[DCRM-L] [EXT] :Re: OCLC cataloging subscription

Wed Feb 14 13:00:22 MST 2024

When I first started at Watkinson Library almost 5 years ago, a colleague in Trinity’s main library informed me that a member of the library administration, citing subscription costs as the issue, had proposed terminating our OCLC subscription. The two of us, with support from my director, drafted a document explaining the negative impact that this would have for the main library but especially for the special collections (my area). Happily, the administrator was persuaded not to cut our subscription and subsequently took a job at another institution.

Jennifer, I hope that you can use the arguments and insights that Brenna, Zoe, Deborah, and others have shared to persuade the administration at University of Delaware not to make this terribly short-sighted decision.

Cheers,

Eric

Eric Johnson-DeBaufre, PhD, MLIS
Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian, Watkinson Library
Trinity College
300 Summit Street
Hartford, CT 06106
860-297-4219

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> On Behalf Of Bychowski, Brenna via DCRM-L
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2024 1:11 PM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Cc: Bychowski, Brenna <brenna.bychowski at yale.edu>
Subject: [EXT] :Re: [DCRM-L] OCLC cataloging subscription

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I won’t reiterate the excellent points made about OCLC’s importance for special collections generally and as a cataloging system. What I wonder about is how *any* copy cataloging at scale is expected to take place without access to OCLC. We all know how messy and frustrating it can be, but I’m unaware of any system that comes close to providing the same access to millions of raw MARC records. If your administration assumes that “vendor records” are the solution, it may help to point out that special collections don’t come with vendor records and neither do many non-English or non-roman alphabet materials that aren’t necessarily bought through the big vendors. If not having access to OCLC for copy cataloging requires original work for everything that doesn’t come in with a record, that seems like a big and time-consuming problem (especially if your ILS is less than ideal for original cataloging …) I know there are small libraries who can’t afford OCLC who make it work somehow, but I cannot imagine a large academic institution functioning that way.

Ultimately, as others have pointed out, it seems likely that the downstream costs would outweigh any savings.

Best,
Brenna

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Brenna Bychowski
Catalog/Metadata Librarian
Bibliographic Description Unit, Special Collections Technical Services
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library | Yale University Library
brenna.bychowski at yale.edu<mailto:brenna.bychowski at yale.edu> | 203.432.4850
she/her/hers

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu>> On Behalf Of Deborah J. Leslie via DCRM-L
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2024 12:52 PM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Cc: Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu<mailto:DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu>>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] OCLC cataloging subscription

Adding to Zoe's comment, it's not only training time or morale that might suffer, it's that any alternative may be slower than on Connexion. We recently migrated to TIND, a cloud-based system, which is spectacular for many things but the pits for cataloging. The record editor is cumbersome—for example, it splits every subfield into a different line, and I have to pick up superscripts, &c. from the web. And, cloud-based processing is just slower. Another vote in favor of having a solid, feasible alternative before ditching Connexion. (Good luck finding one.)

______________________

Deborah J Leslie [cid:image002.png at 01DA5F50.A74B4000] , M.A., M.L.S. | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare Library | djleslie at folger.edu<mailto:djleslie at folger.edu> | Opinions her own

________________________________
From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu>> on behalf of Dobbs, Zoe via DCRM-L <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2024 11:04
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Cc: Dobbs, Zoe <zoe.dobbs at yale.edu<mailto:zoe.dobbs at yale.edu>>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] OCLC cataloging subscription

Hi Jennifer (and all),

Although I’m not a great lover of OCLC I’m not very familiar with the alternatives, so in general I can't conceive of cataloging anything without OCLC, much less special collections. I'm thinking specifically about the "database of records held by other libraries" aspect, and others can enlighten me about other viable options since I’m still relatively new to the profession. I imagine that finding specific editions/states/printings/etc., depending on how you catalog, would require both a well-populated database and robust search functionality – and even OCLC’s could be better (looking at you 510 fields).  In terms of record creation and editing, OCLC products are far superior to Alma at least from what I’ve heard (we haven’t migrated to Alma yet). Even Voyager cannot easily support the creation of records with non-Roman scripts that require paired fields, which is why we currently catalog those in Connexion.

Unrelated to the actual functionality of OCLC vs. others, I think one also needs to consider not only the cost of any alternative, but also the cost of staff training on that alternative and the cost of low morale or staff defections that might result from cancelling your OCLC subscription. Those are also real costs that need to be borne when undertaking any major change such as this.

Zoe

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Zoe Dobbs

she/her/hers

Catalog/Metadata Librarian

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Yale University Library

zoe.dobbs at yale.edu<mailto:zoe.dobbs at yale.edu> | 203.432.5098

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu>> On Behalf Of Christine DeZelar-Tiedman via DCRM-L
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2024 7:58 AM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Cc: Christine DeZelar-Tiedman <dezel002 at umn.edu<mailto:dezel002 at umn.edu>>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] OCLC cataloging subscription

I answered more generally on the Alma list, but in terms of special collections cataloging, I can't imagine trying to do that in Alma. In particular, searching for records with Alma's very limited external search options would be a nightmare. The availability of macros, and the methodology for entering special characters and diacritics, is also much more robust and efficient in OCLC Connexion.

On Tue, Feb 13, 2024 at 10:07 AM MacDonald, Jennifer via DCRM-L <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>> wrote:

Dear colleagues,

Like many institutions, we are going through budget cuts. My administration is considering cancelling our OCLC cataloging subscription. Is anyone at an institution that did this, or contemplated doing it? Was your subscription kept or not, and what was the reasoning behind the decision? What tools or platforms did you use, or consider using, instead of OCLC? Were the needs of special collections cataloging taken into account? If it was cancelled, what kind of fallout did your institution experience? I'm particularly interested in outcomes for special collections cataloging, but general cataloging would help as well.  On- or off-list responses are welcome.

Thanks,

Jennifer

[University of Delaware]

Jennifer MacDonald

(She/her)

Librarian and Head, Cataloging and Metadata Department

UD Library, Museums and Press

181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717

University of Delaware

Room 113B  |  302-831-1512

jsmacdon at udel.edu<mailto:jsmacdon at udel.edu>

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--

Christine DeZelar-Tiedman

Cataloging Policies and Practices Librarian | Cataloging, Metadata, & Digitization Services | University of Minnesota Libraries
160 Wilson Library | 309 19th Ave. S. | Minneapolis, MN 55455

dezel002 at umn.edu<mailto:dezel002 at umn.edu>

she, her, hers

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