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OCLC Support

Why are some articles treated as mass digitized?

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Applies to
  • WorldCat Discovery
Answer

When thinking about how an article is behaving, it is always important to think about how the journal it is tied to is behaving and cataloged. Much of the information that is gathered for an article comes from the representative record of the ISSN associated with the article. 

If the representative journal record is a mass-digitized item, then the article will also be mass digitized. Here are some steps to determine this:

  1.  Take the ISSN associated with the article
  2.  Perform a search for the ISSN using the n2: index in Discovery (e.g. n2: 0022-2194)
  3. The first journal listed in the results list is the representative record for the journal. Go to the item detail page
  4.  View the MARC record using the link in the details OR
  5.  Use Record Manager to search for the ISSN that is held locally
  6. If one of the following is true, the journal is mass digitized, and therefore the article will also be mass digitized
    1. The MARC field 029 has any of the following values:
      • DGCNT
      • CNTNT
      • CNTCOLL
      • DGCOLL 
    2. The MARC field 040a has the value of OCLCE
  7. If none of the above are true then the journal is a 'Serial' and the article is an 'Article'
Additional information

Representative records vary by institution and, for journals, are based on local holdings and the number of worldwide holdings.

This information can be used to help determine how to configure fulfillment buttons.

Page ID
50284