OCLC PromptCat Coded Generic Label File: Technical Specifications

Introduction

The OCLC PromptCat® service offers fast copy cataloging of materials supplied by participating book vendors. Using call numbers from records copied by PromptCat, OCLC® creates electronic files of printable labels to use on shelf-ready materials. OCLC offers label files in OCLC sl6 and slb formats, as well as coded generic files, which are independent of OCLC defined label formats. Coded generic files allow recipients to customize label format. Originally developed for book vendors who print labels for PromptCat users, the coded generic files are available to anyone who needs labels.

File Formats

OCLC formats the data in the files as follows:

1. Data is sent in "stream" format--one record starts in the byte immediately after the previous terminator.
2. Each label record consists of several types of fields--Record ID, Spine Formatted Call number. Author/Uniform Title, and Title. The variable label record is terminated with an ASCII x' 1D', and each field within the record is terminated with an ASCII x' 1E'.
3. Either complete (information from the bibliographic record) or default labels are generated. If a complete label is not generated, a default label is created to ensure that the order of label records matches the order of titles in the manifest. A default label contains the text "No Label" in the S01 field. The 000 and T01 fields also are created.

Field Types

Record ID (type 000)

A record type of "000" signifies the beginning of a new label and is followed by a record ID which relates the manifest data sent to OCLC. The record ID is the invoice number, a slash(/), the line item number from the vendor's manifest, a slash (/), and the subline item number from the vendor's manifest. For example, the record ID for invoice 653274, line item 1, subline item 1, is: 653274/1/1.

Spine Formatted Call Number (type Snn)

The Snn fields contain the spine call number, including location and other local data elements, such as sublocation, copy number, part, and volume. (The number of Snn fields is variable.)

• An Snn field can contain a maximum of 120 characters.
• OCLC uses the library's OCLC card profile to place and format the different elements of the call number.
• Each Snn field is terminated with an ASCII x' 1E'.

Author/Uniform Title (type A01)

The A01 field contains the main entry.

• The main entry data is built from the following fields and subfields.

Main Entry      Subfields

100               ‡a ‡b ‡d

110               ‡a ‡b ‡d

111               ‡a ‡b ‡d

130               ‡a ‡d

• The main entry contains up to 55 characters (including spaces). If the last word exceeds the 55-character limit, the word is omitted.
• If no 1xx field is present, no A01 record will be present.
• The A01 field includes any diacritics in the 1xx field.

Title (type T01)

The T01 field contains the title.

• The title is built from the 245 ‡a unless there is no matching OCLC record. In this case, the title comes from the vendor's manifest.
• The title includes up to 55 characters (including spaces). If the last word exceeds the 55-character limit, the word is omitted.
• Marks of punctuation which occur at the end of the 245 ‡a are suppressed, except for question marks and exclamation points.
• The T01 field includes any diacritics in the 245 ‡a.

Header Record

The first record in the file is a header consisting of the file name, the vendor customer Identifier for the library, and the number of records in the file. Each element is separated and enclosed in angle brackets, <>. The entire header is terminated by an ASCII x' 1D'. For example, the name of the file with 131 label records sent to Blackwell's Books (BWX) for the University of Maryland, College Park is:

<EDX.PCAT.BWX.LABELS.B11893.D970104><11893><131>x'1D'

• <EDX.PCAT.BWX.LABELS.B11893.D970104> is the file name.
• <11893> is University of Maryland, College Park's vendor customer Identifier with Blackwell's Books.
• <131> is the number of labels in the file.

Header Normalization

If the vendor customer Identifier does not start with an alphabetic character, an 'N' is inserted. If the vendor customer Identifier exceeds 8 characters, including the 'N,' the vendor customer Identifier in the file name is truncated to 8 characters.

Printing Labels

To print labels, users of coded generic labels must obtain non-OCLC software. The new OCLC Cataloging Label Program (available third quarter 1997) will not print the coded generic file, but will print OCLC sl6 and slb formats.

Sample Vendor Label File

The sample file below includes information on two titles, for which three labels have been created. The three labels contain the following information:

1. Call no.: Ref. PR6019.O9
   
   Main entry: National Book League, London. Library
   
   Title: Harriet Weaver & James Joyce

2. Call no.: Lit. PR6019.O9
   
   Main entry: National Book League, London. Library
   
   Title: Harriet Weaver & James Joyce

3. Call no.: HB501.M37
   
   Main entry: Shev'tsov, Ivan Semenovich.
   
   Title: Voprosy metodologii "Kapitala" K. Marksa

<EDX.PCAT.BWX.LABELS.B11893.D970104><11893><131> x'1D'0001/1/1 x' 1E'

S01Ref x' 1E' S02PR x' 1E' S04.O9 x' 1E" 01National Book League,

London. Library. x' 1E' T01Harriet Weaver & James Joyce x' 1D' 0001/1/2 x' 1E' S01Lit

x' 1E' S02PR x' 1E' S036019 x' 1E' S03.Os9 x' 1E" A01National Book League, London.

Library. x' 1E' T01Harriet Weaver & James Joyce x' 1D' 0001/2/1 x' 1E' S01HB x' 1E'

S02501 x' 1E' S03.M37 x' 1E' 'A01Shev'tsov, Ivan Semenovich. x' 1E' T01Voprosy

metodologii "Kapitala" K. Marksa x' 1D'