[Evergreen-catalogers] Expansion of the OCLC Control Number: test records now available: Problems with searching for 10-digit OCLC numbers

[Elizabeth McLean]

Has anyone else had trouble searching the 10-digit OCLC number in the OCLC Control Number test record sample? We can find records with the 11- and 12-digit numbers by identifier (id:) or selecting ISBN/ISSN/Other, but cannot find record with the 10-digit number (on3987654321).

Thank you,

Libby McLean
King County Library System
lmclean at kcls.org<mailto:lmclean at kcls.org>
425-369-3345

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From: OnLine Audiovisual Catalogers electronic discussion list. [mailto:OLAC-L at OCLC.ORG] On Behalf Of Whitacre,Cynthia
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 12:03 PM
To: OLAC-L at OCLC.ORG<mailto:OLAC-L at OCLC.ORG>
Subject: [OLAC-L] Expansion of the OCLC Control Number: test records now available

WorldCat continues to grow! OCLC Control Numbers are assigned to WorldCat bibliographic records, including Institution Records. As previously announced, the OCLC Control Number is anticipated to reach 1 billion sometime after July 1, 2013. The actual date that the number will be reached is unknown; it is now anticipated to be some months after July 2013. At that point, OCLC will increase the length of the OCLC Control Number to accommodate a variable-length number string. If you use and/or store OCLC MARC bibliographic records and the OCLC Control Number, you will notice a change when the OCLC Control Number 1 billion is reached. Sample files are now available for use in testing your systems.

What action should you take?
If you use and/or store OCLC MARC bibliographic records and the OCLC Control Number, you will notice a change when the OCLC Control Number 1 billion is reached sometime after July 1, 2013. You will need to check the systems at your institution that use OCLC MARC bibliographic records and the OCLC Control Number. You may need to implement changes to ensure those systems will be able to successfully handle the longer OCLC Control Number. OCLC recommends that you ensure your systems are ready effective July 1, 2013.

Sample files now available for testing
We have made sample files available for use in testing your systems. The files contain sample MARC bibliographic records with expanded OCLC Control Numbers, and are available for download on the OCLC Control Number expansion website<http://www.oclc.org/batchload/controlnumber/number-expansion.en.html> (http://www.oclc.org/batchload/controlnumber/number-expansion.en.html).

Library staff who may need to be aware of this change include:

*         Cataloging and IT librarians who download OCLC MARC bibliographic records to the library's local system

*         Resource sharing librarians who use third-party ILL management programs that store or use the OCLC Control Number for searching

*         Reference services librarians who use WorldCat Local to help patrons locate items.

Publishers, vendors and others that partner with OCLC who may need to be aware of this change include:

*         Integrated Library Service (ILS) vendors that use OCLC MARC bibliographic records to test compatibility with OCLC

*         Publishers, material suppliers and electronic content providers that use OCLC MARC bibliographic records in their systems

*         Developers who maintain services that use the OCLC Control Number.

Format of the OCLC Control Number
The OCLC Control Number resides in the MARC 001 field and may also be stored in other fields. The OCLC Control Number in the 001 field is formatted as follows:

OCLC Control Numbers 1 through 99999999:

  *   "ocm" prefix
  *   oclc control number, 8 digits, right-justified with leading zeros
  *   A blank space as the last character
Example: ocm00012345

OCLC Control Numbers 100000000 to 999999999:

  *   "ocn" prefix
  *   oclc control number, 9 digits
Example: ocn123456789

OCLC Control Numbers 1000000000 and higher:

  *   "on" prefix
  *   oclc control number, 10 or more digits
Example: on1234567890 or on1234567890123

In the 035 field, the OCLC Control Number is usually stored with the prefix (OCoLC) and without the "ocm," "ocn" or "on" prefixes; for example: (OCoLC)1234567890.

When this change takes place
The "on" prefix will be used to identify OCLC Control Numbers that contain ten or more digits. Eight- and nine-digit OCLC Control Numbers will continue to use the "ocn" or "ocm" prefix as described above. The update to the OCLC Control Number is backward-compatible so that previously defined OCLC Control Numbers will not be impacted. Previously assigned OCLC Control Numbers will continue to work as before.
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