WorldCat Validation release notes, April 2020

OCLC-MARC Bibliographic Encoding Levels

You may now use most of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Encoding Level (Leader/17) values as well as the OCLC-defined alphabetic Encoding Level values when creating new records or changing existing records in WorldCat. Previously, if you were working with a cataloging “full” level authorization or account role you could create new records using only Encoding Levels I (Full Level Input by OCLC Participants), K (Minimal Level Input by OCLC Participants), or 3 (Abbreviated Level). If you were editing existing records, you were generally limited to changing Encoding levels to I or K under most circumstances. (See Bibliographic Formats and Standards 5.2, (https://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/quality.html#membercapabilities, for details.)

As a first step toward bringing OCLC-MARC Encoding Levels into closer alignment with those defined in MARC 21, you may now create new records with Encoding Level values blank, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, I, or K. When editing existing records, you may edit Encoding levels as follows:

• blank, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, I, K may be changed to blank, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, I, K (excludes levels 8, J, and M).
• 8 may be changed to blank, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, I, K in a user owned record, where the field 040 (Cataloging Source) subfield $c (Transcribing Agency) is your own OCLC symbol.
• 8 from any other source cannot be changed (same as current restrictions).
• J may be changed to blank, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, I, J, K (i.e., J cannot be changed to 8 or M).
• M may be changed to blank, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, I, K, M (i.e., M cannot be changed to 8 or J).

For more information about the Encoding Level changes, please join us for the June Virtual AskQC Office Hours when the topic will be Updates on OCLC Encoding Levels. Go to http://oc.lc/askqc to register for one of the two sessions.

OCLC-MARC Holdings Captions and Pattern Fields 853, 854, and 855, and Enumeration and Chronology Fields 863, 864, and 865

In order to accommodate current practices, you may now use either subfields $a-$h (enumeration) or subfields $i-$m (chronology) in Holdings Captions and Pattern Fields 853, 854, and 855, and Holdings Enumeration and Chronology Fields 863, 864, and 865 to record chronology data for chronology-only publications. Previously, you were required to use the enumeration subfields for these data.

In order to accommodate current practices, you may now enter Holdings Captions and  Pattern Fields 853, 854, and/or 855, without entering and linking to corresponding Holdings Enumeration and Chronology Fields 863, 864, and/or 865. Previously, when you entered any Holdings Captions and Pattern Fields 853, 854, and/or 855, you were required to link to at least one occurrence of Holdings Enumeration and Chronology Fields 863, 864, and/or 865, using subfields $8 (Field Link and Sequence Number).

Correction of Validation Rules for LCGFT Authority Records

You may now use Authority records for terms in the Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials thesaurus (LCGFT) without generating validation errors for correctly coded field 040 (Cataloging Source) subfield $f (Subject Heading/Thesaurus Conventions), 008/11 (Subject Heading System/Thesaurus), and 008/39 (Cataloging Source). Previously, because of an error inadvertently introduced as part of an earlier Authority file validation change, correctly coded LCGFT records were causing validation errors.

Virtual AskQC office hours

Join OCLC Metadata Quality staff to discuss WorldCat quality issues and cataloging questions. Visit AskQC for information about upcoming office hours, previous office hour recordings, and supporting materials.

For more information about the Encoding Level changes, please join us for the June Virtual AskQC Office Hours when the topic will be Updates on OCLC Encoding Levels. Go to http://oc.lc/askqc to register for one of the two sessions.

Support website(s)

Support information for this product and related products can be found at:

• OCLC Connexion
• WorldShare Record Manager
• WorldShare Collection Manager
• OCLC Community Center
• Cataloging Documentation
• Contact OCLC Support