OhioLINK Central Catalog

The OhioLINK Central Catalog is the union catalog for OhioLINK libraries, providing bibliographic and holdings information, including current circulation status. The Central Catalog is built and maintained in real time, with local catalogs automatically contributing local updates. The Central Catalog:

• Receives records from multiple sites in real time.
• Employs a "master record" concept, with a holdings display of all sites that hold the title.
• Uses sophisticated matching software to merge holdings from individual sites into one master record.

One bibliographic record per work serves as the Central Catalog's "master" bibliographic record. One library is the "owner" of the record.

Standards for contributing records to Central:

• Minimal Bibliographic Record Standards
• DIAD Policy for Links in Member Contributed Records
• Suppression Codes
• Blended Cataloging Records - Recommendations
• Call Before You Start Big Projects
• Contributing E-resource Records to the Central Catalog
• Contributing print records without OCLC numbers to the Central Catalog
• OCLC Number Prefixes Overview

How the system matches and merges bibliographic records:

• Matching Records
• SkyRiver Records
• How To Tell Who Owns the Record at Central (945)

How a master record gets changed or deleted:

• Changing an Existing Central Catalog Record
• Deleting Records from the Central Catalog

Central Catalog displays and indexing:

• Uniform Title Display
• Item Status Codes
• Indexing Rules: Phrase Indexes and Field Groups • Advanced Keyword • Call Number Indexing
• Material Type limiting (BCODE2)

December 2014

Updated January 2023