Diplay limitations in the ILL program

We hope to be working with a new ILL program within a couple of years but for now we have to live with incoming requests that look like this:

The only clue that the borrower is looking for an audio version of this title is the mention of an unabridged edition.  But which audio version?  You could look up the OCLC number elsewhere in the NHU-PAC...

...to find that it's an 8-CD set with a bonus PDF disc being requested.  That puts an extra burden on the lender.  A previous post includes suggestions on how borrowers can help make it clear which edition they're after.  This post is for those curious about why our ILL program doesn't automatically show some important information in its displays.  It has to do with changes to cataloging standards since the ILL program was written.

NHAIS Services can and does adjust indexes so your searches will find appropriate information in records both old and new.  What we can't change is the way the ILL program displays records.  Here's a 1999 record as seen in the ILL program:

 

Here are the key fields from the record displayed above:
 
010:  $a 89006110
020:  $a 1568000316 (alk. paper)
020:  $a 0452262739
100:  1 $a Santos, Jim.
245:  10 $a Sports illustrated track : $b the field events / $c by Jim Santos and Ken Shannon ; photography by Heinz Kluetmeier.
250:  $a 1st Sports Illustrated Books ed.
260:  $a New York : $b Sports illustrated, $c 1999.
300:  $a 281 p. : $b ill. ; $c 23 cm.
440:  0 $a Sports illustrated winner's circle books
650:  0 $a Track and field $v Juvenile literature.
650:  1 $a Track and field.

Everything you'd expect shows up in the ILL display except that, where there are multiple ISBNs, the program can only show the first one it finds in a record.  Here's the ILL display of a record cataloged according to today's standards:

And here's what the incoming request would look like (with note added by borrower):

Although the information labeled as imprint, series title, ISBN, and LCCN is all present in the MARC record (details below), it's no longer in a field or format that the ILL program can handle.  The publication information ("imprint") is now commonly entered in field 264 rather than 260.  The series information is now entered in field 490 (and, in many cases as here, an accompanying 8XX field) rather than field 440.  While the ISBN and LCCN are still stored in the same fields (020 and 010, respectively), both have been lengthened while the ILL program can only display the older 10-digit ISBN and 8-digit LCCN formats. (While there is a 10-digit ISBN in the details below, it's not the first ISBN in the record and thus can't be displayed.)

010:  $a 2016041158
020:  $a 9781410495624 $q (hardcover)
020:  $a 1410495620 $q (hardcover)
100:  1 $a Brunstetter, Wanda E., $e author.
245:  14 $a The Hawaiian quilt / $c Wanda E. Brunstetter & Jean Brunstetter.
250:  $a Large print edition.
264:  1 $a Waterville, Maine : $b Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning, $c 2017.
264:  4 $c ©2016
300:  $a 469 pages (large print) ; $c 23 cm.
490:  1 $a Thorndike Press large print Christian fiction
650:  0 $a Amish $v Fiction.
650:  0 $a Quilts $v Fiction.
650:  0 $a Female friendship $v Fiction.
650:  0 $a Ocean travel $v Fiction.
651:  0 $a Kauai (Hawaii) $v Fiction.
651:  1 $a Hawaii $v Fiction.
830:  0 $a Thorndike Press large print Christian fiction series.

Further making it hard to distinguish different editions of titles is the phasing out of the general media designator (GMD) that used to be in subfield 245h.  This is the [videorecording] or [sound recording] or [text(large print)] or [microform] or [electronic resource] or [realia] that you used to see next to the title.  Not only are these not appearing on newer records but OCLC is systematically removing this subfield from older records in its database.  You'll still find the GMD on many of the older records in the NHU-PAC but that will change as records are updated.

While unrelated to changes in cataloging standards, it's worth noting that some special characters aren't accurately displayed in the ILL program--Nestlé becomes Nestlâe, Bohème becomes Boháeme, and 10% happier may appear on some screens as 10Áappier.