EDINA Serials Forum
Managing your journals:SUNCAT
(Serials UNion CATalogue)
Fred Guy

When users were asked how often they would
wish to use a UKNUC for various different
purposes, the idea of locating all journals in a
particular subject area achieved the highest score
among most groups of researchers, with support
ranging from 72% to 95%, the highest score
reached in response to this question. This is a
definite indication of the need and support for a
Serials National Union Catalogue.
UKNUC Feasibility Study 2001
When users were asked how often they would
wish to use a UKNUC for various different
purposes, the idea of locating all journals in a
particular subject area achieved the highest score
among most groups of researchers, with support
ranging from 72% to 95%, the highest score
reached in response to this question. This is a
definite indication of the need and support for a
Serials National Union Catalogue.
UKNUC Feasibility Study 2001
Establishment of SUNCAT

UNIONs

A union catalog is a combined
library catalog describing the
collections of a number of
libraries. Wikipedia
SUNCAT comprises the serials
holdings of 92 UK libraries + 1 in
Ireland.
A union catalog is a combined
library catalog describing the
collections of a number of
libraries. Wikipedia
SUNCAT comprises the serials
holdings of 92 UK libraries + 1 in
Ireland.
Definition

Contributing Libraries since project start

Print
disposal
Subscription/
cancellation
Assessment
of
Collection
strengths/
weaknesses
ILL Cataloguing
SUNCAT
SUNCAT & COLLECTION MANAGEMENT

Key services
• Web service inc. emailing of records
• Downloading of records in MARC21
format (Contributing Libraries only)
• Batch holdings reporting service
(currently UKRR libraries only but being
developed for general use)

Battersea Power Station
Redevelopment

Redevelopment factors
• Limitations in software (Aleph 500) with
lack of flexibility
• Ex Libris declared that they did not want
to do any more customised development
• Wanted to modernise the ‘look and feel’
• Wanted to take advantage of the
functionality available with Solr

Start of
development
Public
preview &
feedback
Public
availability
Primary
interface
Removal of
access to
Aleph 500
interface
February
2012
April/May
2013
October
2013
March 2014 June
2014
Stages for new interface

How the New Look SUNCAT
Can Help You
EDINA Serials Forum
March 2014
Zena Mulligan
zena.mulligan@ed.ac.uk

User Consultation
• Small survey with ILL librarians (May 2008)
• Impact and satisfaction survey with all users (April 2009)
• Downloading service interviews and survey with cataloguers (February
2010)
• Interviews and case studies involving use of SUNCAT by North West
Libraries Interlending Partnership, UK Research Reserve and
Loughborough University (Spring 2011)
• Impact and satisfaction surveys (January 2011, 2012, 2013)
• Short survey with SUNCAT Contributing Libraries on new design for
service (November 2012)
• Beta version of new service made available for general public comment
(Early April – Mid May 2013)
• Public online survey on beta version (Late April – Mid May 2013)
• New service live for public comment (October 2014)
• Planned online survey (April – May 2014)

Key Enhancements to the New Interface 1
Core Functionality Enhancements
Website with supporting
information
No login required, link directly to the
search page, but with links to all the
website content.
Map listing the main locations of
Contributing Libraries
New map highlighting ALL the
locations of the Contributing
Blog link on website Feed of latest blog posts onto basic
search
Basic search option Basic search – same indexes to
search on as before, plus auto
suggestions as you enter your search
Limit your search by a particular
library
Limit your search to any number of
libraries
Limit your search by a geographic
location
Limit your search to any number of
locations and to more specific
locations
View your results Choose how many results to display
per page
Results sorted by title Results sorted by relevance with
option to sort by title or year

Key Enhancements to the New Interface 2
Core Functionality Enhancements
Indication of holding libraries in
results screen
Alphabetical list of holdings libraries
in results screen
Full results list Filtering by institution, subject,
publisher, first year of publication
etc.
Display full bibliographic details,
with links to related searches
As before, but with alphabetical links
to all the records in the set
Links to latest ToCs from Zetoc Links to latest and older ToCs from
Zetoc & JournalTOCs
List of holding libraries with
shelfmarks and summary holdings
As before with links to local library
catalogues
Links to holding libraries’
homepages
Links to homepages, Google
directions, general contact details,
British Library codes and ILL contact
details and details of when last
updated in SUNCAT
Advanced search option Additional flexibility to create more
complex searches
Search history and ability to
mark/email records
Search history and ability to
mark/email records

NHS Birmingham, July 2013
Links out to information, help
and support guides, videos,
FAQs etc. on website
Links out to information, help
and support guides, videos,
FAQs etc. on website
Map showing
all the
locations of
Contributing
Libraries
Map showing
all the
locations of
Contributing
Libraries
Latest
feed from
the
SUNCAT
Blog
Latest
feed from
the
SUNCAT
Blog

NHS Birmingham, July 2013
Auto suggestions
made as you
enter your
search
Auto suggestions
made as you
enter your
search

NHS Birmingham, July 2013
Limit your search
to particular
geographic
locations
Limit your search
to particular
geographic
locations

NHS Birmingham, July 2013
Limit your
search to
particular
libraries
You can combine
location and
library limits
Limit your
search to
particular
libraries
You can combine
location and
library limits

NHS Birmingham, July 2013
Choose how many
records to display
per page
Choose how many
records to display
per page
Results relevance
ranked but you can
click on “Title” to sort
alphabetically or on
“First published” to
sort chronologically
Results relevance
ranked but you can
click on “Title” to sort
alphabetically or on
“First published” to
sort chronologically
Results include
alphabetical list
of libraries
holding each title
Results include
alphabetical list
of libraries
holding each title
Filter your results by
institution, subject,
publisher etc.
Filter your results by
institution, subject,
publisher etc.

