Question: How do you make ITS.MARC better? Answer: Share your cataloging! The contributed databases in ITS.MARC are the second most popular sources of downloaded records, right after the Library of Congress. Why? Because these databases are rich in items not contained in other ITS.MARC databases. You can help your fellow catalogers obtain hard to find MARC records by joining your colleagues and contributing your MARC cataloging on a regular basis. In addition to that warm and fuzzy feeling you'll get from your public-spiritedness, you'll also receive important benefits: Your library will be entitled to free error reports or to a $100 credit on your annual TLC support costs as long as you establish a regular track record of contributing on at least a quarterly basis. The TLC copy of your database will represent a valuable backup in case disaster strikes. Your records will be automatically be scrutinized for MARC errors. If you elect to receive error reports, you will receive a list detailing the offending records and the corrective action required. If you wish, we will also perform an automated repair of non-filing indicators in controlled fields. Record fixes that can be applied by machine process will be automatically performed with each update. For a nominal cost, you can get fixed records returned to you. What does TLC do with your records? Not all of your records are used. Prior to merging your records into the contributed data pool, TLC performs these pre-processing steps: Records whose copyright resides outside your library (including copy cataloging records you have not enhanced) are removed. Unenhanced records that are duplicated in national library databases are removed. Minimal level MARC validation is performed. Records failing this step are removed. A deeper, more rigorous MARC record analysis is performed to determine whether any remaining deficiencies can be corrected by machine processes. This step is performed by our friends at the MARC of Quality. You are not forfeiting your copyright in these records or your enhancements to others' records, whether asserted or not, but you are making them available for use by other libraries and their patrons. Here is a way you can join in the library community’s pooled cataloging effort, giving visibility to your library, campus or community. To get started, download the MARC Partners Release Form