OCLC2005

News From OCLC
Compiled by Jay Weitz
For the Music OCLC Users Group and Music Library Association Meetings
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
February 2005

 

General News

OCLC and Yahoo! Collaborate on Co-branded Toolbar Pilot Project

OCLC and Yahoo! Inc., a leading global Internet company, announced in November 2004 a pilot program that leverages the strength of the Yahoo! Toolbar and Yahoo! Search to enable users to explore the Web as well as a subset of the OCLC WorldCat database. The companies have collaborated on a co-branded toolbar that provides consumers with one-click access to 2 million of the most popular records found in WorldCat, a central catalog of library holdings created and maintained collectively by more than 9,000 libraries. The Yahoo!/OCLC toolbar is a project associated with Open WorldCat, a new OCLC initiative designed to increase the online visibility of libraries and their collections. OCLC will be promoting the co-branded toolbar on its website, providing consumers access to information that was previously only available through libraries. The toolbar enables consumers to narrow their search results to the WorldCat database and helps them locate libraries in their vicinity that have the record, book or document that they are looking for. OCLC and Yahoo! will work together to increase accessibility to more of WorldCat's 56 million records as they become available. To access WorldCat's most popular records, consumers simply enter a query in search box located in the toolbar and either click the WorldCat logo or use the drop-down menu which features a “libraries” link. Consumers will then be prompted for their zip code to determine if the library materials they are looking for are available in a nearby library. The co-branded toolbar features Yahoo! Search, which provides consumers with a rich research technology to help them access both online and offline repositories of data. The Yahoo!/OCLC Toolbar also includes a drop-down menu, located next to the WorldCat logo, which provides access to the OCLC FirstSearch service; the NetLibrary eBook service; the OCLC member library list; the OCLC Web site; and a link to the About WorldCat site which leads to more information on the database. The co-branded toolbar will also be available in OCLC libraries across the nation. The Yahoo!/OCLC Toolbar can be downloaded from the OCLC website: http://www.oclc.org/toolbar.

OCLC Launches Open WorldCat Program

OCLC has turned the Open WorldCat pilot into a program that will be an ongoing benefit for OCLC member libraries. The pilot has clearly demonstrated the value of making WorldCat records and library holdings available to the general public on the open Web. During the pilot phase, Open WorldCat brought millions of click-throughs from Web search engines such as Google and Yahoo! Search to the Open WorldCat interface, where users could find and link to library catalogs and other resources. This is consistent with OCLC's chartered objective of increasing the availability of library resources and the goal to weave libraries into the Web. A fact sheet with additional details about the Open WorldCat pilot and plans for the ongoing Open WorldCat Program is available on the Open WorldCat website at http://www.oclc.org/info/openworldcat/.

Baker & Taylor and OCLC NetLibrary Announce Expanded Alliance

Baker & Taylor, the leading distributor of books, AV, and library services, and OCLC NetLibrary, the leading provider of eContent services to the institutional library market, announced an agreement to combine their strengths to facilitate delivery of a broader range of eContent to the library market. eBooks are full-text electronic versions of published books that library patrons can search, borrow, read, and return via the Internet. With NetLibrary eBooks, patrons can access library resources anywhere, while performing full-text searches across thousands of titles, and viewing books from their Internet browser. With the increasing demand from libraries for electronic content and the clear need to deliver that digital content within today’s library acquisitions programs, Baker & Taylor and NetLibrary recognized the benefits their working partnership would provide to library customers. This agreement will result in a significant increase in the scope of eContent delivered to customers within already established programs and workflows. Baker & Taylor and NetLibrary will expand on the electronic distribution relationship established in 2001. The processes already in place from that earlier working partnership will enable the two companies to launch this new alliance with minimal transitional requirements.

