[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Job posting: Digital Infrastructure and Discovery Librarian
The University of Prince Edward Island, Canada, invites applications for a permanent track Librarian position to oversee the Library’s digital infrastructure, metadata and discovery services, and to provide research, instruction, and collection development support. More details are available at: http://www.upei.ca/hr/competition/01a15 [apologies for cross-posting] -- Melissa Belvadi Collections Librarian University of Prince Edward Island mbelv...@upei.ca 902-566-0581
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Connecting circ transactions to changing patron profile
Hi, all. We are an academic library who also offers public memberships to members of the community, with somewhat more restricted borrowing privileges than students have. When students graduate, they are automatically converted to the public profile (literally changing their profile code in actor.usr) via batch update. They keep the same barcode/id#, not assigned new cards, and thus the same id# in Evergreen. We currently have no expiration on public memberships and no procedure for doing so yet. We are now faced with wanting to know how many active members of the public we have, defining active as users who have had some circ transaction activity within the last three years. The problem is that so far as I can tell, there is no record in the Evergreen tables as to when a user's profile code is changed. So if I just look in actor.usr at everyone who is a member of the public profile as of this moment, and find all of the transactions within the last 3 years in action.circulation that are connected to those users (a very simple sql query), I'll get mostly students who graduated within the last three years, whose circ activity took place when they were students, not as members of the public. Am I missing something? Is there a table/field somewhere that can help me join so that I only retrieve those circ transactions that were done by users who were in the public profile *at the time of the transaction* regardless of what that same user's profile assignment is at the time I'm running the query? Thanks for any help! -- Melissa Belvadi User Experience Collections Librarian University of Prince Edward Island mbelv...@upei.ca 902-566-0581
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] ***SPAM*** A holdings-sort question and a holds question
Hello, all. First I should note for those who know us at UPEI and haven't heard yet, Grant Johnson has left us for a very nice position working for the PEI provincial government. So we might ask an occasional newbie question here now. Holdings question: We're on 1.6.0.4, planning to go to 2.0 this summer. We've modified our holdings list on full bibs to be one line per item, like Michigan's. We'd like the holdings list on the full bib record display to sort by due date, most recent first (with available/no due date at the top). Is this possible in 1.6? If not, is it possible in 2.0? Holds question: Is it possible to set the hold expire time for one specific item (or a specific location) to a different period than the rest of the collection? If so, where do we set it? Our normal hold period is a week, but we want to start circulating some kindles and only want them to sit on the holdshelf at most 2 days before moving to the next person in the hold queue. We have created a separate asset.copy.location for the kindles, if that helps. I should also mention that our current configuration for most things is pretty legacy, in that any circ settings that were not in the database (but are in flat config files on the server) in 1.2 have not been migrated to the database yet. So for instance, when I go in the SC to Admin - Local Admin - Hold Policies, I see nothing there. Thanks for any help you can give! --- Melissa Belvadi Emerging Technologies Metadata Librarian University of Prince Edward Island mbelv...@upei.ca 902-566-0581
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] How do your catalogers handle the 008 bib create date?
Hi, all, The new bib record template system hardcodes a particular date in an xml file for the 008 positions 00-05 (yymmdd of the date you created the record, per http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd008a.html ). You can leave it blank in the template, or put in a particular yymmdd, but apparently can't do anything to make it automatically stick in today's date without some local custom coding. So I'm wondering what all the Evergreen catalogers are doing out there with this. Do you: 1. leave it blank? 2. leave an old date in the template xml and hand-change it with every new record you create? 3. did you do some custom coding locallly (eg maybe involving a cron job) to modify the xml every day? 4. other Thanks for sharing your practice on this!
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] MARC for electronic resources
I recommend you seriously consider using the source option that Dan listed. To give you more detail, every bib record has attached to it a field called the source. There's a table that lists all of the possible sources (you can add more as needed), and for each one, whether it is transcendent or not. Transcendent simply means that the record will be visible in the OPAC without any items attached and even if you haven't added anything extra to the 856. So, for instance, for our ebooks, we have a special source which is set to transcendent, and when we add ebook records, we change the source from the default to this other source. I just find this a cleaner option from a cataloguing perspective than adding a subfield to the 856. Very recently, we (UPEI) had the wonderful Dan Scott add two things to make this much easier - the ability to modify the source in the staff client on a per-record basis, and a fix to the Vandeley (Batch import) so that the source pulldown there actually worked. Dan, is that code out there for Mary to use in her system yet? FYI, the table in question is config.bib_source for your SQL people, and the bib field that references it is biblio.record_entry.source. Melissa Belvadi --- Melissa Belvadi Emerging Technologies Metadata Librarian University of Prince Edward Island mbelv...@upei.ca 902-566-0581 On 9/29/2010 at 11:02 AM, in message 4CA34A0A.D6C : 92 : 60780, Mary Llewellyn mllew...