By Rosario Garza
Technical Bulletin Distribution Changes
Currently, OCLC publishes technical bulletins in print, ASCII format via the Techbul-l
electronic mail list and on the OCLC Web site. OCLC is changing the way that the
electronic list Techbul-l is used. Beginning with Technical Bulletin 236, OCLC will
follow a new procedure:
- Make the technical bulletin available on the Web in HTML and PDF formats for
easy printing.
- E-mail an announcement of the technical bulletin to Techbul-l. The
announcement will contain the URLs of the PDF and HTML versions.
OCLC will continue to print and distribute copies of technical bulletins. However, the
above change reduces both the preparation time and expense to get the information to
users.
OCLC Explores Increasing ILL Fill Rates
Eleven libraries are participating in the Strategic OCLC Union Listing Pilot Project
(SOUL project), launched in December to determine whether libraries' use of the OCLC
Union List service increases interlibrary loan fill rates for journals.
In the first two months of the project, OCLC trained library staff to enter local data
records (LDRs) in the Union List service. The staff then added records for the most-
requested serials.
Libraries participating in the pilot project are: University of Colorado-Boulder, Denver
Public Library, University of Kansas, Auburn University, Boston Public Library,
California Academy of Sciences, Occidental College, University of Delaware,
Northwestern University, University of Texas at Austin and San Francisco Public
Library.
OCLC will present an overview of the project and its results at an open meeting of the
OCLC Interlibrary Loan Users Group and Union List Users Group at the American
Library Association Conference in Chicago on Sunday, July 9, at 4:30 p.m. Project
results will also be published in the OCLC Newsletter and on the OCLC Web site:
www.oclc.org.
Passport for Windows and Linux
Inquiries about OCLC Passport for Windows
software and its ability to function with Linux have resulted in OCLC testing the
software with the operating system. Preliminary tests show that at this time, Passport
will not extract and install under Linux. OCLC, BCR staff and User Network Support
will not be able to provide support for users running Passport on an operating system
other than Windows, as Passport was originally developed to run only in a Windows
environment.
OCLC ILL Requests and LOCATIONS Field Transfer
As of March 19, the data in the :LOCATIONS: field transfers from existing
OCLC ILL records to new OCLC ILL requests when the New command is used.
The :LOCATIONS: field is provided on ILL workforms for library staff to enter
additional OCLC lender symbols in the event the request must be reinitiated. ILL Direct
Request automatically creates the field when additional lenders are provided by Custom
Holdings. The New command allows users to create new ILL requests from existing
requests without rekeying the data or searching the bibliographic record again. Starting
March 19, the New command transfers the :LOCATIONS: field data automatically so
users may just cut and paste the new lender symbols into the lender string.
For more information about the New command and :LOCATIONS: field, see the OCLC
Interlibrary Loan Service User Guide, 2nd ed., at www.oclc.org/oclc/ ill/guide/index.htm.
RLG and OCLC Explore Digital Archiving
The Research Libraries Group and OCLC have begun discussing ways the two
organizations can cooperate to create infrastructures for digital archiving.
As a first step, OCLC and RLG have begun to collaborate on two working documents to
establish best practices. Attributes of a Digital Archive for Research Repositories will
outline the characteristics of reliable archiving services, and Preservation Metadata for
Long-term Retention will propose approaches for descriptive and management metadata
needed in the long-term retention of digital files. RLG and OCLC will bring key players
together to review progress to date and identify common practices among those most
experienced in the archiving arena. The draft working papers will then be reviewed by
key stakeholders around the world.
The papers are expected to serve as a basis for further exploration of roles and
responsibilities of RLG, OCLC and others.
The draft documents will be made available on the RLG and OCLC Web sites, and
comments will be invited from interested parties before final publication. More
information is available from Nancy Elkington, RLG program officer
(nee@notes.rlg.org) or Meg Bellinger, president, Preservation Resources
(bellingm@oclc.org).
