Comparative Costs of Converting Shelf List Records to Machine Readable Form

Abstract

A study at Michigan State University Library compared the costs of three different methods of conversion: keypunching, paper-tape typewriting, and optical scanning by a service bureau. The record converted included call number, copy number, first 39 letters of the author's name, first 43 letters of the title, and date of publication. Source documents were all of the shelf list cards at the Library. The end products were a master book tape of the library collections and a machine readable book card for each volume to be used in an automated circulation system.