OCLC writing and usage guide Updated May 2016 Contents Introduction and acknowledgments .............................................................................................2 OCLC writing style ......................................................................................................................3 Word choices ..............................................................................................................................8 Numbers ...................................................................................................................................13 Punctuation guidelines ..............................................................................................................16 Vertical lists ...............................................................................................................................22 Writing for the web ....................................................................................................................23 English localization ...................................................................................................................25 Using trademarked words .........................................................................................................27 Resources .................................................................................................................................30 Appendix A: OCLC product and service names ........................................................................31 Appendix B: Print codes and regionalizations............................................................................44 1 Introduction and acknowledgments This guide is a living document that provides a record of accepted and recommended practices that inform the technical writing style for OCLC’s external communications. This guide covers the recommended writing style for both print and electronic messages for all OCLC communications, including marketing, research reports and documentation. The practices and conventions recommended in this guide are specific to OCLC but are derived at least in part from highly regarded sources that include The Chicago Manual of Style and Associated Press (AP) Stylebook. The OCLC Library holds print editions of each of these guides and offers electronic access to The Chicago Manual of Style. Although this guide was developed primarily for a US audience, other regions may find parts of it valuable, especially the list of OCLC product and service names (Appendix A: OCLC product and service names), the guidelines for using trademarked words and the localization guidelines. Please note that trademark symbols are not used in the examples that follow because this document is for internal use only. Significant portions of this guide are derived from the OCLC Style Guide originally authored by Judy Barnes, OCLC Service Division, primarily for use in OCLC documentation and support applications. This version, which is an update to the version released in May 2015, was prepared by Jennifer Smither with significant input from Brad Gauder and additional reviews by Amanda Brennen, Terry Butterworth, Mark Cooke, Jane Dishong, Sara Finch, Lauren Gallina, Andy Havens, Erin Hood, Jenny Johnson, Kem Lang, Bob Murphy, Merrilee Proffitt, Erin Schadt, Noelle Sicuro, Tom Storey, David Valentine-Elam and ME Woods. The current editable version of this guide resides on the marketing shared drive, under N:\prm4\214786 OCLC writing and usage guide. The next update to this guide is planned for April 2017. 2 OCLC writing style Acronyms Acronyms are acceptable as long as they are defined on first use. One obvious exception to this rule is “OCLC,” which should not be defined in most cases. Acronyms may be used in headings for brevity, but should be defined as soon as possible in the body copy. In general, do not use periods between the letters of an acronym. One exception is authors who prefer their initials when listed in a bibliography or citation. Press releases refer to the AP Stylebook, which calls for periods in “U.S.,” but most OCLC writing adheres to the rules in The Chicago Manual of Style, which does not include those periods. A plural of an acronym receives a lowercase “s” without an apostrophe. Examples: OCLC will present 12 sessions at this year’s American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in the US. ALA attracts many Associate University Librarians (AULs). That AUL’s name is Mr. Brown. Bibliographic citations Refer to The Chicago Manual of Style, Chapter 15, “Documentation II: Author-Date References” for guidance on how to format full citations, shortened in-line references and citations in end notes, footnotes, bibliographies and reference lists. In most cases, OCLC documents should use the author-date reference style, not the notes and bibliography reference style. Capitalization OCLC follows the basic capitalization rules laid out by third-party style guides of authority. The list below offers some OCLC-specific stylistic differences. In general, most words that are not proper nouns or do not begin a sentence should be lowercase. For more specific information, see The Chicago Manual of Style. Captions and labels In general, use sentence-style capitalization and punctuation for captions and image labels, which is friendlier and easier for the reader to skim. Capitalize the first word and proper names, but leave other words lowercase. Example: WorldCat holdings by type of library Example: Columbus Metropolitan Library hosted a member forum. Headings and subheadings Use sentence-style capitalization and punctuation for headings and subheadings. Capitalize the first word of the heading, proper names and the first word of the subheading, but leave other words lowercase. Example: Your partner to solve cataloging challenges Example: Do things differently so you have time to do different things. 3 Organizational names Generally, use initial capital letters for all parts of an organizational name except for conjunctions, prepositions and articles (if the article is not the first word). Some commercial organizations have a preferred capitalization style. Likewise, some official university names begin with “The,” and some have specific formats for the names of branch campuses. A best practice is to check the organization’s website and use the recommended capitalization shown there. Examples: Library of Congress, McGill University, The Ohio State University, EBSCO, WiLS Product names In general, capitalize the first letter of product names, but use lowercase for the names of product features and functionality. See Appendix A: OCLC product and service names for specific instructions. Professional titles For OCLC writing, use initial capital letters for titles whether they precede or follow a name. Example: Skip Prichard, OCLC President and CEO, spoke at last year’s ALA. Example: President and CEO Skip Prichard spoke at last year’s ALA. Example: OCLC’s President and CEO, Skip Prichard, spoke at last year’s ALA. Titles of works See Titles in this section, below. Contractions Contractions are widely accepted in OCLC material, especially marketing copy, because they are easier for most people to read. They may not be appropriate in every case, depending on the context of the document, the meaning of the sentence and the intended audience. Example: You’ll love our new service. Electronic or “e” entities Unless at the beginning of a sentence or as part of a title, use a lowercase “e-” followed by the named resource. Examples: e-book, e-content EXCEPTION: Do not hyphenate “email.” This word is so widely used without a hyphen that most readers are used to seeing it this way. 4 Parallel construction Use parallel construction for items in a list or in a series. The first word of each item should be the same part of speech (infinitive, noun, participle, gerund, etc.). Example: The resources include books, e-books and e-journals. Example: The three steps are: (1) locate the directory, (2) click the file you need and (3) edit text as needed. NOT The three steps are: (1) locating the directory, (2) click the file you need (3) to edit text as needed. Parenthetic expressions A parenthetic expression is a part of a sentence that can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence. Depending on its importance to the larger meaning of the sentence and the emphasis it should receive, a parenthetic expression can be set off with parentheses, commas or em dashes (see the Punctuation guidelines section for more information on using parentheses, commas and em dashes). Example: The Article Exchange Alert (a new feature with this release) indicates the number of items that require attention. Example: An effective search method, especially for skilled searchers, is to conduct a Boolean search. Example: All the issues you face—data migration, policy configuration and staff training—are ones we’ve helped many libraries with before. Passive voice In almost all cases, avoid passive voice. Rephrase the sentence to clearly state who did what. Please note that avoiding passive voice doesn’t mean avoiding the verb “to be”; indeed, any verb can appear in a passive sentence. To determine whether the sentence truly is passive, try adding “by zombies” to the end. If it makes grammatical sense, then it’s passive. Example: The lead gen team sent an email to webinar attendees. NOT An email was sent to webinar attendees (by zombies). Example: The Dublin branch library delivers books to OCLC