OCLC Offers Free Services for Certain
Batch Projects to Update, Clean Up Holdings

By Linda Gonzalez
If your library has not always been able to keep its holdings up to date on OCLC WorldCat, or if you have collections for which you've not been able to set holdings, OCLC Batch Services has an offer you may find attractive.

With the start of its new fiscal year on July 1, OCLC is offering cataloging member libraries a free, one- time reclamation project by OCLC Batch Services. Also, any member library in need of retrospectively setting holdings on OCLC is offered a free retrospective conversion project.

Both offers apply only to batchload projects through OCLC Batch Services, and only if a library agrees to keep its holdings updated after the project is completed. A library may do so either by continuing to batchload records for Batch Services to set holdings or by online activity, using one of OCLC's cataloging interfaces or a Z39.50 client. The offers apply only to bibliographic records, not serial holdings records (Local Data Records).

It's hard to overemphasize the importance of accurate holdings on OCLC WorldCat, especially for resource sharing. Correct holdings information improves interlibrary loan efficiency, since requests for items which are not actually owned will not be directed to a library. OCLC's Group Catalog service and its new WorldCat Collection Analysis service also can be effectively utilized only if libraries have correct holdings on WorldCat.

Batchloading (or tapeloading) is a process many OCLC members have used over the years to set holdings offline. Libraries that batchload do not update their holdings using an OCLC cataloging interface or Z39.50 interface to OCLC. A batchloading library sends files of its bibliographic records to OCLC Batch Services. Batch Services compares each of the library's records to those in WorldCat, and when a match is found, the library's symbol is added to the WorldCat record. Information on OCLC batchloading may be found at www.oclc.org/batchprocessing/.

A Batch Services retrospective conversion project saves a library the time (and money) involved in setting holdings on collections not yet represented in WorldCat, many of them of historical significance.

A reclamation project is for those libraries that have not consistently deleted holdings from WorldCat records when staff have withdrawn items from their collections. In a reclamation project, a library sends its current bibliographic files to Batch Services to set holdings on titles it currently owns and delete holdings from WorldCat records the library does not have represented in its local database. A reclamation project is a way for libraries to clean up their holdings.

OCLC Batch Services has a multitude of ways to process the files a library submits, and it accepts files via FTP (or EDX), e-mail and on certain types of physical media, including CD-ROM.

If you're in need of either a reclamation or retrospective conversion project, please contact Linda Gonzalez (lgonzale@bcr.org) or Rosario Garza (rgarza@bcr.org) at BCR with any questions.

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February 27, 2008
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