Library of Congress

Program for Cooperative Cataloging

The Library of Congress > Cataloging, Acquisitions > PCC > PCC Record Exchange Agreement Update

The primary goal of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging has been, from the outset, to increase the timely availability of bibliographic and authority records. One of the objectives that the Program has pursued in support of this goal has been that of facilitating between OCLC and RLG--the two major bibliographic utilities that have been part of the PCC effort from the beginning -- the exchange of Program records that are unique to either utility's database, thereby enabling the broadest possible access to PCC records for member institutions of each organization.

In the five years since the Program's inception, considerable effort has been invested in attempting to structure a framework that would facilitate such record exchange. At its June 1998 meeting, the PCC Steering Committee again focussed its attention on this topic. These discussions benefited from participation by the OCLC and the RLG representatives on the Committee, as well as from input from additional senior managers in both organizations. As a consequence of these deliberations, the Committee has concluded that the exchange of records between OCLC and RLG is no longer a realistic Program goal.

Happily, changes in the PCC's operating environment since 1992 have resulted in an appreciable percentage of PCC records being available in both organizations' databases as a result of workflows in participant institutions and, notably, of Library of Congress use (and subsequent distribution) of Program records. While the PCC will no longer emphasize the exchange of records between OCLC and RLG as a programmatic goal, the Program will continue to seek ways to ensure the widest access to its records.