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

[Jennifer MacDonald]

Dick,

Just to clarify, have you found that the 590 of your IR is searched in 
FirstSearch, or also in WorldCat Local? For those of us without IRs, 
clearly the 590 isn't searched in either, but I'd be very interested to 
know.

Jennifer MacDonald
University of Delaware

p.s. In the interests of full disclosure, the University of Delaware is 
a WorldCat Local library, so I usually think first in those terms.

Dick Miller wrote:
> You certainly have sparked a wide-ranging discussion. I've verified 
> that added authors in an IR record retrieve the master record and that 
> our 590 notes do as well. At least, it's a somewhat like RLIN in this 
> regard, and the effort does improve retrievability when it's not 
> obvious why the search was successful. (There's frustration in trying 
> to guess which IR was responsbible for the retrieval.)
>
> Enriching IR records does improve OCLC search retrieval. If you don't 
> have IR records, seems like they should be considered.
>
> My 2 cents, Dick
>
> At 10:37 AM 11/16/2009, you wrote:
>> My colleagues and I are currently debating when to add copy-specific 
>> local notes and related tracings to an OCLC master record, and when 
>> to simply leave them in our local catalog only.
>>
>> At one end of the spectrum are notes that would definitely be of 
>> interest to researchers searching in WorldCat (eg. “500 _ _ $a 
>> Wesleyan copy: Heavily annotated and corrected by the author. $5 CtW”).
>>
>> At the other end of the spectrum are notes that would not be as 
>> useful to those outside our institution (eg. “500 _ _ $a Wesleyan 
>> copy: From the Kallir Family Collection, Given in Honor of Barbara 
>> Kallir (Class of 1983). $5 CtW”).
>>
>> But what about cases in between? We’re trying to find a balance point 
>> between providing useful information and avoiding cluttering up OCLC 
>> records unnecessarily.
>>
>> Do you have parameters for when to add a copy-specific note to an 
>> OCLC master record? If so, would you be willing to share those 
>> guidelines?
>>
>> Thank you very much.
>>
>> Rebecca McCallum
>> Cataloging Librarian
>> Wesleyan University
>> 252 Church Street
>> Middletown, CT 06459
>> (860) 685-3839
>> rmccallum at wesleyan.edu
>
> Dick R. Miller
> Director for Resource Management
> Lane Medical Library & Knowledge Management Center
> Information Resources & Technology (IRT)
> Stanford University Medical Center
> 300 Pasteur Drive, L109, Stanford, CA 94305-5123
> dick at stanford.edu
> 650.725.4615 (phone) 650.725-7471 (fax)
>

-- 
Jennifer S. MacDonald
Senior Assistant Librarian and Coordinator,
Special Collections Cataloging and Processing
University of Delaware Library
Newark, DE 19717-5267
(302) 831-1512