A c t i o n f o r L i b r a r i e s — O c t o b e r 2 0 0 0

There's More to Cataloging Than CORC

By Mike Wright

While OCLC's CORC service greatly simplifies the creation of MARC records for electronic resources, librarians need to know more than just how to navigate CORC to create full-level bibliographic records.

When someone at a member institution clicks the create button in CORC, it generates only a less-than-full (Level K) bibliographic record that won't include such potentially useful MARC tags as 256, 516 and 538. CORC won't make the decision about whether to apply tag 006, nor will it fully edit fixed-field data. Staff who are used to cataloging in other formats may find MARC tagging in the electronic arena confusing. And while BCR's new "OCLC CORC Service: Cataloging" workshop covers the functional aspects of CORC, it doesn't give details on the MARC format.

There are sources to turn to for help. Nancy B. Olson's excellent text, Cataloging Internet Resources, available from the OCLC Web site (www.oclc.org/oclc/man/9256cat/toc.htm) is a good place to start. In addition, OCLC's "Cataloging Electronic Resources: OCLC/MARC Coding Guidelines" (www.oclc.org/oclc/cataloging/type.htm) is invaluable.

Finally, consider signing up for the BCR hands-on workshop, "Cataloging: Internet Resources" which is routinely offered throughout the BCR region. This workshop is a step-by-step guide through the entire process, based on AACR2, chapter 9 and applying the appropriate Library of Congress rule interpretations and MARC tags. Participants apply the concepts learned by actually cataloging Web sites, both as a group and individually. The approach is informal with plenty of time for questions and discussion.

Look for it in the next edition (January 2001) of the BCR Workshop Schedule.

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