Cataloguing Audio-Visual Materials (AVM) in Sri Lankan libraries using the MARC 21 format

Abstract

Audio-visual materials (AVM) encompass any media or content that uses both auditory and visual elements to communicate information, ideas, or stories. This includes videos, films, slideshows, presentations, animations, interactive content, and audio recordings. Integral to library and archival collections, these materials offer the users access to a rich range of cultural, historical, and educational resources. Although it is essential to keep AVM in a library in a specific order to make it possible for the library users to search for them and get them, there is no specific standardized format used for cataloguing these materials in libraries of Sri Lanka. This study was aimed to evaluate the current methods used in cataloguing AVM in Sri Lankan libraries and identify the challenges in developing a machine-readable cataloguing format for them namely to develop an effective MARC21 format for the purpose. A mixed research methodology was employed in this study, with data collected from the National Library of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation Library. It was found that the staff in libraries had no enough knowledge to catalogue AVM (100%). Bibliographic information of audio-visual media is different from source to source, and therefore, there was no proper method (100%) due to lack of appropriate format and standards for cataloguing AVM. This research created a MARC21 format for cataloguing AVM and that included fields for control numbers, physical characteristics, cataloguing sources, titles, editions, publication details, descriptive elements, content types, carriers, audio/video characteristics, series statements, notes, subjects, and added entries. This format ensures comprehensive bibliographic representation of AVM.