NHS Birmingham, July 2013
Preferred record
showing bibliographic
details including:
•ISSN
•Publication details
•Subject headings
Preferred record
showing bibliographic
details including:
•ISSN
•Publication details
•Subject headings
You can also
view all the
bibliographic
records in
the set.
You can also
view all the
bibliographic
records in
the set.
Click on the “Table of Contents”
button to see recently published
articles via Zetoc and JournalTocs
Click on the “Table of Contents”
button to see recently published
articles via Zetoc and JournalTocs

NHS Birmingham, July 2013
Holdings info includes:
•Alphabetical list of holding
libraries
•Shelfmarks
•Online availability
•Summary holdings
•Links to institutions local
catalogues
Holdings info includes:
•Alphabetical list of holding
libraries
•Shelfmarks
•Online availability
•Summary holdings
•Links to institutions local
catalogues
Click on the library name to
get further details
Click on the library name to
get further details

NHS Birmingham, July 2013
Details include:
•Link to library homepage
•Link to Google map &
directions
•General contact details
•ILL details
•Latest update received
Details include:
•Link to library homepage
•Link to Google map &
directions
•General contact details
•ILL details
•Latest update received

NHS Birmingham, July 2013
Advanced Search includes:
•Wider range of indexes than basic search
•Ability to search or any of terms entered
rather than default of all
•Ability to exclude terms
•Ability to combine terms across indexes
•Additional limits, including e-journals or print
Advanced Search includes:
•Wider range of indexes than basic search
•Ability to search or any of terms entered
rather than default of all
•Ability to exclude terms
•Ability to combine terms across indexes
•Additional limits, including e-journals or print

Demo of new look service

Contributing to SUNCAT
• SUNCAT is contributing to expand
• Interested in hearing from any UK library holding scholarly journals
• Keen to add:
– More HE libraries
– More specialist libraries with unique collections
– More public libraries
– Improve the geographic coverage
– Groups/consortia wishing to create mini union catalogues
• Contributing is a very simple process
– Complete a questionnaire about your data
– Send a file of your serials
– Send regular updates
– Add links and information about SUNCAT to your website
• Benefits include:
– Increase exposure of your collections
– Enable your colleagues and users to search your collections alongside those of nearly 100
other libraries
– Free download of MARC21 records to upgrade your local catalogue
– Compare your journal collections with nearly 100 other libraries

Support and information about SUNCAT
• SUNCAT website at http://www.suncat.ac.uk
• Information about the service
– Description and coverage
– Case studies
– How to contribute
– How to integrate SUNCAT into your services and website
– Downloading MARC records
• Quick start, search guides and FAQs
• Introductory video
• Blog at http://suncat.blogs.edina.ac.uk/
• Follow us on Twitter at @suncatteam

Who can SUNCAT help?
• Researchers, postgrads, undergrads, academic
and support staff
– Anyone seeking information about serials held in
research libraries in the UK
• Library and information staff
– Serials librarians
– Reference and enquiry librarians
– Liaison librarians
– Collection management librarians
– Cataloguers
– And of course Inter-Library loan librarians

Assisting All Users: Library Staff, Researchers, Undergrads…
• Add SUNCAT as a target in your URL resolver – give your
users other options if full text isn’t immediately available to
them

Assisting All Users: Library Staff, Researchers, Undergrads…
• Add a SUNCAT link to your catalogue or discovery
service

Assisting with Inter-library Loans
You can use SUNCAT to…
• Verify if you have the correct details for an ILL request
• Check if a particular serial is held in the British Library or elsewhere in the UK
• Verify that a serial is NOT held locally
• Tailor searches to specific geographic areas or libraries, e.g. London, or your
choice of libraries
• Limit your search to non-electronic holdings only
• View the exact volumes and issues a library holds
• Instantly see the British Library codes and ILL contact details for particular library
locations
• Save/email records for future reference
• Streamline workflow
• Reduce the number of requests which need to be sent abroad or are unfulfilled

ILL Case Study: North West Libraries Interlending Partnership

Assisting with Cataloguing
• Free access to over 5 million bibliographic records for download via z39.50 in a
variety of formats
• High quality bibliographic serials records available for download by contributing
libraries. Including:
– the CONSER database, which is used as a benchmark for cataloguing standards.
– The ISSN database,the ultimate authority on ISSNs.
– Plus records from 17 Contributing Libraries, including the copyright libraries, large HE libraries
and more specialist libraries with unique titles/records
• Choice of databases to connect to
• SUNCAT is an invaluable aid for both current and retrospective cataloguing
• You can improve your own library catalogue and SUNCAT at the same time, thus
benefitting the library community and beyond
• MARC Records freely available to view on web interface
• Ability to email details of bibliographic records (full and brief record)

Cataloguing Case Study: Loughborough University

Assisting with Collection Management
• Compare journal holdings with up to 93 Contributing Libraries
• Compare holdings with a selection of particular libraries or in a
particular geographic area
• Identify unique or scarce journals that you hold
• Identify journals that are widely held
• Planned development to provide customised service for collection
comparison

Collection Management Case Study: UK Research Reserve

Future Plans – 2014 and beyond

New interface: planned functionality 2014
• Facility to allow upload of files of titles and
receive report of holdings for defined
libraries
• Provision of ‘tailored views’ of the database
– extension of location/institution limits
facility
• Table of Contents – add JournalTOCs to
Zetoc provision
• My SUNCAT - personalisation
• Reading list feature
• Search results shown on map view

Beyond 2014
• Replacement of Aleph 500 ‘back end’.
This work will include development and
implementation of an improved matching
algorithm.

Acknowledgements
Battersea Power Station Redevelopment
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