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Copac is a traditional library catalogue - which means it gives access to details of documents and their location. The records on Copac represent the merged online catalogues of members of the Research Libraries UK (RLUK). There are some approximately 32 million records on Copac representing the merged holdings of RLUK member institutions, including the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales/Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, and the National Art Library (V&A), plus special collections from a small number of non-RLUK libraries. The remaining RLUK libraries' catalogues are also being loaded with data from more non-RLUK institutions to be added too.
If you wish to provide a reference to Copac (eg. a web link) it may be helpful to add an explanatory
sentence along the lines of:
"Copac: the UK and Irish National, Academic, and Special Library catalogue."
Or with a little more detail:
"Copac provides free access to the merged online catalogues of
major UK and Irish academic and specialist research libraries, plus the
British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the
National Library of Wales/Llyfrgell
Genedlaethol Cymru, and the National Art
Library (V&A). It also includes details of special
collections from a range of other libraries."
You can now log in to Copac. This is not required, but if you do choose to login you will be able to create online bibliographies, edit and reuse your search history, and you may have the option to search your own university catalogue alongside Copac.
Login for UK University/College members: login to Copac with your university/college username or Athens username.
Login for non-academic or non-UK Copac users: you can create a personal login using the following identity provider:
ProtectNetwork®.
Once you've created a ProtectNetwork username and passsword, you can login into Copac by choosing 'ProtectNetwork' from the list of institutions.
Important message for ProtectNetwork users:ProtectNetwork have recently introduced charging for their service and informed us that your Copac login may stop working from 15th Feb 2012.
We are looking at alternative solutions, but in the short term you may lose access to the login version of Copac.
Action: Before 15th February:
If we are able to find an alternative login mechanism we may be able to move your stored data. However, in order to do this successfully we need to know who you are.
So please:
If we are able to establish a new non-academic login, then if we have your email address we should be able to migrate your saved content for you. If we don't know who you are your saved content will become inaccessible if the ProtectNetwork service is no longer available.
If you have any questions about this please contact the Copac Helpdesk.
Copac gets records from many contributing libraries and there is some overlap between the collections in each library. This means we receive large numbers of duplicate records representing the same document held by different libraries. To deal with this we have developed extensive record matching routines. These check the incoming records and where duplicates are found the records are merged and all the library location details are added to a single record for the document. However, there are still 'duplicate' records on Copac for two main reasons:
All Copac search pages now use the Unicode character set. This allows us to display bibliographic details in scripts such as Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese and Japanese (amongst many others.) You can also search using these scripts in exactly the same way as you would if you were using the Roman alphabet.
The caveat is that your web browser needs to support Unicode (most common browsers now do) and you will need the appropriate Unicode font(s) installed on your computer.
If you are seeing question marks or 'boxes' in the records for non-English language materials this may mean that you don't have the necessary fonts to see all the characters correctly. Alternatively your browser may not be able to display the characters.
You can change this character setting in IE by following these instructions: Go to View in your browser window's tool bar at the top. > Select "Encoding". > Select "More". > Click on Unicode (UTF8).
There may be some records where you will not see the correct character no matter what. Occasionally records contain incorrect character encoding and whilst we can deal with some of these automatically as the data is loaded, there will be others we miss or can't reliably convert.
At the moment it is not possible to borrow books or other documents directly via Copac. Instead, you need to make an inter-library loan request via a library or information service of which you are a member (e.g. your academic library). Your library staff will be able to advise you on how to go about this and what costs are involved. You can use the Copac record(s) as the basis of your inter-library loan request.
If you belong to an academic institution that has an OpenURL router then selecting the OpenURL link at the end of the Copac Full record display will take you to your own library's services. The name of this link will depend on your library e.g. 'Find It'. This may allow you to access the full-text of a document you have identified on Copac. It may also provide a link to your library's inter-library loan/article copy service.
Inter-library loans are always made on a library to library basis.
