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eSerials Holdings Service

Sending Files to OCLC (PUT)

Electronic Data Exchange (EDX) account

If your library indicated (when it ordered the eSerials Holdings service) that it would use an Electronic Data Exchange (EDX) account to send its holdings data, OCLC creates an EDX account and sends information about it to your library's contact for the eSerials Holdings service. If you have not received the EDX account information, contact OCLC support at support@oclc.org.

The EDX procedures for the eSerials Holdings service differ from the EDX procedures for other OCLC services. For the eSerials Holdings service:

  • You do not need to complete the EDX Assessment Form.
  • You must use FTP to send your data to OCLC. You cannot use the OCLC Product Services Web.
  • The EDX FTP address differs from the address used for other OCLC services.

If you have questions about using FTP at your library, contact your library's system administrator. For additional assistance, contact OCLC support at support@oclc.org.

Files needed

You will need a DATA file, which contains your holdings records, and a LABEL file, which contains the characteristics of the DATA file.

Requirements for DATA file

Requirements for the DATA file are available in the Option 2: My Library part of the Ordering Guide for the eSerials Holdings service.

Requirements for LABEL file

Use the following guidelines to create the LABEL file in NOTEPAD or any text editor software:

  • For every DATA file, there must be a corresponding LABEL file.
  • The LABEL file must contain the six mandatory fields listed below.
  • Separate each field with two spaces, for example, DAT <space> <space>
  • Use line feeds or carriage returns within the file as necessary.
  • Do not compress (zip) the LABEL file.
  • Name the file using this format: [Your OCLC institution symbol].label.d[date in yymmdd format]
    for example: ocl.label.d070601

The six mandatory fields for the LABEL file are:

Element Example Description

DAT

20070601000000.0

Date compiled
(Format exactly as shown: year should be four digits; month and day should be two digits; ending zeros are required)

RBF

2564

Number of records in DATA file

DSN

data.d070601

Data file name: data.d[date in yymmdd format]

(Do not include your OCLC institution symbol in this field because it is included in the ORS field.)

Note: With the exception of .zip for a compressed file, do not append file extensions to the file name.

Example:
ocl.data.d070601.zip Correct for zipped file
ocl.data.d070601 Correct for unzipped file
ocl.data.d070601.txt Incorrect

ORS

ocl

Your OCLC Institution symbol

FDI

P007253

Project ID: P[nnnnnn]
(This ID was included in the e-mail welcome message sent to your library's contact after your library ordered the eSerials Holdings service. For assistance, contact OCLC support at support@oclc.org.)

FOR

GSF

Designates format of the records

GSF Google Scholar
SOH Onix Serial Online Holdings
TAB Tab delimited

Transferring files
The DATA file must always be transferred before the LABEL file.

Sending files
You may FTP files anytime, with the exception of the following maintenance times:

  • Sunday, 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time

For questions about sending files, contact OCLC support at support@oclc.org.

Sending files via Internet FTP (a sample FTP session)

Begin the FTP session in the directory in which your DATA file and LABEL file are located.

  Step Example
1.

Enter FTP address.

ftp vendor-data.oclc.org
2.

Type the User ID for your EDX account.
(Use lower case.)

 
3.

Type password for your EDX account.

  
4.

Change directory.

cd eserials
5.

Verify that your transfer type is set to binary.

bin
6.

Complete the action to "put" the DATA file to OCLC.
(The DATA file must be named [your OCLC institution symbol].data.d[date], with the date in the yymmdd format)

put ocl.data.d070601

7.

Complete the action to "put" the LABEL file to OCLC.
(The LABEL file must be named [your OCLC institution symbol].label.d[date], with the date in the yymmdd format)

put ocl.label.d070601

8.

The system responds with a message when the transfer is complete.

 
9.

End your FTP session.

  

FTP software considerations DOS/UNIX:
  1. Change the directory to the sub-directory where the file is to be downloaded.
  2. Set passive to off.
  3. Set transfer mode to binary.
  4. Send one file at a time.
WS_FTP:
  1. Set passive to off.
  2. Set transfer mode to binary.