HSOCLCUG -- Start of Message

Start of Message :
The Newsletter of the Health Sciences OCLC Users GroupJanuary 2001

Proposal to: OCLC Users Council

Date: October 9, 2000

From: Health Sciences OCLC Users Group

Re: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and OCLC Services

The Health Sciences OCLC Users Group (HSOCLCUG) would like to refresh its "Resolution on Loading MeSH into the OCLC Authority File". We are interested in working with OCLC to plan a load of the 2001 edition of MeSH. The Group would be very interested in attempting a MeSH load into the Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC). We would suggest that an initial load include only the MeSH records for topical headings and not the subheadings or qualifiers.

The CORC system offers unique authority features that have been, previously, unavailable to us. The availability of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) in CORC is very exciting and we would like to have all these features offered for MeSH, as well. MeSH users would be benefited in the following ways:

Ability to import single MeSH authority records
Ability to use the CORC authority features, such as "Control All"
Global maintenance of MeSH headings in CORC

The Health Sciences OCLC Users Group is also working to encourage medical librarians to offer their expertise in the selection and description of health science electronic resources, thus enriching the CORC database. Could you help us to make our proposal for this project a reality on the OCLC agenda for implementation?

The original MeSH load resolution was passed at the 1995 HSOCLCUG annual meeting (see below). MeSH in OCLC cataloging and authority services continue to be an important issue for our Group.

Thank you for your consideration of our proposal.

Sincerely,

Mary Holt, President-elect
Tulane University Health Sciences Center, Rudolph Matas Medical Library, New Orleans, LA
email: maryholt@tulane.edu

Dan Kniesner, MeSH MARC, Committee Chair Oregon Health Sciences University Library, Portland OR
email: kniesner@ohsu.edu

Betsy Friesen, CORC Liaison Bio-Medical Library, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
email: b-frie@tc.umn.edu

The Health Sciences OCLC Users Group (HSOCLCUG) has continued to lobby to have the entire Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) authority file loaded into the OCLC System. New technologies in OCLC's Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC) have opened an possible opportunity to have the MeSH file loaded in the CORC environment. HSOCLCUG submitted the proposal above to OCLC Users Council which requests that MeSH be loaded into the CORC database. The new proposal is based upon a past official HSOCLCUG resolution (see 1995 resolution below) to OCLC Users Council. The MeSH/CORC proposal is on the agenda of the February 2001 meeting of the Collections and Technical Services Interest Group of OCLC User's Council. Contact the HSOCLCUG executive board members or discuss your issues and concerns via MEDCAT. You may also communicate your concerns or support of the proposal to Kris Senecal, (senecal@dickinson.edu), the Chair of the Collections and Technical Services Interest Group. A MeSH/CORC working group has been working on this issue and has created a survey and will be working toward gaining input on the needs and requirements for librarians using MeSH in CORC.

Please take a few minutes review the proposal and respond to the survey:

Medical Subejct Headings(MeSH) / Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC) Survey:
http://medstat.med.utah.edu/corc/meshcorcsurvey.html

RESOLUTION ON LOADING MeSH INTO THE OCLC AUTHORITY FILE

WHEREAS, member libraries rely on OCLC's Online Union Catalog and authority file for headings of all types, including subject headings, and
WHEREAS, OCLC is now using MeSH MARC tapes from the National Library of Medicine to correct existing MeSH headings in the Online Union Catalog, and
WHEREAS, an online MeSH authority file would enable member libraries to maintain more easily these corrected headings and would enhance the efficiency of member libraries performing subject authority work, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Health Sciences OCLC Users Group urges OCLC to load and maintain the MeSH main and subdivision headings into the online authority file as soon as possible.

Originally published: Start of Message and Annual Proceedings No. 75/76 (June-September 1995), p. 13.

HSOCLCUG Homepage:
http://hsoclcug.org

Start of Message is the newsletter of the Health Sciences OCLC Users Group, an independent group composed of health sciences libraries and individuals who either use or are interested in the use of the services of OCLC, Inc. in health sciences libraries.

Created January 02, 2001
Feedback