1. The Importance of Union
Catalogs in Retrieving
Convenient Information
and Enhancing Users’
Satisfaction
Joseph Mhanna

2. Outline
 What is a Union Catalog
 The Initiative of a Local Union Catalog
 The Transaction: Student’s Request step-by-step
 Discussion and Interpretation
 Conclusion
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3. What is a Union Catalog
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• A union catalog is a combined library catalog
describing the collections of a number of libraries.
(Wikipedia)
• A catalog containing bibliographic records that
indicate locations of materials in more than one
library or in several units of one library.
(Dictionary.com)

4. The Initiative of a Local Union Catalog
• The discussions of the Lebanese Academic Libraries Consortium (LALC) to
improve records visibility.
• The meeting with ProQuest at Special Libraries Association (SLA) conference
in Abu Dhabi, March 2015.
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5. The Transaction: Student’s Request step-by-step
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• Graduate Student asking for the book “New Media, Old News: Journalism &
Democracy in the Digital Age” published by SAGE.
• Book Available electronically via EBSCO eBooks Collection only.
• Two (2) options:
– Read it online.
– Download it offline (check out) for 21 days (Adobe Digital Edition is a requirement).

6. The Transaction: Student’s Request step-by-step
(Continued)
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• Student’s request was not totally met. He needs to use the book offline for more that 21 days.
• I knew that the books is published by SAGE.
• My workplace library holds the full collection of SAGE Knowledge (eBook Platform of SAGE).
– Book can be downloaded in pdf format for future offline use for unlimited time.

7. The Transaction: Student’s Request Step-By-Step
(Continued)
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• I notified the Reference Librarian who in his turn notified the user.
• The eBooks was requested through ILL/DDS.
• Maximum user satisfaction.

8. Discussion and Interpretation
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1. “When answering questions, librarians… have to
maintain awareness of community resources and optional
delivery services through interlibrary loan, consortial
agreements, fax, and full-text services” (Bopp, Smith
2011).
2. Searching LALC members OPACs is time consuming for
the librarian and might be frustrating for the user.
3. Why a union catalog?
a) Time saver
b) Allow searches/access to wider collections
c) User satisfaction
d) Higher statistics

9. Conclusion
• Resource Sharing had been the solution on many libraries in
Lebanon in facing budget cuts and economic conditions.
• This experience answered all questions and hesitations I had prior
to the implementation of a local union catalog similar to
WorldCat.
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