1 OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing

Chapter overview

This chapter presents a high-level view of the WorldCat Resource Sharing (WCRS) service and its features, illustrates the basic resource sharing cycle, and explains related capabilities such as group access, Direct Request, and ISO ILL. The chapter also includes an overview of the administrative functions available through the WorldCat Services Administrative Module.

1.1 Introduction to WorldCat Resource Sharing

The WorldCat Resource Sharing (WCRS) service provides interactive, online access to an array of resource sharing and reference applications. The WCRS service combines the resources of over 7,000 libraries and the WorldCat database (1 billion holdings and growing). These records represent both physical and digital resources owned by libraries. When you use the WorldCat Resource Sharing service, your library and your patrons have access to this vast storehouse of materials. The service helps you borrow and lend materials efficiently.

Resources

As a WCRS participant, you have access to:

• Bibliographic data. The OCLC FirstSearch ^® service provides access to OCLC databases (such as WorldCat, Electronic Books, Article First, PapersFirst and Proceedings) as well as to third-party databases such as Art Index, Chemical Abstracts (Student edition), GEOBASE, and PsycBOOKS to locate records. Your library can choose to subscribe to any or all of these databases.
• Holdings data. OCLC holdings displays allow you to select potential Lenders for items you wish to borrow.
• OCLC Policies Directory. The OCLC Policies Directory provides contact information and lending policies for WorldCat Resource Sharing participants.
• WorldCat ^® Registry. The WorldCat Registry lists pertinent data about your institution or consortium at a single Web site.

For a summary of administrative functions see section 1.7, "Administrative Functions".

Access and authorizations

Your library may have access to WorldCat Resource Sharing in one of two ways:

WCRS only.  Your library has access to WCRS but searching is restricted to the WorldCat database.

OCLC FirstSearch ^®.   Your library has subscribed to the OCLC FirstSearch service and has obtained an additional authorization for access to WCRS. You can search all OCLC databases (WorldCat, ArticleFirst, NetLibrary, etc.) plus whichever third-party databases you have contracted for.

For more information about accessing WorldCat Resource Sharing, contact your OCLC Regional Service Provider (RSP) or see: http://www.oclc.org/contacts/regional/default.htm.

1.2 The Basic Interlibrary Loan Cycle

The interlibrary loan cycle is the series of interactions that take place between the Borrower and the Lender during the request, loan, and return of a library item. Both the Borrower and the Lender update the request at certain points during the cycle. This cycle begins when the Borrower creates a request and sends it to the first potential Lender.

The following examples illustrate the Borrower and Lender steps for the cycle in its simplest form: borrow and return. Various circumstances affecting both the Borrower and the Lender cause the basic cycle to vary. For example, a Lender may own a given item but not be able to supply it until after the date requested, or a Borrower patron may request renewal of a loan. Additional cycles such as those for conditional responses and renewal requests are described in Chapter 4, "Additional Loan Cycles".

Tools for identifying potential Lenders are described in Chapter 11, "Choosing Lenders (Borrower)".

Successful transaction

The first potential Lender receives the request and indicates whether it can be filled. If the request can be filled, the Lender responds Yes. If not, the request goes to the next potential Lender in the lender string until an available item is found and the actual Lender ships the item. The Borrower then receives the item and updates the status to Received; at the end of the loan period the Borrower updates the status to Returned and returns it to the Lender. The cycle ends when the Lender receives the returned item and completes the transaction by setting the status to Complete.

Note:  If the Lender does not want an item returned (such as a photocopy), the transaction is concluded when the Borrower indicates that the item has been received.

Unsuccessful transaction

The first Lender receives the request and responds No to indicate that it cannot fill the request. WCRS then forwards the Request to the next potential Lender in the lender string. The second Lender also responds No, so WCRS forwards it to the last potential Lender. If no Lender in the lender string can fill the request, the request returns to the Borrower as Unfilled. The unfilled request will be archived to Closed Requests in 7 system days.

Request aging

In order to keep requests moving through the service, WCRS implements request aging. Request aging restricts the number of days a request can remain untouched at various points in the interlibrary loan cycle. Once a request has remained at a given point for the allotted number of days, it automatically moves on to the next step in the cycle. Date ranges are associated with request aging and expressed as a number of calendar days or a number of system days.

