[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] FW: Expansion of the OCLC Control Number

[Hardy, Elaine]

OCLC control numbers are about to expand again

 

Elaine 

 

 

J. Elaine Hardy

PINES Bibliographic Projects and Metadata Manager

Georgia Public Library Service,

A Unit of the University System of Georgia

1800 Century Place, Suite 150

Atlanta, Ga. 30345-4304

404.235-7128

404.235-7201, fax

 

 <mailto:ehardy at georgialibraries.org> ehardy at georgialibraries.org

 <http://www.georgialibraries.org> www.georgialibraries.org

 <http://www.georgialibraries.org/pines/>
http://www.georgialibraries.org/pines/

 

From: Covert,Kay [mailto:covertk at oclc.org] 
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 12:29 PM
To: OCLC-SHARING-L at OCLC.ORG
Subject: Expansion of the OCLC Control Number

 

WorldCat continues to grow!  The OCLC Control Number is anticipated to
reach one billion after July 1, 2013. At that point, OCLC will increase
the length of the OCLC 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 after July 1, 2013. You will
need to check the systems at your institution that use OCLC MARC
bibliographic records and the OCLC number.  You may need to implement
changes to ensure those systems will be able to successfully handle the
longer OCLC number effective July 1, 2013.

 

For example, libraries may be impacted in the following areas:

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

.         Resource sharing librarians using third party ILL management
programs that store or use the OCLC number for searching.

.         Reference services librarians using WorldCat Local to help a
patron locate an item 

Publishers, vendors and others that partner with OCLC may be impacted as
follows:  

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

.         Publishers, material suppliers and eContent providers that use
OCLC MARC bibliographic records in their systems  

.         Developers maintaining services that use OCLC Control Numbers

 

Format of the OCLC Number.

The OCLC Number resides in the MARC 001 field and may also be stored in
other fields.  The OCLC Number in the 001 field is formatted as follows,
and may appear in one or more of these forms in the record: 

 

OCLC numbers 1 through 99999999:

*	"ocm" prefix 
*	oclc control number, 8 digits, right justified with leading zeros 
*	blank
Example: ocm00012345 

 

OCLC numbers 100000000 to 999999999:

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

 

OCLC numbers 1000000000 and higher:

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

 

When stored in the 035 field, the OCLC  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 Numbers that contain ten or more digits.  Nine or eight digit OCLC
Numbers will continue to use the "ocn" or "ocm" prefix as described above.
The update to the OCLC Number is backwards compatible so that previously
defined OCLC Numbers will not be impacted.  Previously assigned OCLC
Numbers will continue to work as before.

 

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 after July 1, 2013. You will need to check the systems at your
institution that use OCLC MARC bibliographic records and the OCLC number.
You may need to implement changes to ensure those systems will be able to
successfully handle the longer OCLC number effective July 1, 2013.

 

For more information.See more technical information regarding this change
here <http://www.oclc.org/us/en/batchprocessing/number-expansion.htm>
(http://www.oclc.org/us/en/batchprocessing/number-expansion.htm).   Also,
visit the Web <http://www.oclc.org/batchprocessing/controlnumber.htm>
(http://www.oclc.org/batchprocessing/controlnumber.htm) to learn how OCLC
Control Numbers are created and how OCLC Batchload services give libraries
the ability to match, merge, format and synchronize OCLC Control Numbers
between their local systems and WorldCat.  To see new OCLC Control Numbers
when they are assigned, visit Watch WorldCat Grow
<http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/newgrow.htm>
(http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/newgrow.htm).  Questions?  Please contact us
at support at oclc.org or 1-800-848-5800 (USA) or 1-614-793-8682.

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