Discussion about the CCN

Round-table discussion about the Catalogue collectif national des publications en série (CCN). Producers and users sum up the situation about the creation and use of the base. The CCN includes today more than 350 000 serial entries and involves more than 2 400 institutions; 165 000 titles have already been localized. The CCN is operating in conformity with the decentralization and each of the 34 regional centers is responsible for the promotion of the base and the localizations input. The problems that are mentioned here are resulting first from the costs of data input (it is impossible to distinguish between query and updating connections), then from the defects of the base (built up from 3 catalogs and from the localizations made by the members). A microfiche edition is now available; the output of CCN products will go with the expressed needs, locally or by subjects. At the moment, the CCN seems to be used mostly within the context of the interlibrary loan; but the videotex version will widen its use. The position of the CCN in the development of the libraries and in the professional education brings up the problem of the new technologies.
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