OSMOSIS : a new way of updating holdings on the New

Zealand union catalogue

Ksenija Mincic-ObradovicCataloguing Manager

The University of Auckland Libraryk.obradovic@auckland.ac.nz

ALA conference, OCLC stream26 June 2010

Before 2007

• NZ NUC was the main cataloguing utility• Original cataloguing on NZ NUC or on local

catalogues• New holdings reported to NZ NUC• OCLC WorldCat only a few libraries; for records not on

NZ NUC + CJK cataloguing

Individual Libraries

Since 2007

daily

• NZ NUC source for NZ records; WorldCat source for other records• New holdings reported to either

Individual Libraries

Over 5,000,000 recordsNearly 16,000,000 holdings280 member libraries

But …

• Adding new holdings somewhat patchy • Some older material (including theses, rare

material) not reported• Deletions and transfers rarely reported…

… and, this causes a series of problems

OSMOSIS Pilot project

• OSMOSIS – a software tool that identifies changes (additions and deletions) to library holdings, developed by TMQ (Fla) in 1992

• Project began in 2008 – National Library of New Zealand– University of Auckland (first pilot library)– Auckland University of Technology– University of Canterbury– Victoria University of Wellington– Porirua Public Library– ELGAR – Libraries for a Greater Auckland Region

• 2009 – technical improvements to batchloading to the NZ NUC (service offered to pilot libraries only)

Process

• Library exports a copy of entire database and sends to TMQ

• TMQ Processing:– Pre-processing: Fixes errors and pulls problem

records and sends reports to library– OSMOSIS: compares new file with previous file and

identifies adds and deletes; and sends files to NLNZ• NLNZ runs TMQ’s PLP/MCU batchload matching

algorithm software to identify and resolve duplicates before loading to the NZ NUC

OSMOSIS

OSMOSIS Checking Options

OSMOSIS Fixing Options, 1

OSMOSIS Fixing Options, 2

MCU Record Comparison

Problems resolved:

• Serial holdings/enumeration data• Translation tables– library symbols to NZNUC

codes• Material not to be represented on NZ NUC and WorldCat (e.g. purchased records for eebo)

Problems unresolved:

• Duplicate records• Inadequate metadata• Initial effort for setting up the services off-putting

for some libraries

• Accurate holdings on WorldCat and NZ NUC• More effective resource sharing and interlibrary

loan fulfilment• Greater visibility of NZ libraries’ collections• Improved workflows• Various errors in the catalogue were reported, e.g.

duplicate records and mistakes in MARC coding Errors fixed by manual interventions or global changes

(MARC Global, Gary Strawn’s programmes)

Benefits:

OSMOSIS Reports

Good QualityRecords Enable:

• Resource discovery• Accurate machine

matching• Reduction of record

duplication on NZ NUC and WorldCat

• Projects involving metadata conversions

• Database mergers• Improved faceting

and FRBRisation on Primo

Future of the OSMOSIS project

• OSMOSIS appears to be useful method whereby:– Participating libraries attain maximum NUC/WorldCat

reporting (both additions and deletions)– Standardisation of cataloguing practices across

libraries is encouraged • Recommendation to extend OSMOSIS service

to additional 10-15 libraries in 2010-2011 financial year

• TMQ and NLNZ discussing RDA/MARC implications

Thank you

Ksenija M. ObradovicThe University of Auckland Libraryk.obradovic@auckland.ac.nz