A union catalog of monographs: another approach

The rationale for and the production of the 1977 TALON Union Catalog of Monographs are described. The 158,859 records include the existing machine-readable records for six health sciences libraries plus the cataloging of six others, converted by matching other data bases and by keypunching. The method and costs of production are discussed. Use of Computer-Output-Microfiche (COM) significantly decreased the cost and time required for publication. The $.076 unit cost per entry, with both author and title access for the COM method, is almost one-half the unit cost for the previous method which offered only main-entry access. The TALON Catalog compares favorably with the Midwest Medical Union Catalog. The addition of the title index significantly increases its usefulness. However, the unique feature of the TALON Catalog may be its machine-readable form which offers the potential for quantitative analyses of health sciences library collections. Such data may be essential for rational management of limited library funds.