Bibliographic Utility

Background

The presence of OCLC WorldCat record numbers in bibliographic records makes it possible to match records in Alma when materials are owned by multiple CSU libraries. The OCLC record number provides a match point that simplifies record loading, record maintenance, and other technical operations. Requiring use of a common bibliographic utility ensures that the records of CSU libraries can be merged and maintained with greater ease in a shared environment. If multiple bibliographic utilities were allowed, individual institutions might lower their cataloging costs. However, such an environment would significantly increase the complexity and cost of operating a shared system.

Policy Statement

• Libraries must use OCLC as their primary bibliographic utility

• Libraries must use the OCLC record number as their primary match point when importing records into Alma, except in cases where a policy has been established to use a different match point

• The following types of bibliographic records are not required to contain OCLC numbers nor to have holdings set in WorldCat:

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  • records created for ordering purposes

  • personal-copy course reserves

  • titles borrowed on ILL from outside the CSU consortium

  • inventory control of equipment

  • records representing titles in a knowledge base (e.g., Alma CZ records)

  • government document sets from current gov docs mgt (was: CRDP, MARCIVE; OCLC CM in 2025)

  • host bibliographic records for bound-withs

  • suppressed bibliographic records

  • record sets provided by vendors other than OCLC, including leased book sets

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