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Locations for Navigator

Orbis Cascade Alliance and several different OCLC work areas involved in developing Navigator use the term "location" to mean different things. Information will be updated frequently, so please check back! (notice the "last updated" date at bottom of page). 

This page is a work-in-progress. As of this writing, the page is not designed to document how the product works, since certain aspects are in development.   It is intended to help describe the purposes, or uses, of location information and where the information comes (or might come) from.

Additional twist: location is sometimes (not always) related to or associated with an OCLC Holding Symbol. Some OCLC process rely on an OCLC Holding Symbol, and others on "location."

Navigator is comprised of separate systems, such as:

  • patron interface = OCLCWorldCat = OCLC symbol
  • staff interface = (Navigator Request Engine), formerly called VDX=WCN. Locations

Some of the questions that affect our work:

  • What will the patron see in WorldCat?
  • Will the patron have the same kind of pickup location options as Summit offers now?
  • Where will the request be directed?
  • Does the Patron "Home Library" field matter? (in patron records)

WorldCat, discovery, and availability


VDX, requests, ILL and circulation

OCLC jargon, for VDX only, and not necessarily for WCN (WorldCat Navigator): a location is a library. This definition is not immediately comfortable for Alliance members, since an institution may have multiple libraries, or one or more satellite campus that has its own libraries.

OCLC needs a list of locations at each member institution that will manage requests:

  • a. as the item owner, where requests are received, picked & checked out (to send)
  • b. as the borrower, received for the patron. Create bib & item, put on hold with appropriate pickup location, and check out to patron.

Holding symbol - related to Location?

Some sites will process requests at more than one location, but using a single OCLC symbol.
Conversely: Some sites use (or have used) more than one OCLC symbol for attaching holdings at OCLC, but have a single location for managing requests.

Name displayed or printed for patrons and staff

In the current Summit, the name of a location displayed for patrons and for staff can vary depending on the process being used. The choice of name or abbreviation may be influenced by (a) space available in a limited-size box on a screen, or portion of a line on a printed form, or (b) vocabulary most understandable to patrons.
For example:
    • when patrons choose a pickup location not part of their institution, the name is different than it would be for patrons at that institution (e.g. Cascade Circ Desk vs. PCC Cascade Circ Desk).
    • the name printed on the paging slip may be different from what we print on a pick list, etc.

Prelimary list of locations for members to review

Please review this list and send information directly to staff (nnathans@uoregon.edu):
    1. Columns A-F are especially critical at this time. Columns G-J are a record of additional information currently used internal processing and for paging slips.
    2. The location(s) identified for managing requests; are these the locations you will use for Navigator? delete some? add?
    3. The OCLC holding symbol associated with the specific location: correct? or fill in the blanks where it was unknown
Pickup and Ship-to location names