British Library documents
To check the location of a document select the Holding Library name in the Copac Full Record display.
National Library of Scotland documents
To check the classmark of a document select the Holding Library name in the Copac Full Record display.
At the moment it is not possible to request copies of journal articles directly via Copac. In order to obtain a copy of a journal article you would usually make an article photocopy request via a library or information service of which you are a member (e.g. your academic library). Your library staff will be able to advise you how to go about this and what costs are involved.
Alternatively you can try making a personal request for a journal article copy to the library that holds the journal. If you select the highlighted Holding Library name in the Full Record this gives you the Copac Local Holdings display. This is variable, but will normally allow you to confirm if the library has the volume of the journal you need. If the British Library has the journal you are seeking you should contact their Imaging service in the first instance. You will find details on the British Library web pages.
If you are a member of a university or college you may have access to the full-text of some journals online. For more information on this you would need to talk to staff in your own academic library.
If you belong to an academic institution that has an OpenURL router then selecting the OpenURL link at the end of the Copac Full record display will take you to your own library's services. The name of this link will depend on your library e.g. 'Find It'. This may allow you to access the full-text of a journal or other document you have identified on Copac. It may also provide a link to your library's inter-library loan/article copy service.
It may be possible to obtain a copy if a document, for example an 18th century pamphlet or an early map. You can try requesting a copy of the document you need via a library or information service of which you are a member (e.g. your academic library). Your library staff will be able to advise you how to go about this and what costs are involved.
Alternatively, you can try making a personal request for a document. If a document is held by the British Library you can obtain information about their Imaging service on the British Library web pages. For documents held by other libraries you should check the library's website for information on Imaging/Reproduction services and for contact details. You can link to each library's website by selecting the 'Libraries' option on the Copac Home Page. This gives you a list of contributing libraries with a link to each library's own website.
When requesting a document copy it is helpful to provide the library with details of exactly where the document is held, including the shelfmark. In the Copac Full Record display select the the highlighted holding library name. This takes you to the Local Holdings display. The content of this display is variable, but it generally includes the name of the branch library that holds the document, the classmark at which it is held on the shelf, plus any local notes relating to the library's copy of the document.
Copac is a catalogue service not a bookshop. We can provide you with details about documents and their location, but we cannot sell you copies of those documents.
To buy a copy of a document you either need to talk to a local bookshop, or you can try one of the online booksellers. On the Copac Home Page if you select the 'Support' option, then the 'Related links' option, you will find links to other websites which provide details of a large number of publishers and booksellers, for both current and out-of-print materials.
Increasing numbers of Copac records include a link to the full-text of the document where this is made available online by another service. These links are included in the Copac Full Record display. However, this is only for the minority of works - most books etc. are not available online.
To gain access to material found on Copac you would normally need to make an Inter-Library Loan request, or buy the item yourself.
If you belong to an academic institution that has an OpenURL router then selecting the OpenURL link at the end of the Copac Full record display will take you to your own library's services. The name of this link will depend on your library e.g. 'Find It'. This may allow you to access the full-text of a document you have identified on Copac. It may also provide a link to your library's inter-library loan/article copy service.
Increasing numbers of Copac records include a link to the full-text of the document where this is made available online by another service. Some of the services are freely available to everyone, but others have restricted access.
Some full-text links take you to services which are restricted to members of subscribing UK Higher Education or Further Education Institutions. If you belong to a UK university or college, but you are still unable to follow a Copac link to a full-text service, then you would need to discuss access to that service with staff at your academic library. It may be that your institution does not subscribe, or you may simply need to register to use the service.
If you are unable to access the full-text of a document you would need to buy a copy of the document or try to borrow a copy by making an inter-library loan request.
There are two main problems with email download requests.
Copac is a catalogue, so like any library catalogue Copac contains records giving details about documents and their location, it does *not* contain the text of those documents. Consequently, when you make a Download request we send you the records you have selected, we cannot send you the text of those same documents.
