MARCIt records for e-journals

project to implement MARCIt service

McGill University Library Feb. 2006

Scope of MARCIt project

• MARCIt records are only for e-journals

• MARCIt does not supply records for e-books, databases and other electronic resources

• regular procedures will continue for e-resources not covered by MARCIt

Current displaye.g. American political science review

New display in the catalogue

Past practice: multiple records for e-journals in the catalogue

• for many titles, our users have access to: print version of a journal

+electronic version through one or more vendors

• past practice: one record for the print version

+one record for each vendor who gives us electronic access

Then came FindIt

• new linking software, like our FindIt McGill, has changed how we access e-journals

• FindIt is powered by a database called the SFX Knowledge Base – the Knowledge Base is created and maintained by Ex

Libris– content in the Knowledge Base is localized and

activated at McGill by LTS and LSO staff to match the full text e-journals to which we have access

2 databases

(1) SFX Knowledge Basefor the FindIt button to work, we need to keep the SFX Knowledge Base precisely updated with information about titles, holdings and access

(2) Library Cataloguewe also need to keep the library catalogue precisely updated

currently: every change has to be done twice:

library catalogue + SFX Knowledge Base

FindIt + MARCIt records

new approach: use the information in the SFX Knowledge Base in 2 ways:

(a) to continue to enable linking from citations in indexing & abstracting databases to full-text in e-journals

(b) to generate MARC cataloguing records to be used in our library catalogue through the use of a special

service on an Ex Libris server called MARCIt

How MARCIt service works

copy of McGill’s Knowledge Base information sent to the MARCIt server

MARCIt server processes this information

returns a file of MARC records

to McGill

McGill loads the file into the catalogue mirroring the latest information from the SFX Knowledge Base

Impact of MARCIt records on the catalogue

only 1 record for the electronic version

whether we have access through only one vendor or through

multiple vendors

Simpler display

1 record for the print version

1 record for the electronic version

then click on

for detailed access info.

New display in the catalogue

FindIt menu a bigger role

• FindIt menu replaces multiple records in the catalogue

• FindIt menu tells you how we have access

• FindIt menu tells you the holdings at each vendor’s site

• FindIt menu clicks you through to the different full text web sites

MARCIt records

• for new titles (title not yet in the catalogue)

MARCIt records added

• for existing titles (title already in the catalogue)

MARCIt records will replace our current e-journal records

Record replacement

to make life easier for our users:

1) part of the plan for the initial load has included an automated matching process so that we can suppress as many duplicate e-journal records as possible

warning: this will affect any saved links built on using Aleph system numbers (rare) *** most links will not be affected

2) after the initial load, we will clean-up to complete the reorientation of the catalogue from multiple e-journal records for a title to a single e-journal record

Implementation Plan

2 phases Anticipated date

(1) initial load Feb 2006

(2) regular updating procedure Mar 2006 -

The period of clean-up will begin after the initial load and continue while we implement updating

procedures.

Effect of new workflow

updating process will overlay records limitations on changes made to MARCIt records

● new policy on record changes for MARCIt records

● efficiencies gained by using this service also means that we should not waste these efficiencies by doing duplicate or unnecessary work

More info about the records

• Most MARCIt records will look very similar to the e-journal records currently in the catalogue

• full bibliographic records, including variant titles and subjects

• MARCIt records use CONSER bibliographic records from the OCLC WorldCat database

• URL connects to full text using the FindIt (SFX) server

• difference: holdings & linking information is found through the FindIt button, not from Aleph records

Current display

identifier for each holdings from publisher or vendor each publisher or

vendor

New display in the catalogue

MARCIt records are “aggregator neutral”

neutral: no identifier

for a particular vendor or publisher

New display in the catalogue

Holdings information comes from the SFX Knowledge Base (Find It)

no holdings info here

How do I recognize a MARCIt record?

• not apparent in brief view

• in full view, url begins:http://mclink.library.mcgill.ca/sfx?...

• in full view, MARC format:• 035 |a (SFX)...• CAT field = MARCIT (for full records)

MARCITBR (for brief records)

• 856 field has url that begins: http://mclink.library.mcgill.ca/sfx?...

Brief records

• when full records are not available, the MARCIt server sends a very brief record with:

Title

ISSN

URL which leads to the resource via the SFX server

- directly, if accessible from one source only

- using the FindIt menu, if accessible from multiple sources

Brief record

Brief record – Full view

Oddities

• some brief records have titles all in capital letters

• in a very few cases, there appear to be duplicate records, but each record has a different ISSN – it is FindIt’s way of dealing with related ISSNs

• automated matching may not have caught all instances of multiple e-journal records for the same title – let us know if you find some

Policy on record changes

• wherever possible, changes are made at the source: SFX Knowledge Base

e.g. incorrect url must be fixed in SFX

• duplicate records will be investigated

• errors in the title or ISSN will be investigated

if it is not “egregiously misleading”, we’ll live with it – but we will have more up-to-date e-journal

info in the catalogue!

Current statusFeb. 23rd, 2006

• MARCIt records in devAleph 16/01/06• staff have opportunity to preview the changes

devAleph: http://devaleph.mcgill.ca/F• information sessions

• production: scheduled to begin on Feb. 24th

(loading into real Aleph)

• phase 2: updating procedure • after initial load completed, develop and test process;

automate as much as possible• March 2006 -

Questions

chris.oliver@mcgill.ca

or

joanna.andrews@mcgill.ca