To obtain CIP data, you must first complete the application to participate and obtain an account number and password. The account number and password provide access to the form for requesting CIP data.

A JavaScript-enabled browser such as Netscape 4.5 or Microsoft Explorer 4.0 or higher is required to complete the application to participate and the subsequent form to request CIP data.

Before establishing an account for your firm, please note the following:

1. For each title for which CIP data is requested, the publisher must complete a CIP data application and transmit the complete text (exclusive of indexes, tables, graphs, art, etc.) or, at minimum, core required materials to the Library of Congress. The texts are accessible only to authorized staff for purposes of preparing CIP data and are deleted after a copy of the book is received and the CIP record verified.

2. The text must be transmitted in ASCII with line breaks. For example, publishers using WordPerfect when saving the file would select "ASCII DOS Text (*.txt)" from the list of file types--not "WordPerfect 6/7/8/9/10/11 (*.wpd)". Publishers using Microsoft Word would select "MS-DOS Text with line breaks (*.txt)"--not "Word Document (*.doc)". Texts transmitted with word processing codes or other non-ASCII code cannot be processed.

3. The Electronic CIP program is currently limited to books that are principally in English and whose text can be transmitted in ASCII. The following categories of works cannot be processed via the ECIP program. To obtain CIP data for these works, please submit a conventional CIP application by mail:

   • Books in non-English languages

   • Books with diacritics appearing anywhere on the title page

   • Books consisting mainly of images, tables, charts or mathematical or chemical formulas, etc.

4. Upon completing the application requesting CIP data for a given title, you will be asked to attach the file of the full text or, at minimum, core required materials to the application. It is therefore important to format and code the text prior to completing the application. The text for a file must be coded as follows:

   <tp>	beginning of title page
   </tp>	end of title page
   <sp>	beginning of series page
   </sp>	end of series page
   <cp>	beginning of copyright page
   </cp>	end of copyright page
   <toc>	beginning of table of contents
   </toc>	end of table of contents
   Do not tag introduction/foreword/preface
   <ch1>	beginning of chapter 1
   <ch2>	beginning of chapter 2
   <ch3>	beginning of chapter 3
   etc.
   </ch>	end of last chapter (without number)

   For example, at the beginning of the title page enter <tp>. At the end of the title page enter </tp>. If there is a series page, enter <sp> at the beginning and </sp> at the end of the page. Tag the copyright page and table contents likewise. Only the beginning of each chapter needs to be tagged. At the beginning of chapter one, enter <ch1>; at the beginning of chapter two, enter <ch2>; and so on. The only chapter ending that requires a tag is the end of the last chapter. If the last chapter is chapter 22, simply enter </ch>. Be sure to include the text of prefatory material, acknowledgments, the foreword or the introduction, but do not provide tagging unless one of these elements (e.g., the introduction) is chapter one.

   Books without chapters should also be tagged. For example, a book of poetry should have the <ch1> tag at the beginning of the first poem and the </ch> at the end of the last poem. If the work is divided into sections instead of chapters, tag the sections as if they were chapters.

   Without these tags, catalogers will be unable to access the text and catalog the work.

5. Upon completion, the CIP data is emailed to the publisher. The CIP data must be printed as provided on the verso of the copyright page following the legend:

   Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.

6. Participation in the CIP program obligates the publisher to submit a complimentary copy of the book to the CIP Division immediately upon publication. The complimentary copy is required to verify the accuracy of the CIP record and provide additional information (e.g., number of pages) not available at the time the CIP data is created.