Managing the dynamic world of digital journals

Here’s how to keep your eHoldings up to date

To provide broader access to your library’s electronic journals, it’s imperative to have accurate, up-to-date eSerials holdings in WorldCat. Why? Holdings data drives usage of these online article collections through greater visibility in your catalog, in search engines and in WorldCat.org, OCLC FirstSearch and WorldCat Resource Sharing. And usage helps prove the value of ongoing subscriptions to these resources.

In addition, accurate holdings information saves time for both library users and staff by informing them in search result screens exactly which ISSN-based journals are available in your collection. Also, when eHoldings are up to date, you can automatically “deflect” interlibrary loan requests for materials your library does not wish to copy or loan, such as eSerials, saving even more time, since library staff no longer need to manually handle these requests.

Here are two ways to simplify and streamline the management of your eSerials holdings and eJournal titles.

eSerials Holdings service

The service automatically sets your electronic journal level one (title-level) holdings each month in WorldCat. It provides up-to-date serials holdings for users and a simple, efficient workflow for staff with higher fill rates and faster turnaround times for interlibrary loan and document delivery. The service debuted in July 2006 and uses the OCLC knowledgebase of eSerials to keep WorldCat informed of full text available electronically via aggregated databases and individual eJournals. Nearly 400 libraries are enrolled in the service, which TDNet, EBSCO, WorldCat Link Manager and Serials Solutions also offer to their clients. To date libraries and vendors have added more than 4.5 million library holdings for electronic journals.

Format-level deflection in WorldCat Resource Sharing

Libraries define deflection criteria in the Policies Directory. Staff set up their systems to automatically deflect individual items or certain types of materials, such as eSerials. Here’s how:

1. Log on to the Policies Directory.

2. Click on My Units in the upper right-hand side of the screen.

3. Click on the link with your library’s name and then click on the Policies tab.

4. Click on the Deflections button. Create a new policy for format deflection that will deflect eSerials.

To view a step-by-step guide on how to implement WorldCat Resource Sharing deflection at your library, visit the Past enhancements to WorldCat Resource Sharing Web page and scroll down to “Policies Directory and WorldCat Resource Sharing Auto-Deflection.”

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