A c t i o n f o r L i b r a r i e s — J a n u a r y 2 0 0 1

OCLC Update

By Rosario Garza

2002 ILL Non-referral Days
As OCLC has become more global, concerns have arisen about its ILL non-referral days being too U.S.-centric. Rather than adding holidays for other countries, OCLC is eliminating most. Starting in 2002, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day are the only holidays that will be retained. For 2001, the usual OCLC ILL non-referral holidays will be in effect.

New Cataloging Micro Enhancer, CJK Software Released
OCLC has released version 1.20 of the OCLC Cataloging Micro Enhancer for Windows and version 3.10 of the OCLC CJK software. The new versions provide some user- requested enhancements, fixes to reported problems and changes arising from other OCLC projects, including updates to the display of the LCCN with the four-digit year.

OCLC and BCR will discontinue supporting previous versions of both software products on April 30. Users are encouraged to download and install the new versions as soon as possible.

As announced previously, these new versions will no longer provide a LAN installation. However, users can load the software on their LANs and install it from the LAN to individual workstations.

See details at URL www.bcr.org/~bss/catme-cjk.html.

If you have questions about downloading, installing or using these new versions, contact BCR's Regan Harper (rharper@bcr.org), Ann Schwab (aschwab@bcr.org) or Mike Wright (mwright@bcr.org).

OCLC-MARC Code Lists Publication Discontinued
As of December 31, OCLC stopped publishing OCLC-MARC Code Lists in print and on the OCLC Web site. The reasons for ceasing publication are:

USMARC Code Lists are available from the Library of Congress (LC) in print and on its Web site at www.loc.gov/marc/marc.html. You can also print the lists as needed.

The OCLC system uses the codes prescribed by the Library of Congress. OCLC-MARC Code Lists replicates much of the USMARC Code Lists with little OCLC customization of information.

OCLC has never supplied the information contained in USMARC Code List for Organizations.

U.S. depository libraries currently receive the printed copies of LC's USMARC Code Lists.

Both BCR and OCLC staff will continue to answer your questions about existing codes and about entities for which codes do not yet exist. We will announce the creation of new codes and continue to notify you via various methods about changes in the codes.

OCLC will establish links from the its Web site (www.oclc.org/oclc/man/code/codetoc.htm) to the Library of Congress Web site so you can find the lists easily. OCLC is also establishing a notification list on the OCLC Web site to relay code changes as announced by Library of Congress. The USMARC Code Lists in printed form are available for purchase from LC at lcweb.loc.gov/cds/marcdoc.html#cl. This Web site gives price and ordering information.

CORC Record Corrections
The integration of the CORC database and WorldCat last June revealed a number of problems with the quality of the data. As of October 30, OCLC had completed most of the cleanup. Twenty-one separate kinds of errors were reported. Four were not problems that were correctable by software. Rather, they were user-input errors and usually constituted questionable or misleading information. Changes to this data are not possible programmatically and must be reported or corrected record-by-record.

In all, more than 25,000 corrections have been applied against the records added to WorldCat from CORC users prior to July 1. The only remaining correction is restoration of field 699 with Dewey Decimal class numbers, which is being worked on and slated for completion in the near future.

A few situations require attention when you input new records. These also are not correctable with software and require manual review and decision making.

Invalid URLs: While no means is available for correcting them, OCLC has implemented URL checking and notification so users can verify and correct the ones in which they are interested.

Note fields with HTML embedded (example: <IMB SRC=http): The CORC harvester is still generating some data such as this. Please review records you are creating to determine if there may be HTML data that you do not want to keep. Delete any data that is in the notes data.

Duplicate records: This is the most predominant complaint of duplicate records. While OCLC used existing software to dedupe the databases when they were synchronized in June, the result is far from perfect. The duplication rate continues to be a high concern and is most easily resolved at the time of input and creation of a record.

Incorrect information in the language field: When the harvester is unable to determine a resource's language, it defaults to 'und' (Undetermined). Please check the language and correct it when creating a record. This is one of the easiest elements to determine, but is frequently left to default to Undetermined. A more precise code improves indexing capabilities in both WorldCat and the Resource Catalog.

OCLC staff have also identified a number of improvements to CORC that they hope will reduce the incidence of some kinds of errors. These will be implemented over time along with the continuing enhancements. However, you are encouraged to conscientiously review all new input to determine the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of the data in your records.

Batchload Reports Available Online
Beginning in January 2001, OCLC is making batchload processing summaries and reports available directly to individual institutions via the OCLC Product Services Web (PSW). You can obtain your institution's report from OCLC's Product Services Web using a PRISM or FirstSearch authorization number/password that is related to your individual institution.

Batchload Processing Summary and Reports can be printed from PSW or saved to online files, then printed. The reports are sorted by date followed by the OCLC symbol.

OCLC's Product Services Web site is located at www.oclc.org/oclc/menu/prodserv.htm. Click on RECORDS and REPORTS, then click on ALL RECORDS and REPORTS. Enter the assigned authorization and password, then click OK.

If you have questions, contact BCR's Ann Schwab.

Cataloging Source Code (008/39) and Field 040 Change
On December 10, 2000, OCLC installed the third set of changes related to the MARC Bibliographic Update, 2000. This phase includes:

Changes to Cataloging Source (Srce) and field 040 to support the changes in the definition of Cataloging Source (Srce).

Changes to the Cataloging Source Qualifier (DLC qualifier) to identify the elements used to retrieve records for display and to identify PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging) records in Brief and Truncated record displays.

Changes to the relationship between Srce values blank or c and field 040 subfield $a for original input.

See Technical Bulletin 236 (www.oclc.org/oclc/tb/tb236) part 2, for complete information on the changes.

MARC Code List Additions and New Subfield for Field 583
The Library of Congress announced several additions to the MARC Code Lists for Relators, Sources, Description Conventions. These codes are now available for use by OCLC members.

Description Convention Codes: Field 583 $2 — (Source of term): stmanf - Standard terminology for the MARC 21 Action Note.

Source Codes: Fields 600-630 and 651 $2 — Subject Added Entries: unbisn - UNBIS Name Authority List.

Source Codes: Field 655 $2 — Index Term (Genre/Form): gtlm - Genre terms for law materials.

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