OCLC Cataloging and Resource Sharing Migration Dates

OCLC will retire Passport for Cataloging and Interlibrary Loan on 2005 May 1. Please note the following important dates:

Information to help migrate to Connexion is available on the Connexion migration page ( http://www.oclc.org/connexion/migrating/default.htm). Information to help Passport users migrate to Resource Sharing is available on the ILL migration page ( http://www.oclc.org/ill/migration/default.htm).

Collections and Technical Services

Connexion Browser Enhancements November 2004

Among the enhancements to the Connexion Browser installed in November 2004 were:

See Technical Bulletin 251 ( http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/tb/251/default.htm) for more information.

Connexion Client 1.20 Now Available

A new version of the Connexion client, the Windows-based interface to OCLC's flagship cataloging service, is ready for download from the OCLC Web site. Among the enhancements version 1.20 includes:

For additional details on the Connexion Client 1.20 enhancements, see http://www.oclc.org/connexion/interface/client/enhancements/recent.htm.

NetLibrary and Recorded Books to Offer Web-Based Audio Book Program

NetLibrary, the leading provider of eBooks to libraries worldwide, has teamed up with Recorded Books, LLC, the premier provider of unabridged audio books to libraries, to create an innovative new program for delivering audio books to libraries through the Web. Key elements to this unique program include: an innovative pricing structure, unlimited access, the ability for patrons to download to a range of portable devices, and a technology solution that supports download via broadband or dial-up capabilities, ensuring reach to a wide range of library patrons. The program formally launched in December 2004. Libraries can view demos of the program upon request. Library users will be able to search for, preview, checkout, and listen to audio books via the Internet and the familiar NetLibrary platform, and can focus their search on audio titles only, or take advantage of search functionality that integrates audio titles with all electronic content their library may have in their NetLibrary collection. The NetLibrary/Recorded Books program will launch with 500 titles, including works from notable authors who regularly appear among the top 15 works on the New York Times’ Hardcover Best Seller List, such as Patricia Cornwell, Alexander McCall Smith, Carl Hiassen, Elizabeth Peters, Nevada Barr, Pat Conroy, and more. Web-based collections of Recorded Books titles will be available for purchase through either Recorded Books or NetLibrary and will be delivered via the NetLibrary interface, already familiar to more than 12,000 libraries worldwide. Library patrons will be able to search for audio books just as they would for any type of eContent in their NetLibrary collection. NetLibrary/Recorded Books audio books can be checked out and played on desktop, laptop or any number of portable devices supporting Windows Media Player (v9), Music Match (v8.2+), or Nullsoft Winamp 5 and devices that accept protected WMA files. Supported portable devices include: Creative products (excluding the Rhumba series), Rio, iRiver flash players, RCA, Dell Digital Jukebox, Gateway Juke Box, and many more. Audiobooks from NetLibrary and Recorded Books will be available via a simplified pricing model based on library size and anticipated circulation requirements. Libraries can provide patrons with unlimited access to a collection of 500 audio content titles. New content will be added to the program over time as new titles are released.

LC Adding Machine-Generated Contents Notes

On 2005 February 1, the Library of Congress began enriching bibliographic records with scanned table of contents data in field 505, adding information that was previously available only via 856 links. The 505 data will be generated from the table of contents information and supplied by computer program. It will be preceded by the legend: “Machine-generated contents note:” The 505 indicators for these machine-generated notes will be set to “8” (No display constant generated) and “blank” (Basic; single occurrence of subfield $a). Since the scanned table of contents come in a wide variety of formats and structures, some errors are to be expected in the placement and configuration of the 505 textual strings. Space, hyphen, hyphen, space will be inserted after each line break within the table of contents. Chapter and page numbers will appear as captured from the scanned table of contents images. The 505 data will NOT undergo review for punctuation. LC records with existing 856 links to table of contents texts will be batched processed, modified, and redistributed on a daily basis until all of the approximately 60,000 records containing links from the 856 to LC’s Web-based dTOC (digital table of contents) records are enhanced. The 856 links to the dTOCs will remain in the records. This effort should make table of contents information more readily available within MARC records and increase access to this valuable data. Questions or comments regarding the scope or data content of these records may be directed to: John Byrum, Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-4380; e-mail: jbyr@loc.gov; telephone: (202) 707-5196. As with all contents notes, these 505 fields will be available for editing by any library with a full-level (or higher) cataloging authorization. If you edit a machine generated 505 field to conform to standard AACR2 practice, please change the indicator and remove the words “Machine-generated contents note:” at the beginning of the field. See Technical Bulletin 246 for further information on Database Enrichments: http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/tb/246/.

