United States National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

FAQ
DOCLINE -- Level 3 vs. Level 4

Question: Why does DOCLINE report only Level 3 holdings?
Answer:

NLM decided not to accept holdings at the issue level (Level 4) after quering the network for their opinion. Although many libraries liked the idea of recording holdings at the issue level, NLM concluded that the possible improvements to routing would not counterbalance the increased resources required to collect, maintain and route on Level 4 holdings.

Currently over 83% of requests are filled on the first route, 96% are filled by the second route, and 98% are filled by the third route. In general, volume level (Level 3) reporting has been quite successful for DOCLINE. When filling requests, if libraries do not wish to search for individual issues they do not own, they can choose to only report holdings for which they own the entire volume.

Note: For a more detailed description of "encoding levels", please select Help from the top DOCLINE menu, then click on the Glossary button. In the Term: window on the left, scroll down and click on the "Encoding Level" link.

Related Questions:
How do I add a holdings record for my library?
How do I delete a holdings record for my library?
What happens to my holdings when a title changes?

Return to the list of DOCLINE FAQs | Return to the list of NLM FAQs
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/doc_level3.html

Last reviewed: 17 September 2008
Last updated: 17 September 2008
First published: 11 January 2002
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