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This is a topic I was about to send off a request to
MAPS-L about anyway!
Users' questions most often focus on a given area -
that is, they don't say, "I need to see all of
Morocco at 1:50,000," but instead, "I need to see
a map of the area around Casablanca."  So it seems
that if we are to focus on the user, we need to
have access at the sheet level.
When I was at the Colorado School of Mines (1978-88),
I cataloged separated every new USGS folded map,
and retrospectively all of Colorado; we also cataloged
all of the USGS Professional Papers.  It led to a
startling increase in use (checkout and inhouse),
I suspect mainly because the online catalog has
keyword searching.
At the library where I currently work, we've purchased
the MARCIVE tapes (back to 1976); and we did purchase
not just the series records but also all the
individual sheet records, for the reason given
in the previous paragraph.  The map records were
loaded into a separate processing unit (this library
uses NOTIS); the users don't know this - the contents
of all units display on the public-catalog side.
The object of this separate unit is that we are able
to have global changes or changes that affect a
large number of records run in a way that makes
the programmers' lives easier.  I am wondering if
any other library that bought the MARCIVE tapes
has done this, and specifically what sorts of
changes were made to the MARCIVE map records.
Thanks for any assistance.
Mary Larsgaard
Map & Imagery Lab, UCSB
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