• Collections & Technical Services
• July-August 2006
• Issue: 204

WorldCat Collection Analysis Service Adds Enhancements

The following enhancements were made to the WorldCat Collection Analysis Service in June:

Predefined Groups for Group Subscribers

Group Subscribers can now compare the aggregated holdings of their group to a selected Predefined Group. A comparison can be requested through the FirstSearch Administrative module, via the “Predefined Groups” button on the Collection Analysis tab.

Authoritative List Comparisons for Individual and Group Subscribers Added

Authoritative List Comparisons allow individual subscribers and group subscribers to compare their collections to collection development lists. The three available lists are Books for College Libraries (3rd ed.), Choice Magazine's “Outstanding Academic Titles,” and titles reviewed in ALA’s Booklist magazine. Comparisons with the Authoritative Lists can be requested through the FirstSearch Administrative module, via the “Authoritative Lists” button on the Collection Analysis tab.

Prior to running the comparison with an authoritative list OCLC runs an algorithm in WorldCat to pull together multiple versions of the same title. This means different editions of an item, such as a book published by several publishers, in multiple physical formats (large print, audio, electronic, etc.), as well as paperback and hard cover editions, are merged together prior to matching.

The method to bring the versions together is based on the principles created in Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (otherwise known as FRBR). OCLC's Office of Research has created an algorithm based on looking at the bibliographic record's author and title, including use of the uniform title, to pull various items together. OCLC is also using authority records to bring together even more items. More information on FRBR and the algorithm can be found at http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/frbr/algorithm.htm.

If items with the same author and title are available in different languages, OCLC is presenting these items as separate records. So translations of titles are kept separate from the originals.

While OCLC has pulled together many things, it doesn't pull together everything that a person may think belongs together. For example, Harry Potter movies don't roll up with the book because the primary author of the book isn’t the primary person of responsibility for the movie. Also, some bibliographic records have differences in the form of an author’s name. For instance, if an author on one record has a birth date and on another has no date, those two records will not be pulled together even if they are the same title.

When you click on a cell in an Authoritative List Comparison, different editions of the same title in one record are displayed (the Multi-Version Record display). This allows the user to see all versions available for a title and adds the holdings of all the versions together, highlighting the user's library holdings.

• The service exports the most held version of a Multi-Version Record.
• Publication Date and Format row dimensions or Limits are not included, since in the merged records these two elements are no longer relevant.
• Both the Authoritative List records and the individual subscriber's records are run through the algorithm, so the number of records for the individual user will be different than the number of records in their “My Library”analysis.
• When group subscribers request a comparison with an Authoritative List, the aggregated records of the group are run through the algorithm.

For more information about WorldCat Collection Analysis, contact Donna Dixon or Mary Edgerton at Nylink (518-443-5444/800-342-3353).

[OCLC - edited by Nylink]