OCLC/WLN merger provides new opportunities for libraries

The merger of OCLC and WLN has provided more options and new solutions for libraries. Among the benefits are three successful products for libraries that WLN contributes to the array of OCLC products and services. They provide libraries with more ways to customize solutions in the rapidly changing information environment.

The OCLC/WLN Pacific Northwest Service Center serves as the user support, technical and information and sales center for Automated Collection Analysis Services (ACAS), WLN MARC Record Service (MARS) and LaserCat. Libraries benefit by having better access to these products and services that are now available nationally and internationally.

Automated Collection Analysis Services

In an era of increasing information availability through rapidly developing technology and of greater competition for funding, well-balanced, comprehensive, efficient and accountable collection development is a necessity. ACAS provides the accurate, systematic collection assessment and management data that libraries need for collection planning and growth, acquisitions budget development and support, grant applications, cooperative collection development, accreditation and fund raising.

Using a library or multilibrary consortia database, ACAS provides collection analyses that can be based on any element or combination of elements in the MARC record. These analyses are customized according to individual library or consortia specifications. The most popular choice is age and content (subject) analysis. In an age and content analysis, the library or group specifies the publication dates/date ranges to use and the conspectus level. Call numbers in the bibliographic records are used to provide totals and percentages for the titles for each conspectus line. For public libraries, adult and juvenile subtotals and intellectual levels are also provided. Reports are available in a wide variety of formats including print and Microsoft Access tables.

Title overlap analysis can be provided for groups of libraries. There are two reports: one is a summary of the number of titles held uniquely and the number of titles held by two and only two, three and only three, etc., of the libraries. The second is a detailed report by conspectus lines, showing for each library the number and percentage of titles held in common with each of the other libraries and the number and percentage it holds uniquely in the group. The reports are provided as Microsoft Access databases. Analysis results can be distributed on CD-ROM for larger projects.

Comparison with recommended lists such as Books for College Libraries, 3rd edition, Choice magazine's Outstanding Academic Books and Booklist titles reviewed since 1992 is also available. Similar to the Recommended Lists program, gap analysis compares a library's collection with that of another library or group of libraries (the target collection).

Organized around the framework of the ALA-approved OCLC/WLN Conspectus subject divisions, categories and descriptors, the OCLC/WLN Conspectus software supports the analysis of Library of Congress, Dewey, National Library of Medicine and SuDocs classification schemes. The basic (LC and Dewey) WLN Conspectus is an outline of the subjects in a collection. It has 24 broad divisions in Dewey and 25 in LC (Agriculture, Anthropology, Art and Architecture, etc.), some 500 categories--these are analogous to the categories in the North American Title Count--and some 4,000 subject descriptors. Just the first level, or the first two levels, or all three can be used. And new divisions, categories and subjects can be added. The term "conspectus" means both a structure that has a variety of uses for organizing and communicating information about library resources, and a methodology for using that structure to assess collections of information resources.

Conspectus Database software is licensed to libraries and runs on either IBM PC or Macintosh computers. A library or library consortium creates an assessment database and produces custom reports in bar graph and text form. These reports provide collection development decision-makers with quantitative data and have a variety of administrative uses. OCLC/WLN also publishes manuals and handbooks for using the Conspectus method and provides training and consulting services.

OCLC/WLN MARC Record Service

Authority control and quality database services are essential in providing access to collections in the digital environment. Manual maintenance of headings is no longer a cost-effective option. A database without authority control is like an expressway without road signs; users cannot reach their destinations quickly and with precision.

The OCLC/WLN MARS service provides professional project coordination and includes any or all of the following: authority control, customized record processing, bibliographic record upgrading, smart barcode number generation, automated retrospective conversion, manual review, ongoing database updating and TOC MARC Record Enrichment. Complete, quality customization combined with superior records is the standard for the MARS services.

Authority Control services compare, validate and update headings in bibliographic records according to the library's specification. Powerful authority corrections options such as expansion of abbreviations and correction of outmoded subdivisions are also available. Manual review of problem headings is offered, and the library receives a complete and accurate set of USMARC authority records. After the database has authority control applied through MARS, the MARS Updating Service will provide new and updated bibliographic records along with new authority records not previously distributed to the library that have been updated by the Library of Congress or OCLC/WLN as scheduled by the library.

Current Authorities Service, another option when a library has applied authority control to its entire database, keeps it all up to date. It provides automated authority control for a library's current cataloging records on an accelerated processing schedule--daily, weekly or monthly, with a quick eight-hour turnaround time.

Libraries may also have their MARC records enriched with Blackwell's Table of Contents (TOC) records through MARS, thereby enhancing access to their collections. Blackwell's captures Table of Contents, as well as descriptive summaries and author affiliations from newly published books, profiled for their Approval and New Titles services plus selected Standing Order Titles. Three formats for these Tables of Contents are available:

• a basic 505 contents field
• an enhanced 505 field
• chapter level 9xx field that some local systems can display as a facsimile of a book's table of contents page

Other specialized bibliographic and authority record processing includes Customized Record Processing such as bar code and item-level record preparation.

CD-ROM Products for Small Libraries

Serving small libraries has been a hallmark of WLN for many years. LaserCat has been available since 1987. LaserCat and FastCat are used extensively by small libraries throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The databases for these products are subsets of the entire database selected from the most-used records for small libraries. LaserCat contains over 4.5 million records with local call numbers and holdings for more than 500 libraries. It is designed for small academic, public and special libraries. It provides full cataloging support including easy-to-use natural searching, setting holdings, downloading MARC records in all formats and printing catalog cards, along with Interlibrary Loan functions. It is not just a staff tool, however. Many libraries provide it for their end users for searching and locating library materials.

FastCat contains almost 1 million records selected from the database and is designed for K-12 libraries. It is like LaserCat, except for the smaller, more specialized database for school libraries. Many have used it for retrospective conversion. Both LaserCat and FastCat are affordable for small libraries.

These products are the early benefits of the merger that is less than six months old. Jay Jordan, president and CEO of OCLC, said early on in the merger process, "We believe this merger will benefit member libraries of both organizations." They are the first fruits of the merger for member libraries.

More information on these services is available from the OCLC/WLN Pacific Northwest Service Center, regional OCLC-affiliated networks, OCLC's U.S. Sales Office, international offices, or at the OCLC/WLN Web site. --David Forsythe is coordinator of communications, OCLC/WLN Pacific Northwest Service Center.