Options Available to Replace
OCLC Passport for Cataloging
By Linda Gonzalez
OCLC has halted support for Passport software for cataloging. Are you still using OCLC Passport for cataloging and unsure of what your next step should be? Should you migrate to the Cataloging Micro Enhancer (CatME) or the Connexion browser interface or wait for the Connexion client software? Your answer will depend upon your cataloging work flow and requirements. The following information may help you decide on your next step.
Support for Macros
Do you use a lot of Passport macros? Macros are not supported
with the browser, though some functions, which in Passport or CatME could only be
accomplished with macros, are built into the browser and available via the dropdown
menus. If you need macro functionality beyond that, you can migrate to CatME now or
wait for the client's initial release, scheduled for mid-2003. If you migrate to the
Cataloging Micro Enhancer, when CatME is discontinued in the future (at a date not yet
announced) you will have to convert your macros again to Connexion. If you can wait
for the Connexion client, you will only have to convert your macros once.
A macro recorder will be available in the Connexion client when it's released; no macro recorder is available in CatME.
Export Considerations
Do you have a firewall, and do you export directly to your local system via TCP/IP? The
Cataloging Micro Enhancer, the Connexion browser and the Connexion client can all do
this, but please note these details:
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When exporting from the Connexion browser, the record is actually delivered directly from OCLC to your system, so you may need to open your local system to receive records from the Connexion IP address to get the records inside your firewall. CatME and Connexion client records are delivered through your workstation, so this is not a concern.
Some local systems return information after an export that is displayed in Passport. This information cannot be displayed in the Connexion browser, but can be displayed in CatME and will be in the Connexion client.
Do you export to your local system via a communications or printer port? The Connexion browser does not support this type of export, but CatME does, and the Connexion client will also.
Do you export to a file and then load the file into your local system? CatME, the Connexion browser and the Connexion client can all do this, but please note:
When exporting from the Connexion browser to a file, you cannot append records to an existing file. Each time you export, a new file is created. However, you can save records and export them in a group to create a single file.
CatME allows you to export records to a file either one by one or in a batch, as well as append records to an existing file.
The Connexion client will also allow you to export records to a file and append records to an existing file. The first release of the client in mid-2003 will support exporting single records. Later, batch export of records will be available.
At present neither the Connexion browser nor the first release of the Connexion client allow export in UNI- MARC, though both will be enhanced in the future to do so. CatME can do so. The Connexion browser can export records in Dublin Core, which neither Passport nor CatME can do. The Connexion client will be able to do so, as well.
Keyboard versus Mouse
Do you use the keyboard or the mouse or some combination of the two when you
catalog? With the Connexion browser, you can perform most activities with the
keyboard. You may also customize actions to keystroke shortcuts and reassign existing
keyboard shortcuts. However, you cannot completely escape using the mouse. With
CatME and the Connexion client, you can do everything with the keyboard and never
touch the mouse, or you can mix using them both. A comparison of CatME and
Connexion with respect to this may be found at
www.oclc.org/connexion/documentation/keycomparison.pdf.
Save File for Record Delivery Do you receive PromptCat or Bibliographic Notification records via an online save file? Do you batchload and receive your unresolved records that way? Since OCLC will, at some future date, end the use of online save files as a delivery method, neither the Connexion browser nor the client supports it. In the future, files of records will be picked up from the OCLC Product Services Web and imported, if necessary, into either the Connexion browser or client.
Are you interested in exploring offline capabilities or processing records in batch? You can do both in CatME right now, or you can wait for such capabilities to be available in the Connexion client in late 2003.
The Connexion browser has many features never available in Passport. The linking of bibliographic headings to their associated authority records, the ability to keyword search in the authority file and the lack of a record-size limit are just a few.
The Connexion client will have its own distinct features, though not in its initial release: the ability to work offline and in batch; the availability of local files; a spell checker; local accessions list generation; and the ability to print labels in a format of your own design.
For more information on Connexion, please go to www.oclc.org/connexion/.
For advice on moving away from Passport, please contact Regan Harper (rharper@bcr.org), Linda Gonzalez (lgonzale@bcr.org), Ann Schwab (aschwab@bcr.org) or Rosario Garza (rgarza@bcr.org) at BCR.
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February 27, 2008
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