[MinervaCats] [MINERVA-L] Basic mistakes repeatedly made in Minerva cataloging

Mon Apr 30 14:20:54 EDT 2007

Rebecca,

Absence or presence of a valid 001 containing an OCLC number had no impact
on the authority process.  

However, a good 001 is very helpful in ensuring a proper merge, both when
new records come into Minerva and when Minerva records go to MaineCat.  If
both the existing master bib and the incoming record have an 001, and they
match, the records are merged.  End of story.  

ISBNs cannot usually be taken alone.  Most load profiles try to confirm an
ISBN match with a match on pubdate, title and/or some other element.  This
is because of the frequency with which ISBNs are inserted in the wrong
edition of a work or into a poorly cataloged record that lacks some of the
confirming fields.

Obviously, it is not possible to get a good 001 OCLC # for all records in
the database.  However, an unambiguous match point is a very valuable thing
in the battle against false-duplicate bib records.  I am pretty sure that
there is a reasonable payoff in terms of avoidance of false dupes in return
for an extra moment copying and pasting an OCLC # from 035, within Minerva.
I know that there is substantial benefit when it comes to the merge against
MaineCat.  If the Cataloging Standards Cmte wishes to not adopt this
practice, it should at least be sure that folks delete 001's that are not
OCLC#s, e.g. any 001 in a record directly downloaded from LC.

(By the way, one can readily visualize an outsourced process by which
Minerva bibs without 001s would be output, along with bibs from another
system such as MaineCat that have good 001's.  A match process could be run
that conservatively compares the two on the basis of multiple keys (isbn,
lccn, pub date, publisher, 300) and inserts an 001 in the Minerva records
where a high probability match is found.  Records so updated would be
reloaded into Minerva, perhaps doubling or tripling the number of bibs there
that have an 001, and in the process allowing us to significantly dedupe
MaineCat.  This is clearly a time and money issue, as well as a real
possibility.)

Karl

--

Karl Beiser

Executive Director

Maine Info Net

16 Central Street

Bangor, ME 04401

207-973-3293

207-299-2492 (cell)

beiser at maine.edu

http://www.maine.gov/infonet

  _____  

From: Rebecca Francis [mailto:rfrancis at curtislibrary.com] 
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 5:51 AM
To: Karl Beiser
Cc: minervacats at lists.maine.gov
Subject: Re: [MINERVA-L] Basic mistakes repeatedly made in Minerva
cataloging

Karl,

If an 001 field is lacking, or if it doesn't contain an OCLC number, do
catalogers really need to create an 001 from an 035 or 019 field?  So many
Minerva records lack 001 fields already.  Most Minerva libraries do not get
their records from OCLC, so I'm not surprised.   If we're not going to go
back and ensure that all records have a valid OCLC number, why does it make
a difference whether, say, 3 out of every 10 records have them, or 5 out of
every 10?  

If the fact that so many 001 fields did not contain valid OCLC numbers
caused problems with the authority process, couldn't someone run a list of
invalid 001 fields (based on the 003) and strip them out before the records
are sent out to the vendor in the future?

It would be simpler (for catalogers, anyway) if we can follow Ellen's
guidelines rather than the ones you sent out, but it would be good to know
if we really do need to search the rest of a MARC record for a valid OCLC
number to put in the 001 field.   

Rebecca

****************************************************************************
Rebecca Francis
Coordinator of Technical Services
Curtis Memorial Library
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 725-5242 x218
rfrancis at curtislibrary.com

-----MINERVA Online Library System News  <mailto:MINERVA-L at LISTS.MAINE.EDU>
<MINERVA-L at LISTS.MAINE.EDU> wrote: -----

To: MINERVA-L at LISTS.MAINE.EDU
From: Karl Beiser  <mailto:beiser at maine.edu> <beiser at maine.edu>
Sent by: MINERVA Online Library System News
<mailto:MINERVA-L at LISTS.MAINE.EDU> <MINERVA-L at LISTS.MAINE.EDU>
Date: 04/27/2007 11:42AM
Subject: [MINERVA-L] Basic mistakes repeatedly made in Minerva cataloging

Concluding the authority project and establishing some quality monitoring
procedures has revealed a number of troubling practices among libraries
doing current cataloging.  Folks continue to make some very basic mistakes
when cataloging despite repeated discussion online.  

Please be sure that everyone in your library pays attention to the
following: 

1.  When you bring a record into Minerva from a Remote search, or when you
cut and paste from an existing record for a similar title, make sure than
only a genuine OCLC record # is placed in the 001. 

2.  If the record is downloaded from LC, or it has "LC" in an 003 field,
then any 001 you see is virtually certain to NOT be an OCLC record number,
Instead it is a local system number and should be deleted by you.  If you
leave it in, it may merge on a true OCLC record number in MaineCat causing
the Minerva title to merge onto a totally unrelated title.  Very bad form. 

3.  If you find an 035, an 040, or an 019 with either "ocm" or OCoLC", then
the numeric digits that follow are virtually certain to be a real OCLC
number.  Create an 001 field and insert the digits.  Leave of the ocm or
OCoLC.  If there is already an 001 with a different number, replace it with
the valid OCLC # you have found. 

4.  Note that "9ihdb", "9ursu" and similar are NOT OCLC #'s and any 001 that
contains such values should be deleted. 

5.  Watch for LCCNs that some local system has stuck in an 001.  Minerva
suffers if you do not delete such things.  If the 010 and the 001 are the
same, delete the 001. 

6.  Less commonly you may see an ISBN in the 001 field.  If 020 and 001 are
the same, delete 001. 

7.  If there is no evidence to suggest the 001 is an OCLC # and none to
suggest it is not, look for the presence of an 040 or 049 with 3-5 character
designations, such as UPQ, MEFEA, etc.  These usually derive from OCLC.
Leave the 001 alone. 

8.  If there are absolutely no indications of the sort described above, and
particularly if the record is brief, assume the 001 if bogus and delete it. 

Thanks. 

Karl 

-- 

Karl Beiser 

Executive Director 

Maine Info Net 

16 Central Street 

Bangor , ME 04401 

207-973-3293 

207-299-2492 (cell) 

beiser at maine.edu  <mailto:beiser at maine.edu> 

http://www.maine.gov/infonet  <http://www.maine.gov/infonet> 

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