Bulk Loading of Records for Microform Sets into the Online Catalogue

Most research libraries own several large microform sets, such as Russian History and Culture, Landmarks of Science, and Early English Books. Library catalogue access to these collections is often inadequate, forcing users and staff to rely on printed indexes or guides. Cooperative cataloguing efforts have produced MARC records for many of these sets. The records have becojme widely available through OCLC's Major Microforms Project and RLIN's Set Processing. How can libraries economically acquire and load these records into their local catalogues and what problems and benefits can they expect? This article describes the experience of the University of Alberta Library, which has acquired, processed, and batch loaded (we call it "bulk loaded") over 96,000 records for ten microform sets.