Our systems librarian, Selden Deemer, has asked that I alert members of this
 list to an upcoming problem with PRISM and record transfers into online catalog
 s and a possible solution for it.

 Here is Selden's description:

 "OCLC is recommending that libraries stop using screen save format and use the
 MARC record transfer function of PRISM. The problem is, if someone needs to
 check their upload file (called BIBOUT.DAT), what they will see is a bunch of
 raw MARC records, one leading into the other. Trying to identify problems from
 this mess is something like trying to divine the future from reading a pig's
 entrails.

 I called OCLC UCD [user contact desk] last week to leave a suggestion that OCLC
 should develop (and distribute for free, perhaps in OCLC MICRO) a DOS utility
 program that would take a BIBOUT.DAT file and format it for human eyes. Output
 should be to screen, disk, or printer."

 Selden hopes that readers of this list will join in pushing this idea with
 OCLC. His Bitnet address is LIBSSD@EMUVM1 if you wish to reach him for more
 information.

 Linda Visk
 Head, Serials Control Dept.,
 General Libraries, Emory University, Atlanta GA 30322
 (404) 727-0121  Bitnet: LIBRLV@EMUVM1