Ms. Lilker's post made me wonder if everyone knows that there are two kinds of save files when you use Connexion. You can use the OCLC online save file, but you can also use a local Connexion file on a shared drive. The advantage of a local file is that there is no time limit on how long the records can be in the file.

The New York State Library has been using shared local Connexion files successfully for reviews of NACO records for several years now. Catalogers prepare the NACO heading on their local file. When they are finished they move it to the shared drive and hand me any material they quoted in their 670s. I review the heading and, when it's completed, submit it from the shared drive. (We also use this method for reviewing bib records from staff undergoing training. You can set up files for multiple levels of review, say having a clerk do basic input, an LTA checking the descriptive elements, and a librarian checking the subject entries and classification and doing any authority control that needs done. We haven't done that yet, but keep talking about it.)

The Connexion tutorial and help files are very informative about local files. If you don't already have a shared drive among the catalogers, you're IT people should be able to help. Our shared drive has been easily reconfigured several times to allow access to more units involved in contributing cataloging to OCLC.

Billie Aul
Senior Librarian
Technical Services and Systems
New York State Library
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY  12230
(518) 474-8610
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>>> Elizabeth Lilker <[log in to unmask]> 3/12/2008 4:44 PM >>>
At NYU, everyone saves their own records in the OCLC save file.
As the NACO reviewer, I review and produce the NARs. With the change from RLIN to OCLC, some of our workflow was changed. (I miss the shared pending record file!)

My supervisor, Sherman Clarke, and I review each other's work. I review for the other catalogers, though I often pass along some of the records to him.

Every record is checked by someone other than who created it. We do catch mistakes and the time spent reviewing the records is worth it.

Elizabeth Lilker
Cataloger
New York University Libraries
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
(212) 998-2489
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