Title South African National Bibliography (SANB)
Web site address http://www.nlsa.ac.za/
Start date 1926
Period covered Printed format covering 1926 – 1958 published as the Retrospective SANB (RSANB); the period 1959 – 1999 as the SANB. (We do, however, have materials published from ± 1890).
Online via the SANB scope of the National Library’s catalogue and since 1999 also on WorldCat.
Current size Approximately 246 000 records added up to end September 2010
Media covered Monographs, pamphlets, government publications, microforms, maps, electronic media, videos, periodicals, newspapers, published conference proceedings, SA standards and specifications
General selection criteria All materials published in South Africa, excluding materials indicated below.
Selection criteria for digital resources In process
Exclusions policies applied Parliamentary bills and amendments to bills, individual entries for annual reports, unpublished conference proceedings, picture strips, trade catalogues, parliamentary papers, sheet music, ephemera, pamphlets of fewer than 5 pages, house journals and school magazines
Primary organisation responsible for national bibliographic control Single National Library (with two campuses); acting as National Bibliographic Agency
Web site address of national bibliographic agency http://www.nlsa.ac.za/
Co-operative structures or  relationships supporting the production of the national bibliography The NLSA is also the ISN Agency  for South Africa; also works in close cooperation with various publisher organisations in SA
Single integrated or multiple categorised bibliographies Single national bibliography covers all publications
Sources of bibliographic metadata used to produce national bibliography Data created in-house
Relationship to national legal deposit legislation or voluntary deposit arrangements Materials included received by the NBA under the national Legal Deposit Act, Act 54 of 1997. Same Act covers electronic and digital media
Relationship to national Cataloguing in Publication (CIP) programme No
Media & format options Printed catalogues up to 1999; from 2000 onwards available on webOPAC nationally and internationally
Access options to national bibliographic metadata WebOPAC (Millennium)
Metadata enhancements offered via online services No
Web 2.0 services offered None
Frequency of service updates Daily
Target audiences for services Library and Information Services (LIS) community
Uses made of  services offered To find and verify bibliographic information, selection and acquisition purposes, interlending and reference and information services
Pricing policy for national bibliographic services Free access to webOPAC
Availability of metadata for re-use Metadata available without restriction
Metadata formats MARC21,
Cataloguing code AACR2, LCRI
Levels of description offered ISBD, AACR Level 3
Subject standards DDC22
Name authority standards NACO (PCC)
Is NBA affiliated to IFLA SC? Yes. A corresponding member of the IFLA Bibliography Section Standing Committee
Date information submitted 11 November 2010
Information supplied by Elmaré Broodryk, Programme Executive, Bibliographic Services and Collections Management