[DCRM-L] Question: Local notes in OCLC master records

[Noble, Richard]

I believe that WorldCat Local is/will be programmed to display an
institution's local information to its users, provided that the
information has a location-level MARC tag, e.g. 590. What worries me is
the loss of information to institutions who edited the heck out of a
downloaded master record for their local catalog, but did not/were not
able to edit the master record itself. (And one does sometimes make
genuine improvements even to untouchable LC/DCF a/Srce [blank] records.)
In this case what makes one's collection unique is, in part, the higher
than usual descriptive standards necessary to manage and interpret deep
and bibliographically complex holdings in signature collections.

RICHARD NOBLE : RARE BOOKS CATALOGER : JOHN HAY LIBRARY : BROWN
UNIVERSITY
PROVIDENCE, RI 02912 : 401-863-1187/FAX 863-2093 :
RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU 

-----Original Message-----
From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On
Behalf Of Laurence Creider
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 3:29 PM
To: Dooley,Jackie
Cc: DCRM Revision Group List
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Question: Local notes in OCLC master records

...  When libraries, particularly research libraries, are 
putting more emphasis on what makes their collections unique, it seems 
insane to make it impossible to access the local notes for special 
collections materials. ...