The Global Cataloguing Service of the British Council was initiated in 1980 with the aim of reducing duplication of effort in cataloguing the same titles in different Council libraries around the world. Cataloguing of all books acquired by Council libraries abroad is done centrally at British Council headquarters in London. Records for titles not already in the Global Cataloguing Service database are downloaded from the UKMARC database or catalogued as Extra-MARC material. Each of the fifty-six Council libraries participating in the system receives lists of new accessions and an updated microfiche catalogue of its holdings at regular intervals. In a country like Portugal, the system provides a model to be studied by local librarians.
