By REGINA COELI S. N. DA SILVA
On May 25 the Library achieved an important automation milestone with the electronic transfer of bibliographic records created by its office in Rio de Janeiro.
A file transfer between Library's Rio de Janeiro Office and its headquarters in Washington was done by Anton R. Pierce of the Automation Planning and Liaison Office (detailed to the Overseas Operations Division) and Regina Coeli Santos Nepomuceno da Silva, head of the Cataloging Section in the Rio office. The electronically transferred file contained real full-level bibliographic records, part of the normal production of the cataloging section.
Previously all records produced were regularly sent to LC on floppy disks. From now on, all cataloging (bibliographic and authority records) will be sent through the Diplomatic Telecommunications Service Program Office (DTS-PO) line assigned to the Rio office.
This procedure offers many advantages over mailing of floppy disks, as it is an instantaneous process that provides unambiguous records, thus reducing the chances of duplication and loss of diskettes.
The transfer was one of the most important milestones reached by an overseas office since they began independent cataloging. The Library's Jakarta office will be the next overseas office to perform electronic transfer of cataloging output.