The first Internet-related records I produced had already been cataloged by GPO in paper so it was just a matter of adding the few extra fields. My first "Internet only" record, however, gave more of a sense of going into new territory. This was partly because of the computer file format, but the novelty was not so much the cataloging as beginning to access and use the Internet.

My first impression of the Internet was that it is incredibly fast. Later this enthusiasm was to be tempered by delays and the inconvenience of cataloging from the Internet. Searching for publications lacks precision. Access to files may be slow. The remote file will sometimes vary slightly from what may be essentially the same document in paper. The imprint and colophon may be lacking. The contents or the URL of a "publication" may change. The remote file is not only intangible but may be a moving target.

Description of electronic files requires more thought than typical paper documents do. Notes are mostly cataloger-composed rather than quoted. This all takes more time, but the possibility of accessing the document itself makes it worth the effort. By providing accurate description and the hot linked URL, the cataloger, in effect, brings the document to the user. This feature alone far outweighs any inconvenience of working with remote files.

At a time when cataloging was becoming a bit routine, the Internet added a new dimension. It also caused a new level of professional interest and activity.

Now we'll look at some examples of MOCAT Internet records.

The first is OCLC 35747216, The Constitution of the United States of America. For this one we will take some extra time to demonstrate MOCAT Web applications. From the search results screen, we can click on the URL in the brief record, accessing the document in one step. We should note that the text record is identical to the HTML record, but is not hot linked. The HTML record is hot linked both from the URL in its brief record display and in the 856 field of the full record.

This title is an example of adding the Internet availability information to an LC record. For that we added the 2nd 074, item number (online); the 530, "Also available from GPO Access ..."; and the 856, URL. This congressional is one of the few at the Web site which was assigned a URL.

Next is OCLC 35812475, The 1944-45 New York and Washington-Moscow KGB Messages. This is an example where there was a bibliographic record for the paper version of the document, but GPO had not cataloged or distributed it. So we added the 074 (and there's only one); the 500, "Not distributed" note; the 530, which has "Available via" rather than "Also available via"--because it was not distributed; and the 856.

My last example is OCLC 36505727, The KGB in San Francisco and Mexico City... This is an Internet only or computer file record. No record for it existed in OCLC. Since this document is neither serial nor map, a K (minimal) level record was created. Unlike the previous examples, this record has the 245 subfield h, with the general material designation "computer file" (soon to be "electronic resource"); no 300, physical description; the 538, mode of access (instead of 530 availability) note; and the 500, source of title note.

The KGB in San Francisco and Mexico City and the GRU in New York and Washington. [computer file] /. [1995?] United States. D 1.2:97008186. [[0306 (online)]].

http://www.nsa.gov.:8080/docs/venona/monographs/monograph-4.html

<001> ocm36505727

<005> 19970307140858.0

<040a> GPO

<040c> GPO

<035a> (GPO)apn97-008186

<074a> 0306 (online)

<086a> D 1.2:97008186

<099a> D 1.2:97008186

<049a> GPOO

<245h> [computer file]

<245c> National Security Agency.

<246a> GRU in New York and Washington

<260a> Fort George G. Meade, Md. :

<260b> National Security Agency,

<260c> [1995?]

<440a> VENONA historical monograph ;

<440v> # 4

<500a> Title from title screen.

<590a> [cat:wd]

<650a> Espionage, Soviet

<650z> United States

<650x> History

<650x> Sources.

<650a> Intelligence service

<650z> United States

<650x> History

<650x> Sources.

<610a> Soviet Union.

<610b> Komitet gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti

<610x> History

<610x> Sources.

<610a> Soviet Union.

<610b> Glavnoe razvedyvatelnoe upravlenie

<610x> History

<610x> Sources.

<710a> United States.

<710b> National Security Agency.

<8562> http

<990a> 97-00012