Submitted by Bill Warren

We are currently setting up electronic services with our principal vendor of German-language materials, Harrassowitz, from whom we also purchase musical scores. When all is finished, we will enjoy a streamlined ordering and invoicing process, much like that provided by Blackwell, our major English-language vendor. Liaisons will be able to select items to be ordered in OttoEditions, the online bibliographic utility named for the venerated Otto Harrassowitz, who founded the firm in 1872. We purchase various categories of items from Harrassowitz, for each of which we have set up a separate account and profile. Items to be ordered in each category are assembled in a file in OttoEditions, which we import into our library system. The files of brief bibliographic records contain data added by Harrassowitz, in accordance with our specifications, which after processing through our load table causes order records to be automatically created, and encumbers the cost of each item. This eliminates the need to search for and download a bibliographic record, and create an order record, for each item individually. The ordering process is completed when we confirm our intent to purchase by electronically transmitting the order records back to Harrassowitz. We have successfully tested the procedure up to this point. Our colleagues in Cataloging are now making arrangements with OCLC, which will in conjunction with Harrassowitz furnish final bibliographic records (with embedded data that will cause our system to automatically create online invoices) for our purchases through the Cataloging Partners program. Once this second stage is completed, we will be able to implement the entire procedure.