The service includes a wide variety of electronic British Columbia government publications related to government policies and programs. These publications are permanently retained for the Legislative Library’s clients who include the Members of the Legislative Assembly and their staff, staff of the Legislative Assembly, staff for all parties and members of the Legislative Press Gallery.
Disclaimer
This service does not contain all British Columbia government publications. Publications available from publicly accessible government websites have been captured and stored in the Library’s electronic collection. Some may have been reformatted for preservation purposes, such as from html to pdf.
Copyright Provisions
Materials linked to in these records are protected by Crown copyright which is held by the Government of British Columbia. For information on reproducing Government of British Columbia materials contact the Intellectual Property Program at:
Intellectual Property Program - Province of British Columbia (gov.bc.ca)
https://forms.gov.bc.ca/copyright-permission-request/
Download Sites
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MARC Batch Records Download Site: Original batch files created by the Legislative Library of British Columbia.
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Provider Neutral Records Available Through BC ELN: LLBC Marc records, originally provided by the Legislative Library of British Columbia and modified by the University of Victoria Libraries into a Provider Neutral electronic resource record are available from the BC Elctronic Library Network. The Provider Neutral record standard was created by the BCCATS community, specifically University of Victoria, University of Northern British Columbia, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.
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MARC Records Download through Z39.50 Connections: Please note, Z39.50 connection to Legislative Library of British Columbia records was discontinued December 2019. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at library@leg.bc.ca.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the MARC records batch service?
2. Why is the Legislative Library making MARC records available for electronic British Columbia government publications?
3. How are the batch MARC records selected?
4. What MARC records are included?
5. What MARC records are excluded?
6. Are batch MARC records for electronic British Columbia government publications in previous British Columbia Monthly Checklists available?
7. When is the MARC batch file available?
8. How can I download the MARC records?
9. What MARC fields do you suggest for overlay?
10. How will I be able to identify which records in my library catalogue have been imported from the Legislative Library?
11. Are these MARC records available freely to anyone wanting to use them?
12. How are the publications catalogued?
13. As our Library has modified the Legislative Library’s original MARC record (as in changing from a print format to reflect an electronic resource format), how should I note this in the MARC record?
14. What URL links appear in the records?
15. What do I do if I find a broken permanent library link?
16. Can I include these MARC batch records in my library's monthly upload to another bibliographic utility, such as AMICUS and OCLC?
17. What is the scope of the MARC records collection?
18. Are all British Columbia government publications included?
19. What types of publications are included?
20. What types of publications are excluded?
21. What formats are the electronic publications in?
22. What is the history of British Columbia electronic government publications collection?
23. Where should I send questions or comments?
ANSWERS
1. What is the MARC records batch service?
The MARC records batch service enables you to download MARC records from the British Columbia Legislative Library using a batch transfer process for importing into your local library system.
Batch files are created using the export function in the Legislative Library’s Sirsi-Dynix Horizon integrated library system.
2. Why is the Legislative Library making MARC records available for electronic British Columbia government publications?
Libraries can currently import the Legislative Library’s MARC records using the batch MARC records batch service, enabling libraries to import MARC records directly into their own integrated library systems. These records include permanent links to the publications stored in the Legislative Library’s electronic publications collection.
3. How are the batch MARC records selected?
The MARC records available for import are based on the current issues of the British Columbia Government Monthly Checklist found at:
British Columbia Government Publications Monthly Checklist Index
This Checklist includes selected British Columbia government publications processed by the Legislative Library each month for its own collection. The Library compiles this Checklist as a service to individuals and institutions.
4. What MARC records are included?
The MARC records available are based on each current issue of the British Columbia Publications Monthly Checklist. The records are a subset of the Monthly Checklist, and not an exact equivalent. The MARC records include only the records for publications which have electronic formats, a copy of which has been captured and stored in the Legislative Library’s electronic publications collection. As such the file excludes all priced publications, as in priced serials such as annual Sessional serials (e.g. Statutes, Journals, Debates) and annual priced serials (e.g. Current Index of BC Regulations, Public Accounts, Estimates) and subscription serials (e.g. British Columbia Gazette), which are listed in the Monthly Checklist to indicate availability, stock numbers and price changes.
Some of the MARC records include enhanced content such as news releases, backgrounders and other types of supplements. Records with enhanced content will include additional 856 URLs to the supplementary material.
The Monthly Checklist lists both monographs and serial titles. As libraries may not want records for both monographs and serials, the MARC records are available in two separate files: monographs only, and serials only.
Information about our serials file:
For serial titles our library URL links to an index page which shows our downloaded issues, and does not link to the issues directly.
For serials published daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly:
Listed for first occurrence only.
For free serials published semi-annually, annually, biennially, etc. (e.g. annual reports, financial statements, business plans):
Listed for first occurrence;Listed semi-annually, annually, etc. for each new issue.
