Bibliographic Control of Local Publications in Aomori Prefecture, Japan

A Survey and a Model

Abstract

Local publications are defined as those which originate in a particular locality and can be appropriately acquired by local libraries. They may not be sufficiently important as to merit acquisition on a national level and bibliographic listing, but because they attempt to make some contribution to the body of knowledge, they cannot be considered as truly ephemeral.
Every publication issued in 1984 in Aomori Prefecture, located in the northern part of Japan, was found to be listed in a bibliographic survey of five library catalogs (3 local, 1 national and 1 local union catalogs) and the publication data for each was input into a computer file. 1,484 monographic publications were identified and analyzed.
The local (prefectural and municipal) authorities, societies and schools were the major publishers, with the chief subject areas being the social sciences and industries. There were less published by the commercial publishers, and these dealt mainly with history and literature. Thirty-four percent of the publications were available at the municipal, 70% at the prefectural and 24% at the national level respectively.
A bibliographic control model of local publications is proposed on the basis of these findings, introducing a new categorization of the local publication publishers. The primary bibliographic control of commercial and private publications might be carried out at all three regional levels. That of the other publications can be done in a way suited to their locality.