Updating OCLC Holdings
There are three ways in which OCLC records get updated. They are:
1. Updating by Promptcat.
2. “Manual” update (a cataloger calls up the record on OCLC and updates it)
3. The OCLC Holdings Update window on the Web.
Look at the 994 field in the bib record. If “92” appears in it, then the record was delivered by Promptcat. Promptcat-delivered records have holdings set as a part of the Promptcat service. We do not need to update these OCLC records ourselves; Promptcat will do so after a 14-day period. (A caveat: PromptCat appears in the past to have sent provisional records--not corresponding to any record on OCLC, that is--that had “92” in the 994 field. These can be identified by the fact that there is no 035 field with an OCLC record number in it in the Acorn record. Obviously in such cases we will need to update the OCLC record we ultimately use.)
Records which are not delivered by Promptcat—i.e., which are brought into Acorn via Smartport or Connexion--will need to be updated in one of the other two ways.
If your record was not provided by Promptcat, and you are viewing the record in question on OCLC as part of final cataloging, then update on OCLC at this time. This is the quickest and easiest way of updating if you are looking at the OCLC record as you do your final cataloging.
If your record was not provided by Promptcat and you do not need to review OCLC as part of your final cataloging (generally because the record is LC or PCC-level copy which does not have substantial problems), then you can use the OCLC Holdings Update web window.* This method sends a file of records to OCLC on a nightly basis for updating. After you enter the barcode into the web window, there should be a delay of no more than a few days before the Worldcat record shows our holdings symbol.
To use this new method, follow these steps:
• Open your web browser.
• Go to the Technical Services home page at http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/rs/techserv/
• Under Shared Resources, click on the OCLC HldgWindow link.
• This will open a small web window called OCLC Holdings Update.
• Press the Start button, or hit Enter.
• You are now ready to type or wand a barcode into the box, labeled "Barcode." If you are using a barcode reader, there will be no need to hit Enter.
If you have a multivolume set, you will only need to wand in one barcode. Do not wand in the barcode of an added volume unless it is the first item received on the record. Do, however, wand in the barcode of an analyzed title.
If you do not have a barcode (for an electronic resource, for example), you must update manually on OCLC. You can NOT type in a dummy barcode into the box because there is a checking component in the programming that validates barcodes.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT DE-UPDATING: Sometimes in cataloging an item for which Promptcat delivered a record, we will wind up using a record other than the one that PromptCat selected. When this happens, you will of course need to update OCLC either through the web window or directly, AND you will need to make sure our holding symbol gets deleted from the record originally supplied by PromptCat. Depending on how long it's been since PromptCat originally processed the item, the OCLC record may or may not have already been updated (they set a waiting period of 14 days before a record is updated). If it has been updated, you can go ahead and de-update it yourself directly. If it has not, you can either wait and de-update after the record gets its automatic update, or you can send the OCLC number to MAINTENANCE asking Linda Davis to hold onto it and de-update when possible. Copy down the OCLC number in a PromptCat-provided record before you overlay and wipe it out on Acorn!
*HISTORICAL NOTE: When OCLC charged us per search, we more strongly encouraged the use of the OCLC Holdings Update window, because using it rather than updating directly could save a search charge (using the window itself incurs only a comparatively small convenience charge per record updated). We encouraged use of the window especially in the case of records which were originally brought into Accorn through Smartport (these records have a “ZO” code in the 994 field). This is because when a record was Smartported in, an updating charge was incurred, even though we do not automatically update when we use Smartport. When we used the OCLC Holdings Update window, the “ZO” code told OCLC that the updating charge had already been incurred and thus OCLC should not assess a new charge for the automated update. (One exception to this was: if the record originally Smartported in was overlaid with a record exported in using the “export” command in Connexion, then the ZO code would be eliminated from the Acorn record, and thus using the OCLC Holdings Update window was less important.) Records which were exported into Acorn using the Connexion “export” command have a 994 code of “CO,” by the way; this code has little relevance now to whether you should update manually or use the OCLC Holdings Update window.