Open Access Kent State (OAKS)

The study consisted of two interrelated parts: (1) a quality analysis of the Chinese-language records in the OCLC database, with emphasis on identifying errors in member-contributed records; and (2) the development of a rule-based data validation system for quality control of Chinese-language records in the OCLC database, with emphasis on establishing a set of production rules for such a system. One thousand three hundred six member-contributed Chinese records were randomly selected from the OCLC database and were examined by the researcher. Commonly occurring errors were identified and were categorized into three classes: format errors, content deficiency and inconsistency errors, and typographical errors of editing and inputting. The relationship between the number of times a record had been enhanced and errors still occurring in it was also studied.