• Calendar days.  Calendar days are sequential days and include weekends and holidays.
• System days.  System days, also known as ILL referral days, exclude Saturdays, Sundays, non-referral holidays, or, potentially, when the OCLC system is unavailable due to scheduled or unscheduled maintenance.

As shown for the Basic Interlibrary Loan Cycle, a request remains with a potential lender in a status of Pending for a maximum of four system days. If the first potential lender has not responded to the request at the end of four days, the request automatically moves on to the next potential lender where it can remain for a maximum of four system days.

Non-referral days.  A potential Lender has four system days to respond to a Pending request; however, certain days are not counted in the aging of a request. These days are called non-referral days. OCLC treats Saturday, Sunday, and the following holidays as non-referral days:

• New Year's Eve
• New Year's Day
• Thanksgiving Day and the day after
• Christmas Eve
• Christmas Day

Example: If a Pending request arrives at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 23rd, you have until midnight the following Thursday to respond to the request because Thursday (Christmas Eve), Friday (Christmas Day), Saturday and Sunday are non-referral days.

Workflow

As a Borrower or Lender, you can work through the cycle several ways:

• Individual requests (explained in Part III)
• Batch processing (explained in Part III)
• Direct Request (see section 1.5, "OCLC Direct Request via FirstSearch").

1.3 WCRS Features

The WorldCat Resource Sharing service provides additional features to augment and streamline many aspects of the interlibrary loan cycle. These are described briefly below.

Selecting lenders

These features, available through the FirstSearch Staff View, streamline borrowing by providing holdings information and allowing you to pre-select lenders.

• Holdings displays.  These displays, including Libraries Worldwide, Regional Holdings and State Holdings are accessed from the WorldCat List of Records and WorldCat Detailed Record displays, and list the OCLC symbols of institutions that have the item.

  Member institutions that participate in WorldCat Resource Sharing as Lenders are called suppliers. Member institutions that do not participate (either permanently or for a specified period of time) are called nonsuppliers. Suppliers are identified by yes in the Supplier column.

• Group access capability (GAC).  OCLC recognizes sets of libraries that have voluntarily agreed to have access to each other's bibliographic, location, and holdings records. OCLC profiles each member of the group and assigns a group symbol.

  While viewing a bibliographic record, you can request a display of holdings within a particular group. Local holdings records are an important source of potential lender information for serial items.

• Custom holdings.  The WorldCat Services Administrative Module allows you to create custom groups of libraries to use in borrowing. You can define groups of preferred lenders when borrowing for sets of similar requests.
• Document suppliers.  You have access to thousands of participating libraries, major national resource centers, and fee-based document suppliers such as the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC) and the Center for Research Libraries. Some suppliers allow you to request electronic documents that are delivered through your e-mail system.

  Statistical information about OCLC document suppliers is provided in the OCLC Document Supplier Quick Reference available in .pdf format. For details, see the OCLC Web site at http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/resourcesharing/docsuppliers/OCLC_docsupplier_reference.pdf.

Creating and modifying requests

The following features provide automated input of numerous data fields to speed request production and ensure uniformity.

• Automatic transfer from WorldCat.  When you create a workform using a WorldCat record, WCRS automatically transfers pertinent bibliographic data from the selected record to the workform.

  If you use a different source for bibliographic data, you can manually enter the data into the workform, or you can use Direct Request.

• Constant Data.  The WorldCat Services Administrative Module allows you to create records containing information that you use repeatedly in transactions.

  • For Borrowers this would include data such as your shipping address, electronic delivery address, billing address, maximum cost information and copyright clearance.
  • For Lenders this would include data such as your standard due date, insurance information (if applicable), any restrictions and the preferred means of returning the item.

  These records are called Constant Data records. You can create multiple Constant Data Records according to your borrowing and lending needs.

• Fees.  You can use the OCLC ILL Fee Management (IFM) service to pay and be paid for library-to-library loan requests through your OCLC invoice. This optional service reduces the time spent generating invoices and writing checks. For more information, see: Chapter 9, "OCLC ILL Fee Management Service".

