JRNL - Journal Retention and Needs Listing: The OCLC Control Number and title changes

OCLC Control Numbers are required by the JRNL tool.

JRNL uses the OCLC Control Number number as the unique identifier for each serial. The OCLC Control Number is a unique, sequentially assigned number associated with a record in WorldCat. The number is included in a WorldCat®record when the record is created. The OCLC Control Number can be found in MARC fields 001, 019, and 035 as follows.

• On records created 12 November 2006 and before, field 001 contains the OCLC Control Number.
• On records created after 12 November 2006, field 035 contains the OCLC Control Number.
• Field 019 contains the OCLC Control Number of a deleted or merged record replaced by the current one.
• In Field 001, the OCLC Control Number is prefixed by "ocm" or "ocn" or "on."
• In Field 035, $a, the OCLC Control Number is prefixed by "OCoLC."

This field can appear in the bibliographic record, the holding record, or both.

A serial title is assigned a unique OCLC number for every format. The print format will have a different OCLC number from the CD-ROM format or the online format of the same title.

OCLC systems, including Connexion, WorldCat Cataloging Partners, CatExpress and Batchload, assign the OCLC Control Number to each bibliographic record input into the database as the records are entered.

Determining Serial Title Changes

In serials cataloging, a major title change prompts the creation of a new record. A new record will result in the assignment of a new OCLC number. To see the guidelines to determine a major change, click here.

For example, the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States started publishing its journal “Amateur Athlete” in 1930. Halfway through volume 42, the title changed to “Amateur Athlete Newsletter”. This prompted the creation of a new record starting with the seventh issue of volume 42 from July 1971. However, that title only lasted through the end of that volume/year; beginning with volume 43 in 1972, the title changed once again to “AAU News”, meriting another new record. Each of the three records associated with these title changes should have its own unique OCLC number.   

 NOTE: When dealing with older titles, you may see title changes where they don’t seem to be necessary. Please “follow the OCLC number” and separate titles with different OCLC numbers even if you think they should be on the same record.

Major changes:

• The addition, deletion, change, or reordering of any of the first five words (six words, if the title begins with an article) unless the change is one of the situations in the list below
• A change, addition or deletion after the first five or six words if this changes the meaning or the subject
• A change in a corporate body name anywhere in the title if the corporate body is a different body

Please see Editing & User tabs for user permission requirements for editing data elements in JRNL.