Marta Seljak, M.A.

Institute of Information Science, IZUM - Maribor

Slovenia

COBISS as Model of Library Co-operation and Resource Sharing

The paper presents the COBISS system (Co-operative Online Bibliographic System & Services) conceived originally, i.e. from its very beginning in 1987, to provide a foundation for library co-operation and resource sharing. The basic functionality of the system is online shared cataloguing encompassing the COBIB union catalogue and as many replicated catalogues as there are full-member libraries participating in the system. In addition to COBIB, created on a union level are the COLIB database containing relevant data on libraries, the CORES database containing retrospective data on serials editorial boards, the ELINKS database designed for linking bibliographic records with full text electronic resources, and the CONOR authority database. Although primarily functioning as a union catalogue, COBIB also provides a basis for creation and evaluation of researches bibliographies using a uniform methodology, and has a link to the SICRIS system (Slovenian Current Research Information System) as well. The system allows the integration of foreign services and databases, and at this point, in Slovenia integrated in COBISS under the consortium agreements are the following foreign services and databases: OCLC Z39.50 Cataloguing, OCLC FirstSearch (WorldCat, ArticleFirst now incorporating ContentsFirst, Proceedings, PapersFirst, NetFirst, ERIC, GPO), ISSN Register, SwetsScan, Journal Citation Report, LC Names, and OCLC FirstSearch - Electronic Collections Online, ProQuest, Digital Dissertations, Web of Science etc.