Skip to main content
OCLC Support

About international cataloging in Connexion client

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF
Find an overview on non-Latin cataloging in Connexion client.

Overview

Connexion client supports all Unicode characters for non-Latin cataloging. Unicode is the universal character encoding scheme for written characters and text. It defines a consistent way of encoding multi-script text that enables the exchange of text data internationally. MARC-8 encoding for scripts such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese and Korean is a subset of Unicode. The scripts defined in MARC-8 are now expanded in OCLC interfaces to include the non-MARC-8 characters that are part of these scripts.

Starting with version 2.63, Connexion client supports scripts through Unicode version 8.0.0. Information about Unicode 8.0.0 can be found here. For more information on MARC-8 characters, see the MARC-8 Code Tables.

Scripts supported for variant name headings in authority records

Only MARC-8 character sets will be supported for adding non-Latin script variant name headings in authority records. The following scripts are supported:

  • Arabic (including the Persian language)
  • Chinese
  • Cyrillic (using MARC-8 characters only)
  • Greek
  • Hebrew (including Yiddish)
  • Japanese
  • Korean

See Add non-Latin script variant name headings in authority records for more information.

Romanized data

When cataloging in English, romanize according to the ALA-LC Romanization Tables when they exist for a particular script/language.

Character display

  • Valid Unicode characters can appear as empty boxes if they are not supported in your default font.

The following applies to version 2.63 only:

  • The Arial Unicode MS font that OCLC recommends will not support all scripts. You will have to search for fonts to cover some of the new scripts OCLC supports. Fonts that support these scripts vary in their ability to display characters outside of the script they were designed to support. You may have to experiment to see which font works best for your needs for a particular script. The font selected as the default in the client is applied to the entire record. You may have to move between two fonts to see all of the characters in a record.