Project Download:Putting OCLC in Your Own Database File

Many people have wanted to do many things with OCLC‐MARC records. I would like to track the different kinds of bibliographic records processed by my cataloging staff so I can assign work to the professional and paraprofessional staff most efficiently. So, as the beginning of a management information system (MIS), I created Project Download, a microcomputer program that counts the number of bibliographic records that a holding library downloads from the OCLC Online Union Catalog and also enables me, as manager of the cataloging department, to count the materials coming from our acquisitions department. I gather the information using an M300 Workstation and process it on a Zenith 158 XT microcomputer that has a 10MB hard disk, using a microcomputer program called Smart to extract the data from the IBM environment and transform it into meaningful information in the Zenith environment. Smart is an integrated, fourth‐generation microcomputer software package with word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, communications, time management, and relational database management capabilities. Aldiough Smart doesn't require a hard disk, Project Download does in order to automatically pass data and control from module to module.