have created a growing interest in the description of library resources at collection level, and some recent programmes have provided significant funding in this area. Collection-level description is seen as a tool to improve disclosure of resources, to support collaborative management of resources, and to enable a more integrated approach to digital services. The efforts of Research Support Libraries Programme have stimulated interest in the approach and resulted in the development of a number of regional- and subject-based services based on collection-level description. It has also advanced the theoretical debate and encouraged a convergence on a common approach to collection-level description (or at least highlighted the need for such convergence to take place). Approaches to Web-based resource discovery are focusing on services which provide integrated access to distributed resources, and here, too, the description of aggregates of resources is becoming significant, and this is a consideration in the JISC's efforts to enhance access to resources for the UK Higher and Further Education communities. Collection-level description is not a substitute for item-level description but an effective complement to it.