A c t i o n f o r L i b r a r i e s — D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 1

OCLC Update

By Rosario Garza

Cataloging Micro Enhancer 2.00 Available
The latest version of OCLC's Cataloging Micro Enhancer software (CatME), version 2.00, is available for download from the OCLC Web site. Version 2.00 includes enhancements to existing functionality and new support for NACO activity for creating authority records. For more information on the enhancements and to download the software, please visit the OCLC CatME home page at www.oclc.org/catme/. The Cataloging Micro Enhancer software, which combines interactive online searching and processing with optional off-line batch functionality, is available at no charge to OCLC Cataloging members. If you have any questions about the software and how it works, contact Regan Harper (rharper@bcr.org), Linda Gonzalez (lgonzale@bcr.org) or Mike Wright (mwright@bcr.org) at BCR.

Prerelease Video Cataloging Coming
Ingram Library Services and OCLC have affiliated to provide libraries with improved services via the exchange of bibliographic information and metadata for videos several weeks before their release date.

Under terms of the agreement, professional catalogers at OCLC will provide full cataloging records of new release videos supplied by Ingram. These records will be added to both WorldCat and Ingram's cataloging database, BookMARC. Because of the new agreement, OCLC now receives new video titles up to 12 weeks ahead of their general release dates.

Ingram sends a screening copy of a video to OCLC, where it is cataloged in DVD, VHS and, if applicable, Spanish-version formats.

OCLC ILLiad Now ISO ILL Compliant
OCLC ILLiad has completed ISO ILL testing and now is fully ISO compliant. OCLC ILLiad is a comprehensive ILL management program that handles many complex aspects of interlibrary loan processing, from a Web-based patron interface to extensive borrowing and lending functions that include billing and document delivery. Sophisticated Web-based statistics are also part of the OCLC ILLiad management program.

The ability to transmit and receive ILL requests via the ISO ILL protocol provides OCLC ILLiad users with a wide variety of delivery systems. Using ILLiad, libraries can send ILL requests via OCLC ILL, RLIN ILL, DOCLINE via the Web, e-mail or ISO ILL.

To promote this milestone, OCLC is offering a 10 percent discount on all ILLiad purchases ordered and installed by June 30, 2002.

Atlas Systems is currently testing OCLC ILLiad with RLG's ILL Manager. Atlas and OCLC look forward to testing ILLiad software with other ISO ILL-based systems.

If you have any questions about ILLiad, please contact Ann Schwab (aschwab@bcr.org) at BCR.

OCLC Pinyin Conversion Progress
In October, OCLC completed the conversion of non-Chinese language bibliographic records in WorldCat, the OCLC Online Union Catalog, from the Wade-Giles transliteration scheme to pinyin. A total of 24,909 records with language codes other than "chi" in the Language fixed field (008/35-37) were converted. The records were carefully selected by algorithms designed to find identifiable Wade-Giles text and represent all non-Chinese bibliographic records that could be safely converted. This includes the two categories of bibliographic records purposely deferred during the Chinese language conversion completed earlier in 2001: records with numerous language codes in field 041, especially records that contain Japanese and/or Korean codes in addition to Chinese; and score and sound recording records coded "N/A" in the Language fixed field but that are identifiably Chinese. For specifications on the conversion, see www.loc.gov/catdir/pinyin/nonchi-contents.pdf on the Library of Congress Pinyin Conversion Project Web site.

OCLC worked in close cooperation with the Library of Congress (LC) and the Research Libraries Group for more than two years to plan and test this conversion. For an outline and explanation of the conversion process and answers to questions about the conversion, see the LC Pinyin Conversion Project lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/ pinyin Web site. Please remember that all bibliographic records created in pinyin or manually converted to pinyin should contain the marker field 987, including records submitted for batchloading. The presence of field 987 assures that the record is not inadvertently converted again by the pinyin conversion software.

As with any conversion of this size and complexity, a few records will inevitably be converted incorrectly. LC is currently working on identifying and fixing records in known areas of problematic conversions. OCLC users with Chinese language skills have the ability to correct many records on their own as they come across them. Minimal Level records (Encoding Levels K, M, 2, 3, 5, 7 and all 4s that do not include field 042 with code "pcc") may be locked, corrected and replaced by any OCLC user with a Full Level authorization or above. If you are a participant in CONSER or OCLC's Enhance program, you are encouraged to fix incorrectly converted records with Encoding Levels higher than minimal, in accordance with your CONSER, Regular Enhance or National Level Enhance authorization.

OCLC users are asked to report any erroneously converted records they are not authorized to correct themselves. The full range of paper and electronic means of reporting errors in OCLC records can be found in Chapter 5 "Quality Assurance" on the Web at www.oclc.org/oclc/bib/5_7.htm of OCLC's Bibliographic Formats and Standards (in print, p. 59-72).

If you are interested in having your library's Wade-Giles records converted to pinyin, please contact Chris Mottayaw (chris_mottayaw@oclc.org) for more information about OCLC's local pinyin conversion service options. Questions concerning the specifications for the bibliographic conversion should be addressed to Philip Melzer, team leader, Korean/Chinese Cataloging Team, Library of Congress, at pmel@loc.gov.

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