Processing requests

The following features further streamline request processing by automatically declining to lend classes of items that you specify and also providing uniform access to both current and archive requests.

• Deflection.  Lenders can automatically decline a request based on specific criteria set in the OCLC Policies Directory. For example, a library might decide that its Government Documents collection does not circulate, or that their vendor contract does not allow the electronic or physical copying of electronic serials. See Part II of this user guide for more information on deflection.
• Request Manager.  The Request Manager screen (Staff View) is the management hub of WorldCat Resource Sharing. This screen displays all active borrowing and lending requests and provides the ability to search, display, and print both active and archive requests. The screen also links to the WCRS batch processing capability, and provides direct access into the WorldCat Services Administrative Module. For more information see Chapter 2, "Request Manager".

Reports

You can access reports to help track your borrowing and lending activity via the OCLC Usage Statistics Web site at: http://www.stats.oclc.org/. Log on using your resource sharing authorization and password and your library's information automatically appears under the Resource Sharing tab.

For additional information about these reports see Chapter 6 of this guide, or select the Help  icon on any screen.

1.4 Group Access Capability

Introduction

A Group Access Capability (GAC) group consists of libraries that have:

• Agreed to certain terms of service when dealing with other members of the group
• Agreed to use OCLC's resource sharing system

Members of a GAC group need to be profiled into the group by OCLC. Within the profile, users can specify certain conditions based on group membership, such as:

• Display characteristics on certain screens (holdings of GAC members are more prominently displayed).
• Deflection policy as managed through the OCLC Policies Directory (e.g., our library loans DVDs only to libraries that are members of our GAC).

GAC profile

The GAC profile lists all member libraries within the group and assigns the group a GAC group symbol. A group may include major resource centers and document suppliers in its GAC profile. To request GAC profiling, contact your OCLC Regional Services Provider, International Distributor, or OCLC Training and Implementation Specialist.

1.5 OCLC Direct Request via FirstSearch

Direct Request automates your interlibrary loan processing by allowing patron- and staff-generated FirstSearch requests that meet criteria that you establish to go directly to potential Lenders.

Your library can set up Direct Request processing in one of three ways:

Direct Request Profile

When your library chooses to participate in this service, it creates a Direct Request Profile containing information such as bibliographic formats or languages that you are willing to allow patrons to obtain by Direct Request, a need before date, and how duplicate requests are handled.

More information

See Chapter 8, "OCLC FirstSearch/ILL Direct Request Link".

1.6 ISO ILL Applications

An ISO ILL system offers a single consolidated interface for library staff to conduct all their interlibrary loan activity.

At OCLC, ISO ILL is a background process that allows the WorldCat Resource Sharing service to exchange messages with other standards-compliant systems.

Requirements

To interact with WorldCat Resource Sharing, your ISO ILL system must:

• Comply with the ISO ILL 10160/10161 (Edition 2, 1997) standards
• Have access to the Internet and be able to interact with OCLC using TCP/IP
• Pass interoperability testing

OCLC ISO ILL participants

OCLC identifies institutions approved for ISO ILL interoperability through the institution's OCLC profile.

A list of OCLC institutions that have implemented the ISO ILL protocol and passed interoperability testing is available on the OCLC Web site at: http://www.oclc.org/isoill/libraries/default.htm. To view information about a particular institution use the Find an OCLC library search at: http://www.oclc.org/contacts/libraries/default.asp.

Managing requests

Any requests you create in your ISO ILL system must be managed through your ISO ILL system. Any requests you create in OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing must be managed through OCLC ILL.

If you create and forward an ILL request through your local ISO ILL system to OCLC (for a lending partner that happens to be an OCLC WCRS participant), the request is represented in OCLC WCRS. However, you cannot update or modify the request through OCLC WCRS. As an ISO ILL library, you may only search for it, view the request and its history, and print the request.

Blocking feature

OCLC prevents ISO ILL libraries from getting requests out of sync by blocking attempts to update locally produced (ISO ILL) requests on WCRS. This feature identifies a library with ISO ILL capabilities and prevents it from changing the status of an OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing request that was created on a local ILL management system.

