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MINITEX/OCLC Membership Participation

Background

MINITEX Background

The MINITEX Library Information Network provides OCLC products and services to libraries in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. MINITEX is a publicly supported program of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education (MOHE) and the University of Minnesota.

Besides OCLC services, MINITEX offers document delivery, serial union listing, a delivery system, a storage facility for important but little used print materials, cooperative purchasing, the Electronic Library for Minnesota, and reference services to academic, public, state agency, special and school libraries in the three-state region.

Minnesota academic, state government and other post-secondary degree institutions whose OCLC administrative fee is supported through MOHE, must meet the Criteria for MINITEX Participation. Other libraries may participate in OCLC and will pay the administrative fee each year. Please contact the MINITEX BATS unit for information.

OCLC Background

OCLC is a non-profit membership organization that provides its members and other users with computer-based products, services and systems. OCLC generally makes its products and services available through regional organizations known as Regional Service Providers. Regional Service Providers like MINITEX provide OCLC participants with training, support, order processing, documentation and other services.

OCLC Products & Services

OCLC offers many different services—more than we can cover here. This introduction explains how libraries participate as full members in the two most-used parts of the OCLC Online System: the Cataloging and Resource Sharing, or Interlibrary Loan, Systems. For information about other OCLC offerings, see the Products & Services section.

OCLC's products and services are built around WorldCat, a database of more than 62 million bibliographic records and more than one billion location symbols contributed by participating libraries.

OCLC Membership Levels

There are three OCLC membership levels: Governing Member, Member and Participant. In order to become a Governing Member, a library must agree to enter all of its current cataloging into WorldCat, OCLC's Online Union Catalog. Governing Members elect individuals to the OCLC Members Council.

Libraries in the Member tier add some of their current cataloging or participate in OCLC Resource Sharing and may make use of other OCLC products and services; these users are not considered full members, do not participate in OCLC governance and may pay higher prices than Governing Members for certain services.

Libraries in the Participant tier typically subscribe only to OCLC's FirstSearch reference databases.

Participation

When a library decides to become an OCLC member, the director sends a letter to the OCLC Services Manager in the MINITEX Bibliographic & Technical Services (BATS) unit indicating this intent. If the library will be joining as a Governing member, the library then receives copies of the current Agreement on Use of OCLC, which are to be executed and returned to the MINITEX Office. An officer of the University of Minnesota signs the Agreement, and a copy will be returned to the library.

When the Agreement has been signed, MINITEX BATS staff make an appointment to profile the library. The profiling session usually takes a half day and is done at the library, if possible. After the profiling session, MINITEX staff prepare the profile and submit it to OCLC, which processes it and notifies MINITEX when it is complete. This sequence of events, from profiling session to OCLC's completion of the profile, usually takes about four weeks.

At this point, the library receives up to three days of individualized, on-site training. Because MINITEX/OCLC staff time is committed several months in advance, we try to schedule a tentative date for this training as early as possible, bearing in mind that profiles, authorizations and software all have to be in place before the training date.

In the initial two days of training, we cover (as applicable) the use of the OCLC interfaces, searching, basic editing and ILL techniques. Since OCLC is a complex system, there is not time to cover the MARC formats in detail, nor OCLC's input standards for original cataloging. To address these topics, MINITEX gives regularly scheduled training sessions around the three-state region. Library staff are expected to attend one of these sessions before they begin contributing original cataloging to WorldCat.

Charges

The charges for participation in OCLC through MINITEX fall into several categories.

There is an annual MINITEX/OCLC administrative fee of $1,600. This covers MINITEX's costs to provide training, documentation, mailings, billing, telephone support and other services. For Minnesota academic, state government and other post-secondary degree institutions, the OCLC administrative fee is supported through the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, if the library meets Criteria for MINITEX Participation.

Libraries in South Dakota and North Dakota need to discuss this fee with their respective state library agencies, which are the contracting agencies for MINITEX services. All other libraries are eligible to join OCLC, but are responsible for paying their own MINITEX/OCLC administrative fee. The fee is due in July of each year.

OCLC has no membership fees. All OCLC charges are based on use. However, some charges are one-time costs, others are fixed monthly or annual fees and still others are on a per-unit basis. Fixed costs include access fees and subscription fees (for example, Cataloging and/or Resource Sharing subscriptions). There are per-unit credits for original cataloging and filling ILL requests.

Billing and Payment

MINITEX/OCLC participants pay semi-annually in advance for OCLC services, on the basis of their own estimate of anticipated use. MINITEX then issues monthly statements showing the library's activity as detailed by OCLC, the total billing for the month and the balance at the end of the month. If there is a balance due, it is payable within 30 days. There is a charge for payments not received by the due date.

The Cataloging System

Most libraries find over 90 percent of the cataloging they need in WorldCat. They enter original cataloging for the remaining items into WorldCat, thus helping to increase its value as a bibliographic and resource-sharing tool.

The MINITEX/OCLC User Group has issued a Statement on Quality Control. The User Group believes the OCLC participating libraries must contribute cataloging of the highest possible quality to WorldCat.

When cataloging online, the cataloger has the option of producing cards according to a library-defined profile. If cards are ordered, they are printed off-line at OCLC and shipped to the library.

Regardless of whether cards are produced for any cataloging transaction, a MARC format archival record of the transaction is made and stored at OCLC. These cumulated records are available to the library on either a single-order or a subscription basis. It is also possible to export records directly to a local system.

In addition to current cataloging, OCLC offers several options for retrospective conversion at a reduced rate. They also offer contract cataloging services and automated vendor links called WorldCat Cataloging Partners Program.

The Interlibrary Loan System

The Interlibrary Loan System provides access to the collections of over 53,500 OCLC participants. On the average, material requested through the ILL Subsystem is shipped within four days, and 95 percent of all ILL requests are filled.

Through OCLC's web-based resource sharing interface, staff of the requesting library search for a bibliographic record and associated holdings. Serial union listing data, as well as bibliographic locations, are available. Staff then request an ILL work form and enter up to five lending locations. The system automatically fills in the bibliographic information and other data specific to the library, such as the shipping address.

When the request is sent, it appears immediately in the incoming message file of the first potential lender. If the first potential lender cannot lend the item, the request goes immediately to the second potential lender, and so on. The system tracks the transaction through completion. Monthly statistical reports are available.

Borrowers and lenders can choose to charge and receive borrowing fees, when applicable, through the IFM (Interlibrary Loan Fee Management) system. These debits and credits are then handled as part of the regular OCLC billing process, reducing the need to produce invoices and cut checks.

Access to the OCLC Online System

A library communicates with the OCLC Online System through an Internet or Web connection. Although virtually any computer may be used to access OCLC, for some applications it might be necessary to download OCLC software.