OCLC numbers are growing and soon will reach nine digits. (See OCLC Technical Bulletin 253 - ISBN and OCLC Number Changes.) OCLC will start exporting records with a prefix that changes depending on OCLC number size. An OCLC number with one-to-eight digits will have a prefix of ocm, and a nine-digit OCLC number will have a prefix of ocn.

If a library is indexing the OCLC number with the prefix exported by OCLC and has set up FirstSearch for deep linking by OCLC number, the library will need to update the administrative module for a new option to handle this type of indexing with deep linking.

To correctly update the admin module, select the appropriate radio button on the Administrative Module Linking>Web Library Catalogs screen to describe how OCLC numbers are indexed in your library. The options are:

• Do not add prefix to the OCLC Number — Your library catalogs the OCLC number with no prefix. Note: This is the default value.
• Add ocn/ocm prefix based on OCLC Number — Your library includes the prefix OCLC exports with the OCLC number in the indexing of the OCLC number. For all OCLC numbers 1 to 99,999,999, the prefix exported is ocm. For OCLC numbers from 100,000,000 or greater, the prefix exported is ocn. Selecting this radio button tells OCLC to add the correct prefix to the OCLC number based on the size of the OCLC number. Note: If set up earlier, the URL may have ocm at the end of the URL. This will now need to be removed.
• Add the following custom prefix to all OCLC Numbers — Your library adds the same consistent prefix in front of the OCLC number. For constant custom prefixes, supply the appropriate prefix in the text box. Note: If the library cataloged this way before this option existed, the prefix may be at the end of the URL. This will continue to work as before. Selecting the new radio button makes this choice more visible and clear.

Until you start seeing the new OCLC numbers, you will not have a problem using the current indexing method. At that time, if you currently index with ocm, you may need to make the change.