Scope: This procedure allows DBQ staff to resolve issues that arise when Interlibrary Services staff respond to patron requests.   DBQ and Serials staff receive the ILS report, and depending on the format of the resource in question, they resolve the issue or consult fellow staff as appropriate.

Contact: Pedro Arroyo

Unit: Database Quality 

Updated: 4/16/24

Date of next review: April 2025

• Email is sent to DBQ and Serials staff from Olin Interlibrary Services (olin-ils-lending@cornell.edu)
• Subject line usually reads: Problem – OCLC/Voyager Discrepancy: [title of OCLC record] or OPAC ERROR TN: [LS Number]
  
  • Note: Subject line may also have a number just before the title, which indicates the volume of the series or serial the patron is requesting.

• The body of the ILS message contains the appropriate record number, title, and publisher information for the requested item, along with additional notes from ILS staff, explaining what the problem is.
  
  • Usually, the discrepancy is reported when a patron requests a title that OCLC/Worldcat shows is “held” by CUL, but no corresponding record can be found in the local database.  There are many other possible discrepancies or errors that may be reported, however.

• DBQ and Serials staff search the resource in OCLC, and determine what the issue is.

• If the record in OCLC is for a PRINT monograph resource:
  • DBQ staff use the OCLC record info to search the local database with several terms (variant titles, LCCN, ISSN, etc.), and determine whether CUL holds the resource (we may hold it under an older title or an out-of-date record, for example).

• If the print resource is HELD in the local collection/database:
  • DBQ staff will Reply All to the ILS message, showing the appropriate CUL record(s), and explaining (where applicable) how/why the discrepancy may have come up, how it was fixed, whether we still hold the resource(s), etc. 
• If the print record is NOT found in the local database:
  • After confirming that CUL does NOT hold the resource, DBQ staff DELETE CUL’s holdings from the OCLC record, and Reply All to the ILS message that they’ve done so.
• If the record in OCLC is for an Electronic Resource:
  • E-Resources Management staff will perform the above steps and search the Serials Management System.  After determining whether the resource is held, ERM staff will “Reply All” to the ILS and report their findings.