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Collections & Technical Services
June 2006
Issue: 203

Announcing OCLC Technical Bulletin 252: OCLC-MARC Format Update 2006

Technical Bulletin 252: OCLC-MARC Format Update 2006 is now available on the OCLC web site at < http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/tb/252/ >. This technical bulletin covers MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data Updates 2 through 5, and MARC 21 Format for Authority Data Updates 4 and 5.

Technical Bulletin 252 describes the following:

New coding practices for integrating resources.
Bibliographic and authority record changes (changes to fields, subfields, values, and indicators).
MARC code list changes.
Character set changes.
006 template and fixed field display changes.
Summary of Connexion changes.

Installations of this OCLC-MARC update will occur in stages beginning in May and running through June 2006. OCLC will announce the installation of changes via logon Messages of the Day, Connexion News, and the OCLC-CAT listserv.

Until the release of Connexion client version 6.0, which is scheduled for June 2006, users of the Connexion browser and users of Connexion client will experience different functionality with regard to these changes.

Implementation Changes by Interface

The technical bulletin provides detailed information about which aspects of this OCLC-MARC update have been implemented in which interfaces. Generally:

Users of Connexion browser will see all changes as soon as they are implemented.
Users of Connexion client version 1.50 will generally see only those changes that are presented by the host system, such as changes to lists of search results. Interface based functionality, such as the presence of renamed or new menu items for searching will not be available, however the functionality will be available in command line searching.
Once OCLC releases client version 1.60 in June, all Interface based functionality should be available as soon as users upgrade to the new version.

When to Implement These Changes:

OCLC strongly recommends that users not begin to use other new capabilities, new fields and subfields, new indicators, new practices, new codes, and new characters until OCLC announces that they may be used.

Note that, as OCLC converts data, users may encounter instances of these new data.
New searching and indexing capabilities:
- With the exceptions and Connexion interface differences noted in Technical Bulletin 252, all new searching and indexing capabilities can be used in all Connexion interfaces beginning with the Connexion host installation on May 21, 2006.
- Please note that, as OCLC converts data, searches that include the qualifiers for Continuing Resources, Integrating Resources, and Serials may not retrieve complete results sets.
New practices for Integrating Resources, including the use of BLvl i:
- These should be implemented in all Connexion interfaces when announced by OCLC in June 2006.
New fields, subfields, and indicators:
- These may be used in all Connexion interfaces when announced by OCLC in June 2006.
New codes:
- These may be used in all Connexion interfaces when announced by OCLC in June 2006.
New characters:
- These may be used in all Connexion interfaces when announced by OCLC in June 2006, subject to the revision of Library of Congress Rule Interpretation 1.0E where appropriate.
- As OCLC converts data, users may encounter the new characters.

Summary of Connexion differences

For a summary of the differences among the Connexion interfaces, see the first section in chapter 8, "Differences among Connexion interfaces."

For all the details, please see Technical Bulletin 252: OCLC-MARC Format Update 2006 at < http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/tb/252/ >.

[OCLC - edited by L. Pinsley, OCLC Services Manager, Nylink]