Page 4 Page 3 Page 2 Page 1 Volume 7, Issue 1 - March 2001

A Quarterly Newsletter of Bright Ideas for the Technical Services Division

LCCN - IT'S BEEN CHANGED!

The structure of the Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) has been changed. This will change how LCCNs are entered, searched and displayed in bibliographic databases as well as in our local automation systems. This change has also caused OCLC to change searches for International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSN).

The old LCCN structure differs from the new LCCN structure
in the number of positions allocated for prefixes, in the number of positions used to represent the year and in the loss of the “trailing blank” at the end of the serial portion of the number. The differ ences between the two numbers can be illustrated as:

Old Structure: pppyyssssss# Example: ### 95156543#

New Structure: ppyyyyssssss Example: ## 2001084800

Where

Beginning in December, 2000 OCLC and the Library of
Congress implemented the new numbering system. They have
both announced that they have no plans to go back and retro-
spectively convert the old numbers to the new format. In fact,
catalogers entering LCCNs in the old format, where the year is represented by 2 digits, should use the old data format. When entering new format LCCNs, where the year is represented by 4 digits, use the new data format. Remember that the key here is when LC cataloged the item, not when it was published.

This means there will be old numbers and new numbers in our bibliographic utilities, and in our catalogs for some time to come. It also means that when the 010 field includes a canceled/ invalid LCCN it may contain LCCNs in both the old and new structures. Continue to enter both flavors of LCCNs in all places in the MARC Bibliographic and Authority formats.

When entering a number which does not include an alphabetic prefix remember that empty spaces should be entered in its
place. We must all be very careful to put the correct number of
leading spaces in both styles of numbers. This example is entirely feasible:

010 ## $a ## 20010000010 $z ### 99000045#

Although OCLC and LC have both already implemented these changes, it usually takes a while for records reflecting big changes to be generally available. In the mean time, begin to catalog according to the new rules. Check how your automation system handles these numbers in your OPAC. Will it index them properly? How will it display them? Non OCLC libraries should ask their bibliographic utility what they are doing to handle these changes.

For more information go to the LC Cataloging Policy and
Support Office, http:// lcweb. loc. gov/ catdir/ cpso/lccn. html or check out OCLC’s Technical Bulletin number 241 -
http:// oclc. org/ oclc/ tb/ tb241.

Managing Technical Services Workshop

Featuring
Debra Wilcox Johnson

Explore the role of the Technical Services Department Manager
Learn how to tell the story of Technical Services to your peers and supervisors Get help dealing with difficult personnel issues

Friday, March 30th 2001

Cuyahoga County Public Library Headquarters Building, Parma, Ohio

$95.00

For registration or information contact OLC at olc@olc.org
614- 221- 9057
Registrations must be received by March 16, 2001
Sponsored by the Technical Services Division of the Ohio Library Council

TechKNOW ispublished by the Technical ServicesDivision of the Ohio LibraryCouncil
and is received by individual members of theDivision. For more information, or to submit articles, please contact Margaret Maurer at Kent State University Libraries
and Media Services at 330.672.1702, at home at 330.628.0313, or via the internet at mmaurer@lms.kent.edu or sky@en.com.