5. What MARC records are excluded?
The service excludes publications for which there is no electronic copy stored in the Legislative Library’s electronic publications collection.
6. Are batch MARC records for electronic British Columbia government publications in previous British Columbia Monthly Checklists available?
Service is available for current issues of the Monthly Checklist. Past years of the checklists will be added on an ongoing basis.
7. When is the MARC batch file available?
Three weeks after the Monthly Checklist is released (which is the first day of each month).
8. How can I download the MARC records?
The MARC records batch service enables libraries to import these MARC bibliographic records through a batch transfer process. The MARC records file is created by using the Export Batch Records function in our Horizon Library System. The file is then saved as a plain text (.txt) file to be downloaded by the receiving institution.
9. What MARC fields do you suggest for overlay?
We suggest you use the first internal 856 URL field, which is the Legislative Library’s permanent link. Each of these links begins with:
http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca
An alternative is the 999 field, which is the Legislative Library’s local bibliographic record number.
**PLEASE NOTE: the MARC records also include external 856 links. See Question 14.
10. How will I be able to identify which records in my library catalogue have been imported from the Legislative Library?
Legislative Library MARC records will contain a 500 field: Catalogue record made available by the British Columbia Legislative Library.
11. Are these MARC records available freely to anyone wanting to use them?
Yes. There is no cost for this service.
12. How are the publications catalogued?
The cataloguing records appear in MARC 21 format. The cataloguing information in the records has been tailored to suit the needs of the Legislative Library. The Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition, are used as a guide but are not strictly adhered to. Subject headings are established using the Library of Congress subject headings and the Canadian subject headings lists.
The Legislative Library uses one MARC record for both the print and electronic versions of the same publication. Currently, the British Columbia Government Publications Checklist contains a small percentage of bibliographic records for electronic versions of publications. As a result, the exported MARC records may not include a 245 $h [electronic resource] field identifying the general material designation.
The MARC records include local 9xx fields and a 500 field identifying the Legislative Library as the creator of the record. See Question 11.
13. As our Library has modified the Legislative Library’s original MARC record (as in changing from a print format to reflect an electronic resource format), how should I note this in the MARC record?
You may alter the 500 field from
- Catalogue record made available by the British Columbia Legislative Library
to - Catalogue record originally made available by the British Columbia Legislative Library.
14. What URL links appear in the records?
The first internal URL link (856 MARC field) contains the full-text downloaded version permanently retained by the Legislative Library. Other links go to the original government web site location in existence at the time the publications were catalogued. These external links may not be current and are not updated. These links of origin are considered part of the bibliographic record as the original source for the publication and are not deleted. As broken links are found, an explanatory note is added to the 856 field: “Original link broken, discovered [date].”
15. What do I do if I find a broken permanent library link?
Please notify the Legislative Library (library@leg.bc.ca)
16. Can I include these MARC batch records in my library's monthly upload to another bibliographic utility, such as AMICUS and OCLC?
Yes, you may do so. Note that these records contain a 500 field: Catalogue record made available by the British Columbia Legislative Library, and are further identified in the 040 field as having originally been catalogued by the British Columbia Legislative Library.
17. What is the scope of the MARC records collection?
The MARC records collection contains a wide variety of electronic British Columbia government publications related to government policies and programs. The publications have been selected from publicly accessible websites of the Government of British Columbia, which include Ministries as well as crown agencies, such as crown corporations, boards and commissions.
18. Are all British Columbia government publications included?
No, this MARC records collection does not represent all British Columbia government publications. The Legislative Library collects publications for their clients who include the Members of the Legislative Assembly and their staff, staff of the Legislative Assembly, staff for all parties and members of the Legislative Press Gallery.
19. What types of publications are included?
The collection contains publications such as:
Annual reports Financial reportsBudget material Commissions of inquiry reports Electoral district maps Newsletters Policy papers Public consultation documents Quarterly reports Research reports Task force reports
20. What types of publications are excluded?
The collection does not contain publications such as:
- Forms
- Highly scientific, technical and medical reports
- Education textbooks or teachers’ guides
- Multi-lingual materialEmployee newsletters
21. What formats are the electronic publications in?
Publications are captured from publicly available websites in the format they were originally created in. Some may have been reformatted for preservation purposes (primarily html to pdf).
22. What is the history of British Columbia electronic government publications collection?
The British Columbia electronic government publications collection makes available government publications from the Legislative Library's collection. The Legislative Library began capturing electronic British Columbia government publications in January 2001. The Library captures current digitally-born materials from publicly available websites. The Library also actively captures electronic copies of publications retrospectively, by downloading older material posted to ministry and crown agency web pages, and by scanning original print materials in the Library’s collection.
23. Where should I send questions or comments?
Please contact the Legislative Library (library@leg.bc.ca)