OCLC Daily Bib Updates

As approved by the WRLC Metadata Committee on April 24, 2026 , WRLC has configured a new OCLC Daily Bibliographic Import Profile for bibliographic records associated with the Network Zone (NZ). 

 

 Incoming Records 

 The import profile retrieves bibliographic records from OCLC that meet all of the following criteria: 

 1. Record Contains a WRLC Holding Symbol 

 The bibliographic record must contain at least one of the following OCLC holding symbols associated with a WRLC institution: 

 

 EAU 

 WCL 

 DCU 

 LI2 

 DCV 

 DDU 

 DCJ 

 GQG 

 VGM 

 VGL 

 DGU 

 GTU 

 KIE 

 GUL 

 DGW 

 GWM 

 GWL 

 DHU 

 DHX 

 HLL 

 HUD 

 DCHUA 

 MMV 

 CAO 

 

 2. Record Was Recently Updated in OCLC 

 The record must have been updated in OCLC within the previous 24 hours, or since the last file was sent by OCLC to WRLC. 

 WRLC’s WorldShare Collection Manager currently defines an “update” as: 

 

 Any change to a MARC field 

 Any encoding level change 

 

 The following records are excluded from update processing: 

 

 Records with a publication date of 1820 or earlier 

 

 3. Record Was Recently Merged in OCLC 

 Records that were merged in OCLC within the previous 24 hours, or since the last file delivery, are also included. 

 

 Import Behavior in Alma 

 Matching Requirements 

 Incoming records must match an existing Network Zone bibliographic record in Alma. 

 The import profile uses the Unique OCLC Identifier Match Method , which searches for matching OCLC numbers in: 

 

 035 $$a 

 035 $$z 

 

 If no matching Network Zone record is found, the incoming record is not imported . 

 Merge Process 

 When a match is found, the incoming OCLC record is merged with the existing Network Zone bibliographic record using WRLC’s configured merge rules. 

 For additional information about WRLC consortium merge rules, see the WRLC Alma Wiki page on Merge Rules . 

 Multiple Match Handling 

 If the import profile finds more than one matching Network Zone record, Alma selects the record with the most recent creation date for the merge. 

 

 Import Schedule 

 The OCLC Daily Bib Update import job runs: 

 

 Daily at 8:00 AM 

 Average completion time: approximately 5 minutes 

 

 

 Identifying Updated Records 

 All records updated through the OCLC Daily Bib Update process receive a 995 field containing information about the update transaction. 

 995 Field Structure 

 

 

 

 

 

 Subfield 

 Description 

 

 

 

 

 $$a 

 Name of the WorldShare Collection 

 

 

 $$b 

 Date of update 

 

 

 $$c 

 Reason for record output 

 

 

 $$e 

 Transaction type ( UPDATED or MERGED ) 

 

 

 $$5 

 WRLC OCLC symbol 

 

 

 

 

 

 Example 

 995 __ $$a Washington Research Library Consortium Master Collection $$b 2026-05-11 $$c WorldCat record variable field(s) change: 040, 050 $$e UPDATED $$5 CAO