OCLC Control Number to Expand in 2013

Submitted by terri.m on Wed, 2012-10-03 14:06

WorldCat continues to grow! The OCLC Control Number is anticipated to reach one billion after July 1, 2013. At that point, OCLC will increase the length of the OCLC number to accommodate a variable length number string.

What action should you take? If you use and/or store OCLC MARC bibliographic records and the OCLC Control Number, you will notice a change after July 1, 2013. You will need to check the systems at your institution that use OCLC MARC bibliographic records and the OCLC number. You may need to implement changes to ensure those systems will be able to successfully handle the longer OCLC number effective July 1, 2013. Although the change is over a year away, it's never too early to start getting ready!

Libraries may be impacted in the following areas:

  • Cataloging and IT librarians that download OCLC MARC bibliographic records to the library's local system
  • Resource sharing librarians using third party ILL management programs that store or use the OCLC number for searching
  • Reference services librarians using WorldCat Local to help a patron locate an item

Publishers, vendors and others that partner with OCLC may be impacted as follows:

  • Integrated Library Service (ILS) vendors that use OCLC MARC bibliographic records to test compatibility with OCLC
  • Publishers, material suppliers and eContent providers that use OCLC MARC bibliographic records in their systems
  • Developers maintaining services that use OCLC Control Numbers

For more information...See more technical information regarding this change here. To see new OCLC Control Numbers when they are assigned, visit Watch WorldCat Grow. Questions? Please contact OCLC at support@oclc.org or 800-848-5800.

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