A c t i o n f o r L i b r a r i e s — A u g u s t 2 0 0 5

Enhancements to OCLC WorldCat
Resource Sharing Improve Functionality

By Heather Clark
In June, OCLC completed a data and platform migration. Overall, the migration was successful, but not without some problems, particularly with the transfer of data in Direct Request, some LDR views and ISO ILL functions. Any libraries with questions about workflow affected by ISO-ILL should contact BCR's Heather Clark (hclark@bcr.org).

OCLC also added enhancements to WorldCat Resource Sharing to improve functional use of the software. Request numbering has increased to a maximum of 10 digits, eliminating the need to restart the numbering process after a million requests have been processed. A review request will no longer be assigned a separate identification number; rather it will be assigned one request identifier, which will remain with it through its life cycle. The lists in the Request Manager will now be sorted by request identifier in ascending order.

Libraries that have gone to non-supplier status after being entered into the lender string of an active resource sharing request will be automatically skipped in the lender string at the time the request comes to them. This feature will streamline the process, forwarding the request to the next potential lender four days sooner. Another streamlining feature limits the borrower to four days to reply to a conditional message from a lender that has been entered twice into the lender string.

Request searching
The searching functionality of the Request Manager has changed. The following information and examples should help to retrieve requests when the request identifier is not readily in hand. The Review Number and Author/Title searches are now obsolete.

Exact match searching
The exact match search is used for borrowing library, lending library, patron identifier and request identifier. For these searches, you must enter the exact text you want to retrieve. (This is case insensitive.)

Wild card searching
All other searches — author, call number, patron department, patron identifier, patron name and title — are now searchable through a wild card query. See the following sample searches. (Because of the change in searching functions, it is important that patron names are entered in the same manner consistently.)

Author search: Enter the author's name the same way you believe it is stored in the database; include punctuation, but ignore leading and trailing spaces. For example: rob* will retrieve: Robert Ludlum; Robert James Waller; Robin McKinley. rob* will not retrieve McKinley, Robin or Ludlum, Robert.
Call Number search: Enter the call number of the item in the request you want to retrieve.
Patron Department search: Enter the department of the patron in the request you want to retrieve. For example, medical* will retrieve: Medical Department; medic* will retrieve Medical, Medical Department and Medicine.
Patron Name search: Enter the name of the patron in the request you want to retrieve. In this case smith* will retrieve Gene Smith, but *smith will retrieve Gene Smith and Jack Hammersmith. However, *smith* will retrieve Kate Smithson.
Title search: Enter the title of the item in the request you want to retrieve.

Previously, the ? query would allow libraries to retrieve all of their outstanding borrowing and/or lending requests. This search is no longer operational, but the information is still available. To find all requests loaned or borrowed by your symbol, in the search all requests area of the Request Manager:

Enter local institutional symbol in the search box of the Request Manager.
Select the option borrowing library to see all borrowing requests or lending library to see all lending requests and click search.

Statistics
Statistics (particularly IFM Reports) that were previously delivered through the Product Services Web can now be accessed through the statistics Web site: www.stats.oclc.org/. Log in with your Resource Sharing authorization and password. From this site, you have access to a variety of statistics that can be exported to local spreadsheet software. You may also sign up to have the reports e-mailed to you on a monthly basis.

Please contact BCR's Heather Clark at hclark@bcr.org if you have questions regarding these changes or any other issues regarding WorldCat Resource Sharing.

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Enhancements to OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing Improve Functionality

Enhancements to OCLC WorldCat
Resource Sharing Improve Functionality