Beta Period for Bills and Resolutions MARC Records Process
GPO’s Library Technical Services (LTS) has launched a six-month beta period to test a new process to generate MARC records for House and Senate bills and resolutions from the metadata of the GovInfo Congressional Bills Collection. The records are in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) and are available for downloading free of charge in the Congressional Bills and Resolutions Collection of the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) Maintenance Files repository.
Please note: The records do not have OCLC numbers. In the near future, we will add the OCLC numbers in MARC 035 System Control Number Fields to the records and re-post the files on GitHub.
Our goal is to provide access to publications that LTS does not currently catalog. The process includes all types of House and Senate legislation:
- Bills
- Concurrent resolutions
- Joint resolutions
- Simple resolutions
The first set of records are for the 256 House bills and resolutions published in August in GovInfo. The records may be retrieved in the CGP by the expert mode search: wlts=BILLSRESOLUTIONS. The records do not have FDLP item numbers.
The publications are cataloged as integrating resources based on the introduced versions of the bills and resolutions. The intention of this treatment is to make the records a starting point for information about the versions that are published and the actions that occur during the legislative process. Therefore, the records have PURLs to GovInfo and URLs to Congress.gov. LTS will produce approximately 10,000-15,000 records per Congress based on the number of bills and resolutions in the GovInfo collection. During the beta period, we will post monthly files of new records and cumulative files of previously posted records. After the beta period, our plan is to post quarterly files of new records and the cumulative files.
Sample records:
- Title: To Provide for the Conservation of the Chesapeake Bay, and for Other Purposes (H.R. 5133)
- Item Number: None
- SuDoc Class Number: Y 1.4/6:118-1/5133/
- CGP System Number: 1248829
- PURL to the EL version
- Title: To Direct Restoration and Protection Efforts of the 5-State Connecticut River Watershed Region, and for Other Purposes (H.R. 5216)
- Item Number: None
- SuDoc Class Number: Y 1.4/6:118-1/5216/
- CGP System Number: 1248955
- PURL to the EL version
- Title: Expressing Support for the Designation of July 2023 As American Grown Flower and Foliage Month (H. Res. 638)
- Item Number: None
- SuDoc Class Number: Y 1.4/7:118-1/638/
- CGP System Number: 1248828
- PURL to the EL version
As the beta period proceeds, LTS will periodically issue updates about the initiative and will report data about the records and the process on the LSCM Library Technical Services Information Portal Resource Guide. Please visit the Resource Guide for preliminary data on the records.
LTS will evaluate each group of records and will work to enhance the metadata. LTS is aware of several issues, such as the capitalization of title words and the broad application of the Library of Congress subject headings and Congress.gov Policy Areas terms. LTS welcomes recommendations and comments via askGPO inquiries in the “Cataloging/Metadata (Policies and Records)” category.
LTS wishes to thank all staff members who have worked on this initiative; GPO’s Programs, Strategy, and Technology unit; and the Congressional Research Service for their great collaboration.
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