Record Authentication as a Barrier: Reflections on Returning to CONSER

This article offers reflections on the frustration of not having Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC)–conferred enhancement powers over the national database. The writer, trained at a Cooperative Online Serials (CONSER) institution, ponders the lessons of losing, and then regaining, the ability to enhance, correct, or authenticate bibliographic records in tbe Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) WorldCat, with special reference to the shortcomings of vendor-supplied records for e-journals and the need to reconcile local legacy data with the national master record. Attention is drawn to obstacles to sharing enhancement and maintenance responsibility for serial records in particular.