OCLC Language Sets Aid Libraries
Serving Diverse Populations

Meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse patron community presents many challenges for librarians, especially in times of constrained budgets. Lack of staff expertise in languages other than English, uncertainty over which overseas publishers and vendors are reliable and lack of familiarity with foreign language titles are just a few difficulties.

OCLC can help relieve some of these problems. OCLC Language Sets are ready-to-use collections of non-English language titles, which come with full MARC bibliographic records with your choice of LC or DDC call numbers and with your holdings automatically set in WorldCat, the OCLC Online Union Catalog. The sets contain materials that would probably be most useful in public library and K-12 settings.

Experienced selectors at OCLC create sets of books, for adults or children, in Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese. Sets of videos are available in Spanish and occasionally in Russian. Selectors focus on high-quality, newly published titles, fiction and nonfiction, that appeal to a wide range of interests and needs. They include best-selling and award winning titles and classics. Sets are available in several sizes.

The fixed price includes: the materials, selection and acquisition costs, full MARC cataloging at OCLC with standard classification options, setting your holdings symbol to the records in WorldCat, shipping of materials and delivery of records via diskette, FTP, e-mail attachment, printouts or save file (for OCLC members only). Free posters and bookmarks to help you publicize your new collection accompany your materials, and with new Spanish Sets orders, you receive a Spanish Dewey Decimal Classification Schedule poster, courtesy of OCLC Forest Press.

Bilindex headings are available for Spanish language titles, and as an additional option, OCLC can provide physical processing of the materials, so that they are shelf-ready upon arrival at your library.

In meeting your library's mission to serve all segments of your community, consider OCLC Language Sets an option. As an added bonus, purchase book sets totaling 100 items before June 1, and OCLC will give you a three-title video set in the language of your choice.

For more information, and a link to order forms and pricing, please point your browser to www.oclc.org/languagesets/. You may also or contact Linda Gonzalez (lgonzale@bcr.org) or Rosario Garza (rgarza@bcr.org) at BCR.

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February 27, 2008
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