Metadata Usage in Serbia: Describing Paper and Digital Holdings

Metadata Describing Imprints Of Serbian Libraries

Many libraries in Serbia still do use card catalogues to describe their imprints. Some smaller libraries have no resources to implement OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue), but the number of these are reduced every year. More importantly, most libraries with large imprints have decided not to create electronic records for certain items, until they are borrowed for the first time. Often, large parts of the library materials are not used at all, and this makes creation of electronic records not a high priority. In order to identify items that are really used and, therefore, needs to be visible through OPAC, this method was chosen by many libraries in Serbia (Popović-Bošković & Filipi-Matutinović, 2001). Although, still existent in Serbian libraries, card catalogues have little practical value for users and exist only because of historical reasons. Therefore, we will not describe metadata used via this venue. Instead, we will describe only electronic records that describe imprints in Serbian libraries.