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OCLC Update

By Rosario Garza

OCLC Enhances CatExpress
During the October 21 weekend, OCLC enhanced searching in CatExpress. Some problems with the system also were fixed at that time. Enhancements include new search indexes, search tips button, a new way to enter date limits and two problem fixes.

Several types of search enhancements were added:

  • More exact searching: Personal Name, Corporate Author, Conference Names searches allow users to be more specific in limiting their searches.


  • More inclusive searching: Extended Author and Extended Title indexes allow broader searches by providing access to fields and subfields not indexed for Author and Title searches.


  • New information indexed: Genre/Form and Dewey, Library of Congress and National Library of Medicine call numbers indexes allow retrieval on elements that may help with cataloging.

A new Searching Tips button was added to the Advanced Search screen with information on all the different searches, index labels and date limiting. The CatExpress User Guide will be updated to reflect this new information.

Users will also note a change in how limiting by date is entered. Now only a single box must be completed. Users can still ask for materials published in a specific year, before a specific year, after a specific year or in a date range.

     Condition EnterExample
     A specific year The year by itself 2000
     Items before a certain date Hyphen and the ending date -1997
     Items after a certain date Start date and a hyphen 1995-
     Items within a date range Start date, hyphen, end date 1993-1995
     Items when you know the decade, but      not the exact year The millennium, century, decade and a question mark for the year 199?

This release also fixes two problems:

  • Navigation: CatExpress prevented users from navigating through the entire result set when the last screen contained a single record. Users may now move back and forth through the entire results set.


  • Multiple 852: When 852 $a was a constant, CatExpress would not return correct information for added volumes or copies. CatExpress now returns the correct information for these.

National Library Control Number Rewrite Project
Control numbers in bibliographic and authority records from the various national libraries are changing to reflect Year 2000 requirements. OCLC expects the changes outlined below to be installed in December 2000. The Library of Congress plans to issue control numbers in the new format beginning January 2001.

Field 010 will be restricted for use of the Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) only, with the exception of National Library of Canada (NLC) serials. For CONSER purposes, the control number in NLC serials will not be removed from the 010 field. Control numbers other than LCCNs that are currently in the field 010 will be moved to other fields.

The Library of Congress plans to issue control numbers in the new format beginning January 2001. In both authority and bibliographic records, old LCCNs will retain the current structure, and new LCCNs will reflect the new structure. Authorities will continue to display records without the hyphen, and bibliographic records will display with the hyphen. Users will continue to input the hyphen in bibliographic records.

  • Bibliographic record display example of the new structure: ab2000-123456.
  • Authority record display example of the new structure: n 2001050268.

Some new LCCNs will look like ISSNs. To avoid confusion when searching for bibliographic records, users will be required to drop the hyphen from the ISSN search key. The system will be coded such that it will recognize this eight-digit search as the ISSN search key.

National library control numbers, other than LC, will be stored in tag 029 and tag 016. Tag 029 is used for matching in batchload processing. Tag 016 was renamed and redefined in OCLC-MARC Bibliographic Update 2000 to include control numbers assigned to a record by national bibliographic agencies other than the Library of Congress. The British Library control number structure was changed to add an alphabetic decade counter in January of 2000; these numbers are stored in tag 029 and will also be copied to tag 016. Any British Library control numbers located in field 010 will be moved to tags 029 and 016. The National Library of Canada control number structure will change beginning January 2001. All occurrences of NLC control numbers (except NLC serials) in tag 010 will be removed. NLC control numbers will be stored in tags 029 and 016. (The control number for NLC serials will continue to be in tag 010 and tag 016.) National Library of Medicine (NLM) control numbers are currently stored in tags 029 and 069. NLM control numbers will be stored in tags 029 and 016; NLM control numbers currently in field 069 will be moved to tag 016. Control numbers from any other national libraries will be input in tags 016 and 029.

Users will be notified of schedules and changes through Online System News messages and log-on messages. Also, a technical bulletin will be issued.

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Comments to: shoffhin@bcr.org
February 27, 2008
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