On Tuesday, February 27th, OCLC loaded caption, pattern, and related holdings data to 39,491 CONSER records for currently-issued serials in the OCLC database. The source of the data was Harvard University, a member of CONSER since 1976.
The inclusion of the Harvard data in so many CONSER records is a significant milestone for the CONSER Publication Pattern Initiative, whose goals are to promote use of the MARC 21 Format for Holdings Data by libraries and system vendors and to promote the cooperative creation and sharing of this data via the CONSER database. According to Sally Sinn, Chair of the CONSER Task Force on Publication Patterns and Holdings, "this is an important step forward for a project designed to eliminate the costly redundant effort to create this data in each new system installation." The availability of such a large body of pattern data will also enable systems to experiment with loading it into their check-in modules and for libraries to use the records for system implementation.
In addition to the Harvard data, participants in the initiative continue to add pattern data to records in the OCLC database and develop the organizational and technical mechanisms to support doing so routinely. Since the pilot began in June 2000, more than 350 patterns and associated holdings have been contributed to records by pattern participants. The CONSER Task Force on Publication Patterns and Holdings set the goal last January of one thousand contributions before next summer's ALA Annual Conference. Jean Hirons, CONSER Coordinator at the Library of Congress, hopes that the inclusion of the Harvard data will promote the idea that this information should become standard in CONSER records.
The pattern and holdings data are being added to field 891, an OCLC-defined field that imbeds MARC 21 fields 853 and 863 within a subfield $9. Those viewing records on OCLC will see the data in field 891. Data included in records will normally include one 891/853 and 891/863 pair; however, in cases where the frequency or numbering has changed, multiple pairs may be present. The "holdings" are limited to the first issue to which each pattern applies.
Pattern and holdings data added to CONSER records will be redistributed in the CONSER distribution. Distributed records will have the 891 stripped, however, and will contain the MARC 21 853 and 863 fields, along with an 852 field containing the phrase "universal pattern." OCLC is exploring how best to redistribute the CONSER records updated by the Harvard load to LC for reprocessing and inclusion in the CONSER distribution. Technical details are being worked out and care is being taken not to overload the distribution system with a large influx of records at one time.
The Harvard data loaded are current as of late January 2001. Ruth Haas of Harvard reports that not all of the data include the complete pattern information, because many of the Harvard libraries have yet to use predictive check-in. In many cases, there are only the caption subfields in field 853 and a related 863 field. In other cases, all of the pattern subfields are found. A subfield $x "provisional" is included in the 863 field to indicate that the information given in the pattern portion may be incomplete.
Rich Greene of OCLC provides the following facts about the load:
1. OCLC: 7748334
LCCN: 81-643689/HE/r90
Title: Tehumin
Harvard data:
853 02 $6 1 $a kerekh $i year $m year
863 40 $6 1 $a 1-20 $i 5740-5760 $m 1979/198-1999/2000
WorldCat data:
891 02 $9 853 $8 1 $a kerekh $i year $m year
891 40 $9 863 $8 1 $a <1>- $i <5740>- $m <1979/1980>- $x provisional
2. OCLC: 6155013
LCCN: 86-649025/NE
Title: Maden istatistikleri = $b Mining statistics
Harvard data:
853 02 $6 1 $a (year)
863 41 $6 1 $a 1958/1965
863 41 $6 1 $a 1959/1966 etc.
WorldCat data:
891 02 $9 853 $8 1 $a (year)
891 40 $9 863 $8 1 $a <1958/1965>- $x provisional
3. OCLC: 22971842
LCCN: sn90-39476
Title: Jaarboek van de Geschied- en Oudheidkundige Kring van Stad en
Land van Breda "De Oranjeboom"
Harvard data:
853 00 $6 1 $a d. $i (year)
863 40 $6 1 $a 1-50 $i 1948-1997
WorldCat data:
891 00 $9 853 $8 1 $a d. $ i (year)
891 40 $9 863 $8 1 $a <1>- $i <1948>- $x provisional
4. OCLC: 1766759
LCCN: 56-1720//r862
Title: Studies on Voltaire and eighteenth century
Harvard data:
853 00 $6 1 $a t. $i (year)
863 40 $6 1 $a 2-176 $i 1956-1979 $w g $x 3, 5, 7-9, ...853 00 $6 2 $a (*) $i (year)
863 40 $6 2 $a 177-381 $i 1979-2000 $w g $x 177-181, 184, ...853 00 $6 3 $a (year) $b (*)
863 41 $6 3 $a 2000 $b 01
WorldCat data:
891 00 $9 853 $8 1 $a t. $i (year)
891 40 $9 863 $8 1 $a <2>- $i <1956>- $x provisional
891 00 $9 853 $8 2 $a (*) $i (year)
891 40 $9 863 $8 2 $a <177>- $i <1979> $x provisional
891 00 $9 853 $8 3 $a (year) $b (*)
891 41 $9 863 $8 3 $a 2000 $b 01 $x provisional
For questions specifically on the Harvard load itself, contact Rich Greene (OCLC, 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, OH 43017-3395; 800-848-5878 (ext. 6154); rog@oclc.org).
For information on the CONSER Publication Pattern Initiative, see its World Wide Web home page (link given below).
Further loads of pattern data are sought. Institutions with pattern data to share should contact Jean Hirons (Serial Record Division, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20540-4160; 202-707-5947; jhir@loc.gov).
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