Viewing.  When you view a request in OCLC WCRS that you created in your local ISO ILL system, the request display includes the message:

      This record may only be updated with ISO 10161.

Updating.  If you attempt to update a request that you created in your ISO ILL system, the OCLC WCRS service blocks the action and displays the error message:

       [action] must be done from your ISO 10161 workstation.

Reasons for no

ISO ILL Reasons for No and their WCRS equivalents are listed below.

ISO ILL Equivalents.  WorldCat Resource Sharing does not accept certain ISO10161 numeric codes or text designations (for example, 20 or Policy Problem). The full list of OCLC Reasons for No is given in: section 13.4, "Responding No".

More information

For more information about ISO ILL, see the OCLC Web site at http://www.oclc.org/isoill/default.htm.

1.7 Administrative Functions

The WorldCat Services Administrative Module allows you to set or restrict numerous options. Depending on the terms of your library's subscription you may or may not see all of these areas.

Staff ILL settings

Resource Sharing staff can use WorldCat Resource Sharing to complete interlibrary loan requests. Anyone with a Resource Sharing authorization may use FirstSearch Staff View.

This area controls the staff settings in WorldCat Resource Sharing.

• Authorizations.  This feature allows you to add or delete individual FirstSearch authorizations, and displays which Resource Sharing and FirstSearch authorizations are linked. Linking your Resource Sharing authorization to a FirstSearch authorization gives you access to additional features, including customization of the patron and staff interfaces. Linked authorizations also allow you to access any databases available on your FirstSearch account.
• Constant Data Options.  This feature controls whether or not a default Constant Data Record is automatically applied to each new Workform. The screen also allows your library to choose a preferred service for electronic delivery and record the appropriate URL.
• Constant Data Records.  This feature allows you to create, maintain and delete Constant Data Records. For more information, see Constant Data in Chapter 5, "Resource Sharing Functions in the WorldCat Services Administrative Module".
• Saved Notes.  This feature allows Lenders to record explanatory messages ( Conditional Notes) that are attached to requests in order to specify circumstances for lending.
• Custom Holdings Groups.  This feature allows you to create, maintain and delete Custom Holdings Groups, that is, a list of OCLC symbols identifying preferred Lenders for a particular category of borrowing.
• Custom Holdings Paths.   This feature allows you to create, maintain and delete Custom Holdings Paths, that is, a list of one or more Custom Holdings Groups in the preferred order for borrowing.

• Direct Request Profiles.  This feature allows you to create, maintain and delete Direct Request Profiles, that is, information consisting of:

  • Your library's own criteria for allowing Direct Request processing
  • A Constant DataRrecord to be automatically applied to the request
  • A Custom Holdings Path automatically assigned to the request

Patron ILL settings

If your library has a FirstSearch authorization, you can let users submit interlibrary loan requests to your library using OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing. This area controls what features are available to your patrons.

• ILL Processing.  This feature allows you to set ILL Access, and to specify ILL settings for databases in your FirstSearch account.
• WorldCat ILL Access.  This feature controls the document types that your library users can request from the WorldCat database through WorldCat Resource Sharing.
• Patron ILL Request Form.  This feature controls the overall appearance of the Interlibrary Loan Request form that is seen by the patron. Your library can customize the form's input field labels, add supplementary text, and control which fields are displayed to patrons.
• ILL via E-mail.  This feature allows you to specify e-mail addresses for ILL requests, even if your library does not use OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing.
• ILL Request Management.  This feature controls which request management options are available to your patrons.

Per-article purchase

Per-article purchase lets you provide access to the full text of journal articles included in FirstSearch but not covered by your FirstSearch subscription or by other full-text billing methods.

• Purchase Settings.  This feature controls the cost of per-article purchases.
• Journal Settings.  This feature allows you to turn access to full text on or off by journal, and to enable full text purchases.

Open URL links

This feature allows you to add, maintain and delete links to specific internet information sources. The OpenURL Links feature in the WorldCat Services Administrative Module lets you add links in FirstSearch databases that lead to your library's OpenURL servers.

Note: When you make changes to your OpenURL server(s), the changes are automatically updated in the WorldCat Registry.

See Part II of this user guide for more information on administrative functions.