Why do it?

The core rationale is about discoverability and is gaining in credibility the more our resources are discovered from ‘out there’ (through such as Google) and not from ‘in here’ (through the local OPAC).

We want:

• Our collections to be used – not least our special collections and our latest investments
• Our students and researchers to have ease of discovery and access, through a range of applications – through the web, on a mobile phone, anytime anywhere
• Our collections to be signposted by metadata that optimally serves these purposes
• Our users and our supply chain partners to become our network and our amplifier as recommenders and as builders of applications

We need:

• To do this cost effectively
• To retain the necessary control at the point of release

With these business objectives in mind, the Guide recognizes that libraries may be selective about what metadata they release for good reasons; for example:

• A library might choose to release only those records of canonical or definitive value – e.g. relating to its special collections rather than commonplace monographs
• The purpose of release might best be served by a specially defined set of fields  – e.g. not requiring every MARC attribute but with added values in terms of such as reading list or use data