The Library Corporation

Research Park Inwood, WV 25428-9733 Telephone: 800-325-7759 Fax: 304-229-0295 E-mail: info@tlcdelivers.com URL: www.tlcdelivers.com BACKGROUND The Library Corporation, a leading supplier of library automation products and services, was founded in 1974. The company, then known as MARC Applied Research, was initially based in Washington, D.C. Its first product, MARCFICHE, contained the LC MARC database on microfiche accompanied by indexes that facilitated retrieval of desired cataloging records. Described by Pasternack (1976) and Young (1978), it was the most useful and successful of several microform-based cataloging tools introduced during the 1960s and 1970s. MARCFICHE was produced from data tapes obtained from the LC MARC Distribution Service. Cataloging records, formatted as catalog card images, were published on a continuously growing collection of microfiches in the same sequence in which they were produced by the Library of Congress. Indexes were recorded on a separate set of microfiches. They provided access to cataloging records by main entry, Library of Congress Classification Number, Library of Congress Card Number, and International Standard Book Number. Index entries included a partial title and lookup coordinates (microfiche number, column number, and sequential position) for the cataloging records to which they pertained. Subscription options provided weekly, quarterly, or semi-annual shipments of new cataloging microfiche with cumulative indexes. In 1985, The Library Corporation introduced the product with which it has been most closely associated, a CD-ROM cataloging support system called BiblioFile. It is described by Allan (1990), Andres (1993), Bibi (1990), Bills and Helgerson (1989), Brennan (1989), Colglazier (1988), Cormouls and Gaudin (1988), Desmarais (1985), Gartshore (1987), Giesbrecht (1988), Grift (1993), Harrison (1988), Jacso (1990), Khurshid (1991), McKnight (1987), Morrow (1988), and Ruesta et al. (1994). BiblioFile was the first CD-ROM information product to be successfully commercialized. Currently used by over 4,000 libraries worldwide, it remains available for DOS-based microcomputers. Its replacement is the Integrated Technical Services (ITS) Workstation for Windows--or, simply, ITS for Windows--a cataloging support program that can operate with CD-ROM databases for other cataloging source files. The Library Corporation's current line of CD-ROM cataloging support products is discussed elsewhere in this issue. In 1997, The Library Corporation introduced ITS.MARC, a web-based cataloging service that provides online access to the LC MARC data base and other bibliographic records. ITS.MARC is the newest bibliographic utility and the only one developed specifically and exclusively for web access; other bibliographic utilities discussed in this issue predate the World Wide Web, although they have recently introduced web access capabilities. Like other bibliographic utilities, ITS.MARC supports copy cataloging through retrieval and editing of bibliographic records. Through microcomputer-based software described below, ITS.MARC also supports original cataloging, but it does not store cataloging records contributed by subscribers. In that respect, it most closely resembles Open DRANet among the bibliographic utilities discussed in this issue. ITS.MARC is a general-purpose bibliographic utility that is available to libraries of all types and sizes. ITS.MARC participants are termed "subscribers. " In addition to cataloging support products and services, The Library Corporation offers the Library. Solution, a second-generation integrated library system that is installed at approximately 100 sites; NetPAC, which provides access to library catalogs via the World Wide Web; Site-Solution, a service that creates customized web sites; and TLC. Partner, an outsourcing service for library automation. The Library Corporation continues to support its older BiblioFile series of library automation programs for public catalog access, circulation control, and reference applications. …