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Cataloging COI

Community of Interest

Cataloging COI Updates - Spring 2023

Summary of the latest updates, best practice suggestions and decisions from the Cataloging COI meetings and discussions:Cataloging COI Updates

  • Attendees discussed the November 2022 DIAD OhioLINK policy for links in member-contributed records in the Central Catalog and the proposal for OPAL to adopt a similar approach in our shared catalog. The policy was approved for submission to the Director's Council for their June meeting. Specifically, OPAL bibliographic catalog records should contain only links in four classes:

    • Local special collections

    • Government documents

    • Electronic theses and dissertations

    • Monographic electronic resources as outlined in the Electronic Resources Cataloging section of the OPAL Cataloging Manual.

Links to peripheral materials such as tables of contents, cover images, publisher sites, or other related web sites should not be included in OPAL records. Access links to content are not affected. OhioNet will identify and remove the 10,000+ affected links currently in the catalog and adjust loading tables to strip out 856 links outside of the policy.

  • The OPAL Catalog Manual will be revised to reflect the policy changes. Please contact OPALhelp with any scenarios or cases you would like to have addressed in the documentation.

  • When cataloging, the preferred practice is to discard any 856 fields that do not provide resource access or do not belong to the four defined classes of material links.

  • Imagine it’s 18 months from now and OPAL is continuing to provide extraordinary support that benefits your library. What is OPAL doing well? What opportunities do you see for OPAL in the future? Share your ideas and thoughts.

  • Next meeting Wednesday, October 18, 2023 at 10 am  - Virtual.

The full meeting minutes can be found under the Meeting Documents tab.

Statement of Purpose

The Cataloging COI establishes and maintains standards, policies, and procedures that ensure high quality bibliographic records in the OPAL online catalog. The Cataloging COI recommends policies for record selections, input, and deletion, in accord with OhioLINK directives, and plans and implements modifications to catalog records in response to changes in accepted cataloging practices and system enhancements.

Policies and procedures are developed in consultation with the OhioNet Director of Technology Services and are published and maintained in an online cataloging manual. The COI also serves as an advisory body to the Directors’ Council, works in collaboration with other OPAL groups with shared interests, and regularly disseminates its work through OPAL communication channels.

Cataloging COI Coordinator

Scribe: Ginger Derrow, Mercy College of Ohio

Previous Coordinator: Laurence Skirvin

Previous Scribe: Ginger Darrow