Increasing numbers of Copac records include a URL link to the full-text (summary etc.) of the document where this is made available online by another service. Many of these are free access, but others are restricted to members of subscribing institutions. If you have enquiries about access to specific online full-text services you need to talk to staff in your own academic (or other) library.
If you belong to an academic institution that has an OpenURL router then selecting the OpenURL link at the end of the Copac Full record display will take you to your own library's services. The name of this link will depend on your library e.g. 'Find It'. This may allow you to access the full-text of a document you have identified on Copac.
The following is the complete list of the two letter Field Labels used in the Download record format. They are given in the order in which they appear in the record. Fields may occur more than once, but not all fields will be present in every record.
| Field label | Label translation |
| TI- | Title |
| AU- | Author, Editor, Translator, etc. |
| MV- | Volume and title details of a volume in a Multi-volume work |
| SE- | Series Title |
| ED- | Edition |
| SC- | Scale information for maps |
| PU- | Publisher Details |
| PY- | Publication Year |
| PD- | Physical Description |
| DT- | Document Type |
| LA- | Language |
| IS- | ISBN or ISSN |
| NT- | Notes |
| KW- | Subject details (Keywords) |
| UL- | URL for electronic resource |
| HL- | Holding Libraries |
When you have downloaded Copac records you can import them into reference management software. Depending on your software you can also save Copac records directly into the software from your web browser, or search Copac and download records from within your reference management software.
Copac is compatible with the Zotero citation management software. Zotero is a free Firefox 2 extension that allows you to capture references directly from your Web browser, as well as manage and cite your research sources.
If you use Reference Manager you can download the Copac Filter file for Windows. This filter file will allow you to import a file of downloaded Copac records into Reference Manager.
If you use EndNote you can download the Copac Connection File for Windows. This allows you to search Copac using EndNote and import Copac records. Connection file size is 8 KB. Kindly updated October 2007 by a Copac user, this version incorporates changes relating to character set and document language.
A problem we've come across before is that someone downloads the connection file but it ends up in the wrong directory and EndNote can't find it. Make sure the connection file is saved into the EndNote 'Connections' directory.
The Connection file also acts as a Filter file. If you search Copac using Endnote then the connection file automatically imports the records for you. However, if you search Copac using our Web interface and download records, you can also use the connection file to import these into EndNote. Choose the EndNote File menu, then the Import option. At the end of the list of import options you should see 'Use Connection File'. Choosing this gives you the normal list of connection files to choose from. You can select the Copac connection file and EndNote will use this as a filter to import your downloaded records.
If you have problems with this, contact the Copac Helpdesk (copac@mimas.ac.uk) and let us know.
Endnote web: there are two ways that you can use Copac with Endnote Web. You can search Copac directly through Endnote Web: go to 'collect', then 'online search' and choose 'Copac' from the list of sources.
You can also import records that you've downloaded from Copac. In Copac, mark your desired records, and choose 'export records as: Endnote, Zotero'. This will download a file in .RIS format. Within Endnote Web, choose 'collect' and 'import references', and 'Reference Manager RIS' for your import option.
You can download a Mac connection file for Copac from the
EndNote website:
http://www.endnote.com/support/enconnections.asp
Choose the Mac platform and download the connection file for The
University of Manchester.
The Copac Full Record display shows all the available bibliographic details for a document, plus a list of those institutions that hold one or more copies. If you select the highlighted name of an institution you will be given the Local Holdings display.
For most libraries the display provides 'real-time' information. When you select the
library name Copac requests up-to-date details from the relevant
local library catalogue. This display varies, but will usually
tell you:
- which branch libraries hold the document
- the shelfmark at which it appears on the shelves
- whether a copy is on-loan and, if so, when it is due
back.
The display will also include any relevant local notes.
The list of libraries contributing to Copac indicates which libraries are able to supply live document availability information.
