Question: What guidelines should be followed for entering an OCLC Request Record?

• Answer:   Please refer to "About INFOhio's Union Catalog..." and select the link for "OCLC Record Request Procedures for MultiLIS Users". Here you will find a number of supporting documents for the OCLC Record Request Procedures, most important of which are the Complete (PDF)and Abridged(PDF) instructions.

Question: What must I do to insure my requests are not rejected?

• Answer:   When creating your requests, all fields identified as "MANDATORY" in the instructions must be completed per the instructions, or the requests will automatically be rejected. This includes entering an item record to identify the requesting DASite/Bank. Entering data in all other applicable fields is recommended to insure the selection of the correct OCLC record or to provide original cataloging when an OCLC record does not exist. If you make a mistake and discover it after the opportunity to correct it has passed, contact your DASite Provider immediately. DASite personnel have the ability to make corrections. However, those corrections will have to be made the same day. The following day the record may no longer exist.

  Mandatory fields are:
  
  Publication Date - (MARC tag 260 $c)
  Enter the date, or enter 1111 if date is unknown.  Dates entered as 1111 will be interpreted as [n.d.]. Do not leave this field blank.
  
  Publisher - (MARC tag 260 $a)
  Enter the publisher, or enter [sl:sn] if the  publisher is not identified on the item. Do not leave this field blank.
  
  Title Proper - (MARC tag 245)
  Enter the title as completely as possible.  Do not leave this field blank.
  
  Description - (MARC tag 300)
  Enter the physical description of the item. This information is crucial to the filling of your request. Indicate the number of pages for print items or unpaged when appropriate. For non-print items, indicate the number of pieces, the length, the format, etc. Do not leave this field blank.
  
  Item record - (MARC tag 852)
  You must enter an item record which correctly identifies your DASite (in the Location Code) and your MultiLIS bank number (in the Collection Code). Check with your DASite Provider, if you need to know your MultiLIS bank number. If either of these fields is omitted or contains incorrect information, INFOhio is not able to communicate with you about your request. This communication could be to send you the full OCLC record or to alert you to a problem with your brief request. Be sure to add the item record to your request!

Question: What if I make a mistake while entering my request?

• Answer:   After going through each field of the OCLC Request Record workform, you will have one chance to go back and correct any of the fields before you leave the record. You should use this opportunity to review the record and correct/add any information on the request.

Question: What if I miss my opportunity to correct my record and then notice a mistake? Do I just enter another request record for the same item?

• Answer:   No, please do not enter another request record for the same item. This just creates a duplicate request. Duplicates become troublesome for other users placing requests (they may attach an item to a bad request that ends up being rejected). Duplicates also create problems for Kathy Martin when trying to fill the requests and may also result in additional OCLC charges for INFOhio.
  
  DASite Providers have special access to bank 20 for the sole purpose of helping you correct any mistakes. Please contact your DASite Provider and ask for their help in correcting your request record

Question: Why are my OCLC requests sometimes rejected?

• Answer:   In order for Kathy Martin to be able to find the correct record at OCLC or to perform original cataloging for your request, key pieces of data must be present in the appropriate fields. Look closely at each returned request to determine why it was returned. A request may be returned for one of the following reasons:
  
  1) One or more of the mandatory fields is missing. These mandatory fields must not be left blank. If your returned request is missing any of these tags; 245, 260 $a or $b, 260 $c or 300 that is why it was rejected. NOTE: If your request is missing the 852 item, it will simply be deleted and you will never be informed since we don't know who made the request.
  
  2) All mandatory fields were filled but an acceptable record for the request already exists in the regular Union Catalog. Kathy will mark your request as rejected and a note will be entered in the 999 tag alerting you of the existing record.
  
  3) All mandatory fields were filled but Kathy could not find an OCLC record for your request. She will mark your request as rejected and a note will be entered in the 999 tag requesting more information for additional OCLC searching or so that she can catalog the item herself.
  
  4) Kathy may reject your request for one of the above reasons and may also at times enter a special note for you in the 998 tag.

Question: What if my request has the mandatory information there, but it was just entered into a field different than one of the mandatory fields, like the Notes field for example. Can't my request be saved?

• Answer:   Due to the large number of records that are always on request, it is not possible for each record to be examined individually by a human for the presence of key elements. A program does the preliminary examination of the requests and the program looks specifically for the presence of the mandatory fields/tags. Requests not meeting the criteria are rejected. So unfortunately, if you are entering key elements into fields other than the mandatory fields, (e.g., entering the physical description into the Notes field), your request will be rejected. Having the data in the correct fields not only allows a request to pass the preliminary inspection, it ultimately makes it easier for Kathy Martin to search at OCLC for your record. It also provides a better record in your catalog while you are awaiting the full OCLC record.

Question: My request was rejected. Now what do I do?

• Answer:   Again, your request may have been rejected for one of several reasons discussed in the previous questions. You need to look at each returned request and depending on the reason it was rejected, do one or more of the following:
  
  1) Search the Union Catalog for a matching record and retrieve the record from the UC in the usual manner.
  
  2) If your request is missing one or more of these mandatory tags; 245, 260 $a or $b, 260 $c or 300, you need to re-enter your request being sure to complete all mandatory fields as described in the "OCLC Record Request Instructions".
  
  3) If you had all the mandatory fields, consult the 9XX tags on each returned record. In some cases Kathy has entered a note for you there. If you need to re-enter the request also include a note to describe what the item is about so that original cataloging can be completed.
  
  Any of the above corrections also means that you will be importing another record for the requested item into your bank. It is important that you import the new request record. After the new record is imported, you must re-link any items you had on the old request record to the newly imported record. Please follow the instructions for New Records Create Duplication - Resolution by Linking Items (September 11, 2000).  Word format OR PDF format

Question: Is there a way to know what my outstanding requests are?

• Answer:   INFOhio has provided a report for this. In MultiLIS, on your INFOhio Reports menu, select the OCLC Request Report. This report may be created for just a particular branch or for all branches in the bank.
  
  However, be aware that this report is looking for request records in your bank and not the request bank. It is possible that you might have requests in your bank that have been rejected from the OCLC Request bank because they were missing one of the mandatory tags so the request isn't going to be filled. Therefore it is important for you to run the report periodically and check the validity of your outstanding requests by checking for the record in both the regular Union Catalog and also in the OCLC request bank.
  
  If the MARC record exists in the regular Union Catalog, export the record and load it into your bank. Then re-link the item(s) from your existing request record to the MARC record, and delete the request record from your bank.
  
  If the request still exists in the OCLC request bank, then continue to wait for Kathy to get to your request.

Question:  I have OCLC requests that are still unfilled and I cannot find the item in either the regular Union Catalog or the OCLC Request Bank and INFOhio never informed me the request was rejected. What's going on?

• Answer: If this is the case, it's likely then that when the request was made an item record wasn't added identifying your local DASite and local Bank number. As mentioned earlier, this is required for INFOhio to be able to communicate with you about your request. If you still require the item please enter a new request. Be sure to complete all mandatory fields as described in the OCLC Record Request Instructions. You will need to import the new request record into your bank and re-link any items from the old request to the new request after which you should delete the old request record.