Support news for OCLC users
Bits and Pieces

Cataloging and Metadata
Re-implementing Duplicate Detection and Resolution (DDR)

Beginning in 1991, OCLC used its Duplicate Detection and Resolution (DDR) software to match WorldCat bibliographic records in the books format against themselves to find and merge duplicates.

By mid-2005 when WorldCat migrated to its new platform, sixteen runs through WorldCat had been completed, resulting in the elimination of a total of 1.6 million duplicate records.

In 2005, a project was started to re-invent the DDR software to work in the new environment and to expand its capabilities to deal with all types of bibliographic records.  This large multi-year project is now bearing fruit.  Great improvements to our matching software, which are a key component of the new DDR, have regularly been incorporated into the batchloading process.  This helps bring both DDR and batchloading processes into alignment as never before in dealing with the problem of duplicate records in WorldCat.

In May 2009, the new software was put into production following rigorous planning, development, and testing.  In addition to its ability to deal with continuing resources, scores, sound recordings, visual materials, maps, and electronic resources, as well as books, this new DDR is much more sophisticated than its predecessor in its power to distinguish legitimate matches from incorrect ones.  It also has the flexibility to allow selection of certain categories of bibliographic records to target for deduplication.  Processing of small subsets of WorldCat against the live database has begun.  A full pass through the WorldCat database will begin later in 2009.

Having the new DDR software in production will result in the merging of a larger number of bibliographic records. Regular removal of duplicates will provide a better WorldCat for all its users.

Cataloging and Metadata
Download Guide to Contacting OCLC Product Support and Training

This brochure provides U.S. members with an overview of OCLC's Product Support teams, Training resources (including OCLC's new online Training Portal), and information about obtaining billing and ordering assistance.

The information contained in this document is effective July 1, 2009.

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Collection management
Download Guide to Contacting OCLC Product Support and Training

This brochure provides U.S. members with an overview of OCLC's Product Support teams, Training resources (including OCLC's new online Training Portal), and information about obtaining billing and ordering assistance.

The information contained in this document is effective July 1, 2009.

Download the Guide to Contacting OCLC Product Support and Training

Collection management
CONTENTdm Featured Collections: June 2009

Organizations worldwide are using CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management Software to create thousands of outstanding digital collections and to provide easy access to their unique holdings.

This month, four collections from the CONTENTdm Collection of Collections are featured on the OCLC Web site. The featured collections for June include Jazz Diplomacy: Dave Brubeck's 1958 Tour of Europe and Asia; the Arnold Clayton Watkins Collection, 1942-1945; Carnations and the Floriculture Industry; and Dissociation and Trauma Archives.

Jazz Diplomacy: Dave Brubeck's 1958 Tour of Europe and Asia University of the Pacific From March to May in 1958, the Dave Brubeck Quartet embarked on an ambitious tour of Europe and Asia that was sponsored by the U.S. State Department. This tour was part of a "cultural ambassador" program in which the U.S. government sent prominent American musicians abroad to promote American arts and culture during the Cold War. This digital collection consists of materials from the 1958 tour that are housed in the Brubeck Collection. It includes photographs, clippings, concert programs, and audio recordings of Brubeck's wife Lola reading the travel journal written by their ten-year-old son Darius during the tour.

Arnold Clayton Watkins Collection, 1942-1945 Pittsburg State University This digital collection contains photographs collected by Arnold Clayton Watkins of Pittsburg, Kansas, during his service in the United States Tenth Army Air Force Photo Intelligence Detachment in World War II. Watkins was attached to the Ninth Army Air Force for most of his service. The photographs were taken in Europe and North Africa. They include images of Army Air Force personnel and activities; aerial and ground images of bombers and bombing missions of the United States Eighth and Ninth Army Air Forces; German military commanders and leaders of the National Socialist Party, including Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering; and Benito Mussolini.

Carnations and the Floriculture Industry Colorado State University Libraries Carnations and the Floriculture Industry contains 225 items comprised of 519 images and pages (dated 1950s-1970s) selected from the archival collection of the Records of the Colorado Flower Growers Association. Current selections focus on scrapbooks and clippings, photographic material, and newsletters and press releases encompassing an array of topics such as advertising and publicity of Colorado carnations, the creation of a trademark, carnation cultivation, carnation care, carnation tinting and arrangement, activities pertaining to the Colorado Flower Growers Association, and relationships of the association with other organizations, companies, and individuals.

Dissociation and Trauma Archives University of Oregon The University of Oregon Department of Psychology and the University of Oregon Libraries have teamed up to create an important new digital collection of ground-breaking medical and scientific literature in the field of dissociation and trauma. Dissociation and Trauma Archives contains the full text of many articles appearing in key journals published between 1862 and 1922.

Reference
Download Guide to Contacting OCLC Product Support and Training

This brochure provides U.S. members with an overview of OCLC's Product Support teams, Training resources (including OCLC's new online Training Portal), and information about obtaining billing and ordering assistance.

The information contained in this document is effective July 1, 2009.

Download the Guide to Contacting OCLC Product Support and Training

About this publication

No.

ISSN 0273-3110

Edited by Peter Insabella, Product Documentation

Bits and Pieces is produced monthly by OCLC to collect recently-published news and information about the effective use of OCLC products and services.

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