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OCLC Support

About taking actions on bibliographic records

Find an overview on taking actions on bibliographic records in Connexion client.

Availability of actions

  • You can take OCLC actions on records in WorldCat immediately while logged on or in batch mode (marking actions for records while offline and then processing them online in a batch).
  • You must be logged on to take immediate actions on records.
  • To mark records for batch processing, you must save the records in the bibliographic local file and take the actions while offline. The client automatically marks the actions for batch processing when you use the action commands.
    Exception: Record export and label printing occur immediately when you do them offline unless you set an option to do the actions in batch in Tools > Options > Batch.

     Note: If you use batch processing and do not want to take actions immediately by mistake, you can set an option to receive a warning/confirmation message before the client carries out any immediate online action (go to Tools > Options > General).

  • Availability of some actions depends on whether or not the record is in the online or local save file.
  • Availability of actions is also determined by your authorization level.
  • Some actions are unavailable for new records.
  • Most actions are available for either a single displayed record or for record entries selected in a list.
  • See Work with international records for more information about working with records containing Non-Latin scripts.

Note on 10- and 13-digit ISBNs

As a result of expanding the ISBN to the new 13-digit format, when you take an action on a record that contains an ISBN in only one format, 10-digit or 13-digit, Connexion automatically adds the other format. ISBNs are stored in field 020.

To have the 10- or 13-digit number, whichever is not in the record, generated automatically for exported records, you must take a final action before you export; otherwise, the export retains only ISBNs already in the records.

See Technical Bulletin 253: ISBN and OCLC Number Changes for more information.