(Nov 2025) As libraries shift their budgets toward investing in digital resources and content, employees must also streamline work processes to accommodate thousands, if not millions, of titles. Missing or substandard metadata can hinder discoverability, impacting the library’s return of investment in these resources, not to mention the opportunity costs that result for our users.
Thus, our library faced a quandary when notified in fall 2024 about nearly one hundred ebook conference titles lacking associated MARC bibliographic records. Not only was the vendor unable to supply the records, but they didn’t even exist in WorldCat, our customary bibliographic to-go database of MARC records. How could we fulfill our commitment to provide access to these MARC records with the limited resources at our disposal?
Mary Aycock, systems and cataloging librarian at Del Mar College, United States, shares her experiences here.