E.g. The example below shows a University of Nottingham Local Holdings display screen. The book in question is held in two different branch libraries, the shelfmark is supplied, and you can see that when the search was carried out one copy was on-loan, due back on 23rd of April, whilst the second was on the shelf.
Nottingham Holdings Information
Human genetics : concepts and applications / Ricki Lewis.
| Current availability: | ||
| Location | Shelfmark | Status |
| Greenfield Medical Library | QH431 LEW | 23/04/07 |
| James Cameron-Gifford Library | Oversize QH431.L4 | Available |
This document availability information cannot be supplied by all of our contributing libraries at the moment, though this is changing gradually. A notable omission is the National libraries whose holdings do not circulate in the same way as other libraries and where real-time data does not have the same relevance.
Z39.50 is shorthand for ISO 23950: "Information Retrieval (Z39.50): Application Service Definition and Protocol Specification", and ANSI/NISO Z39.50. You can get full details from the Library of Congress website at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/agency/
Z39.50 is simply a standard that allows different information retrieval systems to communicate effectively behind the scenes.
For services such as Copac it opens up interesting possibilities. Anyone using the Copac Web interface can access real-time document availability data for many of our contributing libraries. That means you can check if a book is currently on loan, and if so, when it is due back. When you ask to see the Local Holdings display for a particular document we send a Z39.50 request to the relevant local library system and pull back the required information. We then display this information as part of the Copac Local Holdings display screen.
Z39.50 is also used by Reference Management software such as EndNote to allow you to search Copac and other services using the EndNote interface. For this to work correctly you need the relevant filter file. (More on importing Copac records into EndNote and Reference Manager).
If you have an RSS news reader you can 'subscribe' to a Copac search as an RSS feed. This will supply you with automatic updates giving details of new records and changes to existing records that match your search. A maximum of 100 records will be included in each RSS feed.
When you do a Copac search you get a display of Brief
records. Under the title at the top of the Brief display screen your
search terms are shown. Next to your search terms you will see an RSS
feed icon 
. You may be able to drag and drop the icon to your news
reader. Alternatively, selecting this icon will give you a set of records in
the form of an RSS output. Depending on your browser and/or your RSS
news reader software you can then either subscribe to the Copac RSS
feed directly from this web page or use the URL of the page to set up
the feed in your news reader.
When you set up a search as a news feed the first set of records you get will not necessarily be the full result set for that search. It will represent records added or amended during the preceding fortnight, up to a maximum of 100 records. If you want all the records in your current result set you wil need to use the Copac Download option to obtain them in the usual way.
There is a good description of RSS news feeds on the BBC web site as well as links to a range of news readers.
We have created search plugins to allow you to easily add Copac to your search bar in Firefox 2.0 and Internet Explorer 7. Simply click on the following links to add one or more plugins to search Copac by author, title or keyword.
A pop up box will appear - select 'Add' in Firefox or 'Add Provider' in Internet Explorer. You will then be able to select a Copac search from the drop down list in the search bar.
If you are a Facebook user there is also a Copac search plugin available that you can add to your Facebook page. You can use this to do keyword searches of Copac whilst you are in Facebook. You can find the Copac search plugin by looking in the Facebook applications directory.
All catalogues contain occasional errors. If you see an error in a record on Copac we do appreciate it if you tell us about this. The information can then be passed on to the relevant libraries and the error corrected. When the necessary change has been made on the local catalogue the library will include the corrected record in their next update file for inclusion on Copac
To tell us about record errors, get in touch with the Copac helpdesk: copac@mimas.ac.uk
For
Information and Advice contact the Copac Helpdesk at copac@mimas.ac.uk and read our FAQ page.
Accessibility. Disclaimer. Copyright. Privacy policy.
Copac is a Mimas service, based at The University of Manchester. Copac is funded by JISC, using records supplied by RLUK members & an increasing range of other contributing libraries.
Page last modified 7/02/2012.
