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Copac database content
General database content
The Copac database contains c.32 million records. The contributing libraries consist of RLUK member libraries, plus an increasing number of non-RLUK libraries that have collections of national research interest. Copac includes the catalogues of all the UK copyright libraries including the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the National Library of Wales/Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru.
Records for the same document supplied by different libraries are merged as far as possible, creating a single record with holdings information for all the libraries that have a copy. However, cataloguing variations make this problematic and duplicate records still exist on the database. Local location details are provided and in many cases the Local Holdings display offers a live link to the local library system to give the current availability of a document (is a book currently on loan and, if so, when is it due back?).
Copac includes the main online catalogue of each contributing library. NOTE: Many libraries still have part of their collection recorded in their card catalogue. This means not all details of a library's stock can be searched online, either via Copac or via the library's own catalogue. For information about which stock is not recorded on a library's online catalogue you need to check the relevant library's own website.
Copac records and Full-text links
Copac is a traditional library catalogue. Thus it gives details about documents and their location, it does not include the text of the documents themselves. Some Copac records include a URL link to the document text where this is made available by another service. Other URL links may take you to a table-of-contents, supporting material etc. These links can be found in the Full Record display. Access to some online documents is restricted to members of subscribing UK Higher or Further Education institutions. If you are a member of such an institution and you find you are unable to view the text of a document online you should discuss access with your own academic library.
Types of material included
The database contains a range of different types of materials. Most of the records represent monographs (books, reports etc), with 6% of records representing periodicals and another 3% conferences. This may seem a small proportion, but given the size of the database it is a significant number of records. There are smaller numbers of records for other materials such as printed and recorded music, videos, and electronic materials.
Copac is a traditional catalogue in most respects, so details of journal titles and the library holdings of those journals are available, but there is no comprehensive indexing of journal contents. Some journal article details are included on the database. These come from two main sources. They may be pre-prints, photocopies etc. held in the collection of a particular library. Alternatively they may be records from the Wellcome bibliography "Current work in the history of medicine". This is produced by the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine.
The Wellcome bibliography has records for a large number of journal articles relevant to medical history. Many of these articles are held by the Wellcome Library, but many others are not, they simply exist as bibliography records without library holdings information. If a record represents a Wellcome bibliography record this is indicated in the Local Holdings display. Where you come across a bibliography record it is worth searching for the Journal title on Copac. The Journal in which the article appears may be held by another of the libraries on Copac.
Date range of the records
The dates of the materials included in the Copac database range from c.1200 AD to the present day. About 32% of the records represent materials published since 1980. This is, at least in part, a reflection of the fact that most libraries did not have an online catalogue until the early 1980's, so materials which pre-date this would originally only have been accessible via a card or microform catalogue.
This situation is changing as libraries convert records from their card catalogues etc. into electronic form. There has been particular interest in making records for the older materials available online and some 24% of the Copac database represents materials which pre-date 1900. This process of converting old catalogue records is continuing and records for an increasing proportion of the libraries' older materials are being made accessible online.
Foreign language materials
All figures relating the the number of records in a particular language are likely to be underestimates as c.26% of records do not have a language specified. Many of these records will be for English language materials, but there are a variety of other language materials represented in this set too.
Some 52% of Copac records represent materials in the English language. However, records for documents in over 300 languages are included, with significant collections of material available for some European languages. For example, c.5% of the database represents German language materials and another c.5% French language materials.
In addition to the major European languages, minority languages such as Welsh are also represented. Nor are records restricted to materials in European languages, there are records for documents in a wide range of languages from across the globe.
