MassCat: Unusual, Unique and Unexpected!

Requests for Original Cataloging

1.  Please remember that only records for newly acquired materials can be requested.  For retrospective conversion, talk to your Regional Library System Consultants for other options.

2.  Search MassCat the same day as placing your request(s).

3.  You may request records for the following types of materials:  books; videos (DVD or VHS); audiobooks; music recordings of popular music; CD-ROMS or other software, (this includes kits encompassing any of the above.), serials, microforms, or electronic resources such as websites and electronic journals.

You may not request records for the following types of materials:  printed music; music recordings of classical music; maps; archival materials.  At some point, these may be added to the Cataloging Center, or cataloging for these materials may be contracted out to a vendor.  Contact your Regional Library System to discuss options.  However, if someone on your staff is able to perform original cataloging complete with full MARC coding for these materials, we would encourage your library to submit a printed copy of MARC record created by your cataloger and we will input the record into OCLC. The Cataloging Center is more than happy to create an original record based on your library’s cataloging.

Only materials in English or other Roman-character languages may be requested. If requesting non-English records, you must provide a translation of the table of contents (for nonfiction) or jacket blurb/summary (fiction), as well as a target audience age.

Reminder: MassCat’s contract with OCLC specifies that we must add original cataloging to OCLC (i.e., CatExpress) for all new acquisitions.  If you have materials for which the Cataloging Center cannot provide original cataloging, please contact your Regional Library System to discuss other options for cataloging.  Help us remain in compliance with our contract. 

4.  You may request up to 10 original records per week. Expect a lag time of 15 working days (week-days) for the records to be created.

5.  Photocopy the material as instructed on the request form, and fill out the form as completely as possible. More complete information will lead to a better bibliographic record for you and your patrons.  Attach the photocopies to the request form and send to the Cataloging Center through the mail or via delivery.  Please do not fax. (Faxes of photocopies tend to be very poor quality.)  We regret this inconvenience but, based on the experience of other networks, believe it will save time in the long run.

6.  If the Cataloging Center has questions about your request, you will receive an email requesting further information, or a fax of the bibliographic record being created to verify some data.

7.  The Cataloging Center will send out a weekly email stating that records requested as of a particular date have been loaded. (It may take an additional day from the announcement date for those records to appear in MassCat.)

8.  We suggest filling in your contact information at the top of the sheet, and then making copies as needed (so the contact info need not be filled in each time).

• Request form for original cataloging record (HTML version)
• Request form for original cataloging record (PDF version)