Category Archives: contributing libraries information

SUNCAT reaches 100 Contributing Libraries!

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We are very pleased that SUNCAT has just added its 100th Contributing Library, the National Archives. Reaching 100 Contributing Libraries is a landmark for SUNCAT highlighting it as the most comprehensive source of journal holding information in the UK. SUNCAT contains the holdings of all the UK legal deposit libraries:

  • British Library
  • National Library of Scotland
  • National Library of Wales
  • Trinity College, Dublin
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Oxford

In addition, it has over 50 Higher Education Libraries from across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, including all those of the Russell Group.

SUNCAT also has a range of specialist libraries covering a wide variety of disciplines including art; music; history; medicine; science; horticulture and the environment.

By incorporating information from all these libraries SUNCAT can help you uncover new or unique journals in a particular field, help you locate copies held closest to you or where you can apply for a copy of an article. The service can also highlight those journals which are widely held and more importantly where the one or two copies of more unusual titles are available.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our Contributors for working with us to keep SUNCAT as comprehensive, accurate and current as possible!

To find out more information and directions to all the locations of each of the 100 Contributing Libraries click on the library locations map.

We are not stopping at 100 libraries and are keen to add more UK Higher Education, Specialist and Public Libraries, so if you are interested in contributing please see the earlier Contributing to SUNCAT is easy post.

For further information and news about SUNCAT please see our website, follow SUNCAT on Twitter (@suncatteam), or contact the EDINA helpdesk at edina@ed.ac.uk.

 

Contributing to SUNCAT is easy!

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SUNCAT contains the serials bibliographic and holdings information of 100 UK libraries and we are continuing to expand.

Our Contributing Libraries include:

  • The British Library, National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, Trinity College Dublin
  • A range of UK Higher Education institutions, including the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester, Imperial College London, University College London and the London School of Economics & Political Science
  • A range of specialist institutions, including the British Film Institute, the Institution of Engineering & Technology, the National Institute for Medical Research, the Natural Environment Research Council and the National Art Library
  • One public library so far

We are always happy to hear from institutions interesting in contributing their serials information and would like to reassure you that the process is pretty simple. All we would ask you to do is:

  • Fill in a questionnaire about your serials data
  • Send us a file of your serials bibliographic and holdings records
  • Send us regular (normally monthly) update files to keep the information on SUNCAT as current as possible
  • Add some links to and information about SUNCAT to your website (and we have a leaflet with some suggestions)

More information is available on our website

Benefits of contributing to the service include:

If you are interested in contributing please get in touch with us via the EDINA Helpdesk at edina@ed.ac.uk – you might become our 101st Contributing Library!

 

SUNCAT Redevelopment: Focus on Journal Holding and Contributing Library Information

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This is the fourth in a series of blog posts highlighting some of the new features now available in the redeveloped SUNCAT. In this post I will detail how you can quickly and easily find out more information about a journal you are interested in and the library which holds it. This information should enable you to either apply for an Inter-Library loan via your local library service or to plan a visit to a library to access the journal in person.

Once you have conducted a successful search on SUNCAT and have found a title or titles you are interested in, you can display further information about the title and discover detailed holdings information by clicking on the journal title in the results display. This will take you into the full record for the title.

The full record display includes bibliographic information, such as the ISSN (International Standard Serial Number), publisher details, first date of publication, subject headings and any changes of title etc. If you scroll further down the screen you will be presented with a list of the libraries holding the title. This holdings display represents the very heart of the SUNCAT service, providing an aggregated summary of where you can find a journal title in the UK.

The holding libraries are listed in alphabetical order and for most libraries the following information is displayed:

  • An icon indicating if the holdings are print or electronic
  • Summary holdings statement of the volumes and issues a library actually holds for that title
  • Location and shelfmark of the journal
  • A link to the online version if the holding is for an electronic journal
  • A link to the local library catalogue

 

Holdings Display for a Title

 

The combination of both the bibliographic information and the holdings summary allows you to ascertain that you are definitely looking at the correct journal and which libraries actually hold the volume/issue you require. The location and shelfmark information are important should you choose to visit the library. We would also recommend clicking on the link to the local library catalogue so that you can check the most up to date status of the item you are interested in before travelling to the library.

As well as providing information about journal holdings we also provide information about each of the holding libraries. Clicking on the library name will take you to the following:

  • A link to the library homepage
  • Contact details
  • Google directions to the library
  • British Library Code
  • The date the library’s data was last updated in SUNCAT

Information about the Barnes Library at Birmingham University

 

This information allows you to quickly and easily go into the library’s website or to contact the library to check their access and lending policies for external users. The Google directions are obviously helpful if you do indeed plan to physically visit the library. The British Library Code is provided for Inter-Library Loan staff and the date of the library’s last update to SUNCAT provides an indication of how current the holdings information is.

If you are affiliated with a UK University the link to the SCONUL Access website, which sits just above the list of holdings, will allow you to check whether you are allowed to access and borrow material from other UK University Libraries.

 

 

If you any ideas of additional useful information we could provide about holding libraries please get let us know via the EDINA Helpdesk.

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