eSerials Holdings Pilot

The OCLC eSerials Holdings pilot, active since June 2005, is testing an efficient way for libraries to set and maintain their holdings information in WorldCat for electronically available serial publications, including individual titles and those in aggregated databases.

The eSerials Holdings service also will offer a MARC record update option available on a subscription basis. Each month, this optional service will automatically deliver updated MARC bibliographic records representing the holdings set in WorldCat.

Benefits of the eSerials holdings service

• It increases operational efficiencies by exposing the holdings for these resources to ILL librarians locally in the WorldCat Resource Sharing service. ILL staff can see that their library subscribes to these eSerials and can then direct their users to these internal resources, decreasing the need to borrow.
• It assists library users in discovering these eSerials at the point of need through OCLC's discovery platform, including WorldCat on FirstSearch and Open WorldCat. Pilot libraries have registered their OpenURL resolvers in the OCLC OpenURL Registry and Gateway, allowing us to facilitate linking to the resources via the library's resolver.
• Future enhancements will help Collection Development librarians compare their print and electronic serials collections through the WorldCat Collection Analysis service.
• It synchronizes OPACs and WorldCat by offering an optional MARC record update program. Version 1 will offer MARC bibliographic records at the journal title level for ISSN-based resources already represented in WorldCat. Future versions will add brief records for non-ISSN based resources and items that don't have a record in WorldCat.

Pilot partners

During the pilot, we're pleased to be partnering with 21 pilot libraries, as well as EBSCO, Ex Libris, Serials Solutions and TDNet. These leading serials management companies are cooperating by sending holdings data to OCLC monthly on behalf of pilot libraries, or are supporting libraries by sending the data directly to OCLC. OCLC is currently talking with other potential partners. If you're a service provider and wish to join the program, please contact us by completing this form.

From pilot to production

In June 2006, we plan to move the pilot to production and offer this as a service to all OCLC libraries. OCLC will not be charging libraries to participate in the eSerials holdings service. The MARC record update service will be offered as a subscription-based option.

Between now and June 2006, we'll be continuing the pilot and signing up additional partners. If your Serials Management provider is not listed above and you'd like to contribute your eSerials holdings in the future, please let them know about the service.

If you're a service provider and wish to partner with OCLC, please contact us by completing this form.

How the eSerials holdings pilot works

1. OCLC recently acquired the assets of Openly Informatics, a leading provider of linking software and services for the library market. Openly Informatics' 1.2 million-record database of linking metadata for electronic resources is being used to identify eSerials records in WorldCat and to keep the list up to date. The eSerials holdings program sets holdings against these WorldCat records each month.
2. OCLC receives monthly holdings files for ISSN-based resources from EBSCO, Serials Solutions and TDNet for the 21 pilot libraries. (Two libraries send us holdings files monthly from their SFX servers with the cooperation of Ex Libris. One library is submitting a holdings file each month from their locally developed, serials management service.)
3. OCLC uses this data to set holdings against approximately 31,000 MARC bibliographic records in WorldCat each month. We add and delete pilot library holdings symbols on these records monthly depending on the data sent to us. We aren't setting detail level holdings (MFHD level 4) during the pilot; however, we‘re planning to add this feature later.

News

OCLC pilot designed to increase use of libraries' eSerials

Comments from Pilot Librarians

"I think it is essential to have our eHoldings in WorldCat. We are committed to moving from print to electronic for much of our serial collection. If we are going to continue resource sharing via ILL, we need this holdings information available."

Janet Chisman
Head, Serials & Electronic Resources
Washington State University

"For WorldCat to remain a viable source in the electronic era, it must be a reliable source of holdings information, regardless of format. As a user of WorldCat for ILLs, we hope that more libraries will participate at the conclusion of this trial so that we can better identify eHoldings sources. We also want WorldCat to represent our eHoldings in order to potentially use OCLC's collection analysis tool."

Michael Boock
Head of Technical Services
Oregon State University

Service Provider Partners

• TDNet
  
• EBSCO
  
• Serial Solutions
  
• Ex Libris
  

To become a partner, contact OCLC.