OZ 2014/2

M T 51 ORGANIZACIJA ZNANJA 2014, LETN. 19, ZV. 2 subject description, and • together with IZUM, harmonisation of COMARC data input and development of the local COMARC format in accordance with UNIMARC, its changes and updates. The editor's main tasks are (Kanič, 2002): • monitoring international bibliographic standards and their evaluation regarding the relevance for the natio- nal bibliographic standards; • introducing new national bibliographic standards fol- lowing international standards; • producing proper guidelines and instructions for com- puter software support; • harmonisation of bibliographic standards and use among individual libraries; • developing sample records for new types of material and their implementation in libraries; • analysing the quality of bibliographic records regar- ding their congruity and compliance with standards, applied to a set of record samples; • analysing the causes and reasons for systematic errors in bibliographic records; • correcting errors and providing adequate standard updates and amendments; • planning programmes for education and training, in- cluding the production of adequate teaching materials for the creation and improvement of bibliographic records; • consulting fellow cataloguers on questions regarding bibliographic records and standards for all types of library material; • cooperating with IZUM and local IT support services regarding the development, installation and testing of the information system, creation, storage and analysis of bibliographic records; • consulting and supervising bibliographic specialists in cooperating libraries; • using the expertise, educating and training specialised staff for the demanding task of creating bibliographic records. As a result, cataloguing became a very complex and demanding job. PPIAK written in the Croatian language was often not very easy to understand and interprete. Thus, the first step to make it more user-friendly for Slovenian cataloguers was to translate the indexes and to publish them, which was done in 1998. At that point we faced a number of different terminological problems, which hopefully were solved satisfactorily. At the same time, cataloguers were very much aware of the fact that PPIAK in some segments was out-of-date because it did not include all types of library material and did not follow the changes in revised editions of ISBDs. The Catalogu- ing Committee of the Library Association followed these changes closely, and included them in everyday work, but these guidelines and instructions had, unfortunately, never been collected and published as a manual. That caused inconvenience and additional measures had to be taken. In September 1997, the Ministry of Science and Techno- logy nominated an expert group to investigate the current situation and to set the basis for a new cataloguing code in the Slovenian language. There were three possible solutions: • translation of PPIAK, • translation of AACR2 and accepting AACR2 as the national code, or • a new cataloguing code. The first posibility was rejected for obvious reasons, the second one was said to be too different and far-fetched re- garding our cataloguing environment and practice, so the expert group opted for the third option: the preparation of a new cataloguing code. The work was supposed to be carried out in three phases: • analysis of the current situation; • setting the foundations for a new cataloguing code, • creating a new cataloguing code itself. Unfortunately, due to the lack of financial means, it was decided that only the first part of the project was to be undertaken. The majority of Slovenian libraries take part in the creati- on of the COBIB database, which is the central part of the national COBISS system. Even though the structure and profile of library staff varies a lot, equal quality criteria for bibliographic records must be applied in all member libraries regardless of their type and size. To meet their needs, the most common problems occuring in their work were taken into consideration in the course of the prepa- ration of the manual so the manual deals with all types of library material such as monographs, serials, non-book material, component parts, both in printed and electronic form. It was planned that the analysis of the current situation was to include still applicable provisions from AIK 67, still applicable provisions from PPIAK, provisions from all different ISBDs and their revised editions, as well as findings from the practical work, and was to be presented as a manual. The results of the project, carried out in a relatively short period of time, were published in a preliminary edition Alenka Kanič: CATALOGUING RULES AND THEIR CHANGES