Bolinda Publishing Contributes Records to WorldCat

Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd is now contributing their MARC records to WorldCat for use by the OCLC membership. Bolinda is Australia’s leading unabridged audio book and large print book publisher and specialist library supplier. They have offices in the United States and the United Kingdom as well as in Australia. Their imprints are Bolinda Audio and Bolinda Large Print Books, and they also represent many other audiobook providers within Australia. For more information on Bolinda, see their Web site: http://www.bolinda.com. Bolinda is contributing original records for their titles to WorldCat. See #57316413 and #57316406 for two examples. In addition, when a Bolinda record matches a record already in WorldCat, their ordering information is added to the record in a 938 field. See #55591932 for an example of a matching record. You may search for Bolinda titles within the cataloging system by means of the vendor search (command line search “vn: boli” in Connexion).

Reference Services

ERIC Database Changes

Several changes to the ERIC database on FirstSearch were implemented in October 2004:

Please note that there will be no pricing or other changes to how the ERIC database is offered on the OCLC FirstSearch service nor will there be any changes in search functionality. Please contact your regional service provider (http://www.oclc.org/contacts/regional/) or OCLC Customer Support (1-800-848-5800 or support@oclc.org) with questions.

CSA Acquires OCLC Public Affairs Information Service

CSA has acquired the OCLC Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS), publishers of the PAIS International and PAIS Archive databases, from OCLC. CSA will continue to publish the products in print and make the databases available through CSA Illumina. The PAIS titles are an excellent fit for the CSA publishing organization, publishers of CSA Worldwide Political Science Abstracts and CSA Sociological Abstracts. Libraries will benefit from this new arrangement. CSA has an extensive research and publishing operation in the social sciences, producing CSA Sociological Abstracts, CSA Social Services Abstracts, CSA Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, ASSIA: Applied Social Science Index & Abstracts, and CSA Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts. PAIS content provides a valuable complement to these proprietary databases as well as to the other notable social science databases on the CSA platform from other publishers. CSA is a worldwide information company, serving as a guide to researchers to help them be more effective in their work by enabling and expediting discovery, aiding the management and organization of quality information and providing tools to assist in its subsequent dissemination. CSA specializes in publishing and distributing in print and electronically 100 bibliographic and full-text databases and journals in four primary editorial areas: natural sciences, social sciences, arts & humanities, and technology.

Electronic Books Database Now Available on FirstSearch

A database of electronic books is now available to all subscribers of the OCLC Base Package and OCLC Collection on FirstSearch. This database is also available as a standalone database via per-search and subscription. It currently contains records for over 200,000 items cataloged as electronic books in WorldCat. In conjunction with the Electronic Books database, OCLC will be launching a pilot to evaluate library users' experiences with searching and display of search results using a visual interface developed by Antarctica Systems, Inc. ( http://www.antarctica.net/). The pilot will run from January through April 2005. Antarctica Systems, Inc. will use its VisualNet data visualization software to create a visual interface to the Electronic Books database. When a patron selects the Electronic Books database on FirstSearch, they will be provided with an option to use the visual interface for searching and viewing results. OCLC will be conducting a user survey to gauge feedback during this pilot and will also collect usage statistics that will be evaluated for future applications. We will provide additional information on this pilot in the near future.

