Brodart recently has produced one of the two largest public access catalogs on compact disc: CAVALIR, the union data base for the Commonwealth of Virginia. It contains 3.3 million unique titles, almost as many as the state of Wisconsin's WISCAT. Due to the division of the data base by publication date, one copy of the CAVALIR catalog is contained on five discs by publication date. This facilitates use of the data base on workstations with one CD-ROM drive. WISCAT is on four disks because it is not divided.
This 11th edition of CAVALIR is being distributed to 220 libraries across the state. Its five disks replace a microfiche catalog of 10,026 fiches weighing in at 52 pounds per set. CAVALIR is used primarily as an interlibrary loan tool, although some libraries use it for cataloging. With the CD-ROM version, staff and patrons are able to limit a search by region or individual library for the first time. The data base was created from several sources including OCLC, Auto-Graphics, VTLS, Inlex and TCC.
[Contact: Brodart Automation Company, 5000 Arch Street, Williamsport, PA 17705; (800) 233-8467.]
