Why should I use a dummy collection?
Applies to
- WorldShare Collection Manager
Answer
When a link is surfacing due to an exact title mismatch, and one of the titles is not in the knowledge base at all, adding a title to a "dummy" collection is the best option for fixing this issue at this time. In these cases, putting better data in the records in WCKB and/or in the WorldCat records will not help solve the problem because only one of the titles currently has KB data to contribute. The system can't find any matching data for the Discovery record among your holdings in the knowledge base except for that exact title.
This is what a "dummy" collection changes. Adding the Discovery title without a link and with its OCLC number and/or standard number to the WCKB, in a local collection exclusively for this purpose, prevents the system from getting to a title match. It matches on the KB entry with that OCLC number first, and this entry will not have a link to display.
OCLC has explored the option of removing the title match but determined that it would make links less discoverable and would cause more issues than it solves.
Currently, dummy collections don't meet the guidelines for adding new collections to the cooperative. If your library is interested in submitting a dummy collection to the cooperative, please contact us.
Thank you for asking about this and for your continued engagement with improving data globally, for all libraries.
Additional information
See Mismatched records and best practices for cooperative edits