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Cataloging COI

Community of Interest

Cataloging COI Updates - Fall 2023

Summary of the latest updates, best practice suggestions and decisions from the Cataloging COI meetings and discussions:Cataloging COI Updates

  • Migration timeframe is July 2024-June 2025. The earlier you can clean up your records to be prepared the better. Priorities:

    • Duplicate record merging backlog. Volunteers needed to clean up around 1,700 duplicates, most of which are Naxos records.

    • Work with circulation and acquisitions to identify long missing items, old order records. If no longer using Sierra for acquisitions let us know so that we can clean out records.

    • Look for cases of 590 fields but institution no longer has holdings on bib record and clean up. Laurence also reported non-institutional 590 note fields are coming in via GOBI (these have been cleaned up).

    • Review serials checkin records and aim for consistency in how holdings are managed (either LibHas field or Holdings tab which creates marc fields). ExLibris will migrate both but the latter may require some additional work, so having them cleaned up and accurate will help.

  • The OPAL Catalog Manual draft revision to reflect link policy changes was approved along with suggested changes to the OPAL web site FAQ section. Laurence will send out a notification to the OPALCAT listserv for any final additions or edits to be submitted by October 31, 2023. After that the changes will be made.

  • Reminder to review record suppression. There are significant numbers of records in Sierra with inconsistencies where the bib suppression does not match the attached record suppression (bibs that are suppressed but have unsuppressed items, orders, or checkin records).

  • Lauren Marshall at JCU will be doing some in-house training for cataloging with Connexion Client. Anyone who is debating between moving to Record Manager or Connexion Client is welcome to join. Notify Lauren of your interest.

  • Next meeting Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 10 am  - Virtual.

The full meeting minutes can be found under the Meeting Documents tab.

Statement of Purpose

The Cataloging COI establishes and maintains standards, policies, and procedures that ensure high quality bibliographic records in the OPAL online catalog. The Cataloging COI recommends policies for record selections, input, and deletion, in accord with OhioLINK directives, and plans and implements modifications to catalog records in response to changes in accepted cataloging practices and system enhancements.

Policies and procedures are developed in consultation with the OhioNet Director of Technology Services and are published and maintained in an online cataloging manual. The COI also serves as an advisory body to the Directors’ Council, works in collaboration with other OPAL groups with shared interests, and regularly disseminates its work through OPAL communication channels.