Philosopher's Index Database Now Available on FirstSearch

The Philosopher's Index database is now available by subscription on the OCLC FirstSearch service. This database, produced by the Philosopher's Information Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving philosophers, is the pre-eminent philosophy database in the world. The Philosopher's Index covers more than 550 journals in all fields of philosophy from more than 40 countries in eight languages. It contains citations and author-written abstracts for journal articles, books, contributions to anthologies and book reviews, published from 1940 to the present, and is updated quarterly. The Philosopher's Index complements the rich philosophy resources in WorldCat and the humanities collection on FirstSearch and NetLibrary. As with other databases on FirstSearch, OCLC has enhanced The Philosopher's Index by providing links to full text from Electronic Collections Online and other databases. There are also links to library holdings in WorldCat and to OCLC interlibrary loan, links to local OPACs, Z39.50 links to shelf status, links via OpenURL, and links to JSTOR.

Resource Sharing, Shelf-Ready, and Contract Services

Holdings Experts Help OCLC Implement MARC 21 Format for Holdings Data

OCLC is in the process of implementing the MARC 21 Format for Holdings Data (MFHD), and invited holdings experts Frieda Rosenberg and Diane Hillmann to OCLC to advise OCLC staff on interpretations of the standard and on common usage of the standard to accelerate OCLC’s implementation. WorldCat currently contains local holdings data for more libraries than any other single repository in the world. Those holdings support resource sharing activities, measurably reducing the cost of resource sharing for participating libraries. When these holdings are converted to the MFHD format, they will allow further reduction in resource sharing costs through automatic routing of requests based on detailed information in the local data records. Ms. Rosenberg is Head of Serials Cataloging, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has worked with serials since 1979 and with the MFHD format since 1993. She is a co-author of the CONSER SCCTP Serial Holdings Workshop, and is currently completing a NASIG Guide to Holdings for the NASIG web site. Ms. Hillmann is the Director of Library Services and Operations, National Science Digital Library, is the co-editor of the recently published, Metadata in Practice, and was a member of MARBI for 10 years, specializing in the Holdings and Authorities formats. She is also a current member of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Advisory and Usage Boards, and is co-chair of the DCMI Education Working Group. As part of the implementation, OCLC will convert the existing repository of WorldCat Local Data Records (LDRs) to the MFHD format, and will add local holdings maintenance functionality to the Connexion browser. In June 2005, libraries will be able to use the Connexion browser to maintain local holdings in WorldCat in the MFHD format and OCLC will retire Passport for Union Listing. Libraries will also be able to use OCLC's Local Data Record Updating batch processing service (LDRUS) to maintain local holdings in WorldCat. Local holdings will continue to display in FirstSearch databases and in OCLC Resource Sharing. To support library migration to local holdings maintenance in the Connexion browser and to the MARC 21 Format for Holdings Data, OCLC is working with the OCLC regional service providers to create an online tutorial plus training materials for the regional service providers to use in training library staff. OCLC will continue to release more details about OCLC’s implementation of MFHD and the Union List service migration as they become available.

WorldCat Collection Analysis

A library needs precise data that reveals the strengths of its collection as well as its needs. To be available in early 2005, WorldCat Collection Analysis enables libraries and library groups of any size to generate reports on-the-fly through the FirstSearch reference service. WorldCat Collection Analysis empowers library staff to manage your collections more efficiently by helping you to:

You'll be able to demonstrate better justification for budget requests to administrators as well as funding, accreditation or other reviewing bodies. And you'll focus human and financial resources where they're most needed. There's no software to install—work is done in a special interface within FirstSearch—and you can use the service as often as you like. Evaluations are based on your holdings in WorldCat. WorldCat Collection Analysis will complement a package of components that includes WorldCat and group catalogs, plus enhanced capabilities for WorldCat on FirstSearch. (WorldCat Collection Analysis will require a subscription to the WorldCat database on FirstSearch.) Check http://www.oclc.org/collectionanalysis/ frequently for updates on this new service.

OCLC ILLiad Version 6.5 Now Available

Updates in this release include:

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Last updated May 7, 2005