In early April, LTI editors began finding a pattern of garbled topical headings in client catalog records submitted to the AEX service. Analysis thus far indicates two common characteristics of affected records: (1) they have an 040 field which includes “$dOCLCA”; and, (2) headings include a $z (place subdivision). Typical examples are listed below:
650 _0 $aCommunity life$vFiction$zIreland$xCommunity life$vFiction.
650 _0 $aConstruction industry$vStatistics$zPuerto Rico$xConstruction industry$vStatistics.
650 _0 $aCooking$xHistory$zLouisiana$zNew Orleans$xCooking$xHistory.
Reports indicate that the redundancy was introduced by an error in OCLC processing. There is evidence to suggest these problems may extend back at least several months, but at this time we cannot state that with certainty. We can report that LTI is still receiving large numbers of records with this problem from client libraries.
LTI software routines have been put in place to detect and repair this problem. For AUP users, corrected headings will be distributed in bibliographic records on the library’s next scheduled AUP run. There is no action libraries need to take at this time. If your library submits AEX files, but is not an AUP customer, you may want to review AEX files that were sent to us over the past several months.
If you have questions please contact LTI.