@biblio.org wrote: Ah, that's disappointing. The display of multiple 856s will be ugly and confusing to the library patrons. Thanks for the reply. Mary At 08:58 AM 9/29/2010, you wrote: Quoting Mary Llewellyn mllew...@biblio.org: Jumping in here with a question about adding subfield 9. If we have more than one library subscribed to an e-resource, can we add multiple subfields 9 to a single 856 to display the bib in each of those libraries' public catalogs? You can add multiple 856 tags. IIRC they are repeatable. Also, in checking the code, it looks like you're expected to add multiple 856s, one for each holding library. Also, in 2.0 at least, the shortname can go in a subfield 9, w, or n. HtH, Jason Stephenson Merrimack Valley Library Consortium Sent from my iPad On Sep 28, 2010, at 9:30 PM, Dan Scott d...@coffeecode.net wrote: On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 05:13:03PM -0500, Deanna Frazee wrote: Thanks Dan, It makes sense. But my problem is that the MARC record is not displaying at all in the public catalog. I'm assuming this is because there is no holding record, but perhaps I'm wrong? There are three ways a record can be made visible in the public catalogue: * Set the record source to a transcendent source * Add a copy with a visible status in a visible copy location in a visible library * (As of 1.6) add an 856, first indicator 4, second indicator 0, with a $9 subfield with a value matching a shortname in your search scope If your record isn't displaying in the public catalog, and you have an 856 40 $9 SHORTNAME in the record, then perhaps something else is wrong with the record or your configuration. At this point, without a concrete example, there's not much I can do to help diagnose the problem further. Mary Llewellyn Mary Llewellyn Database Manager Bibliomation, Inc. Middlebury, CT mllew...@biblio.org
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] ***SPAM*** Re: MARC for electronic resources
Elizabeth, hi. You might want to look at the redesign we did recently (Dan Scott did, following the work of another library), on our Holdings area. I'm not sure if it answers all of your concerns, but it greatly cleans up the copy area, and we changed the wording of the no copies message to instead direct them to find the 856 link or other local holdings note above. example: http://islandpines.roblib.upei.ca/opac/en-CA/skin/roblib/xml/rdetail.xml?r=813898ol=4t=ebrary%20nursingtp=keywordl=4d=2hc=196rt=keyword Melissa Belvadi On 9/30/2010 at 10:08 AM, in message 4ca4826d.86cb.008...@groupwise.upei.ca, Elizabeth Thomsen e...@noblenet.org wrote: Those sound like great enhancements for managing transcendence! We have a couple of other questions about electronic resources in the catalog. Is there any way to suppress the whole copy display area? That would be the View copy information for all libraries link, the column headings for copy information, the statement There are no copies in this location when, of course, there are -- they just aren't physical copies. Also, is there a way to lose the Place Hold link on these? Thanks in advance for any suggestions! On 9/30/2010 8:34 AM, Melissa Belvadi wrote: I recommend you seriously consider using the source option that Dan listed. To give you more detail, every bib record has attached to it a field called the source. There's a table that lists all of the possible sources (you can add more as needed), and for each one, whether it is transcendent or not. Transcendent simply means that the record will be visible in the OPAC without any items attached and even if you haven't added anything extra to the 856. So, for instance, for our ebooks, we have a special source which is set to transcendent, and when we add ebook records, we change the source from the default to this other source. I just find this a cleaner option from a cataloguing perspective than adding a subfield to the 856. Very recently, we (UPEI) had the wonderful Dan Scott add two things to make this much easier - the ability to modify the source in the staff client on a per-record basis, and a fix to the Vandeley (Batch import) so that the source pulldown there actually worked. Dan, is that code out there for Mary to use in her system yet? FYI, the table in question is config.bib_source for your SQL people, and the bib field that references it is biblio.record_entry.source. Melissa Belvadi --- Melissa Belvadi Emerging Technologies Metadata Librarian University of Prince Edward Island mbelv...@upei.ca 902-566-0581 On 9/29/2010 at 11:02 AM, in message 4CA34A0A.D6C : 92 : 60780, Mary Llewellyn mllew...@biblio.org wrote: Ah, that's disappointing. The display of multiple 856s will be ugly and confusing to the library patrons. Thanks for the reply. Mary At 08:58 AM 9/29/2010, you wrote: Quoting Mary Llewellyn mllew...@biblio.org: Jumping in here with a question about adding subfield 9. If we have more than one library subscribed to an e-resource, can we add multiple subfields 9 to a single 856 to display the bib in each of those libraries' public catalogs? You can add multiple 856 tags. IIRC they are repeatable. Also, in checking the code, it looks like you're expected to add multiple 856s, one for each holding library. Also, in 2.0 at least, the shortname can go in a subfield 9, w, or n. HtH, Jason Stephenson Merrimack Valley Library Consortium Sent from my iPad On Sep 28, 2010, at 9:30 PM, Dan Scott d...@coffeecode.net wrote: On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 05:13:03PM -0500, Deanna Frazee wrote: Thanks Dan, It makes sense. But my problem is that the MARC record is not displaying at all in the public catalog. I'm assuming this is because there is no holding record, but perhaps I'm wrong? There are three ways a record can be made visible in the public catalogue: * Set the record source to a transcendent source * Add a copy with a visible status in a visible copy location in a visible library * (As of 1.6) add an 856, first indicator 4, second indicator 0, with a $9 subfield with a value matching a shortname in your search scope If your record isn't displaying in the public catalog, and you have an 856 40 $9 SHORTNAME in the record, then perhaps something else is wrong with the record or your configuration. At this point, without a concrete example, there's not much I can do to help diagnose the problem further. Mary Llewellyn Mary Llewellyn Database Manager Bibliomation, Inc. Middlebury, CT mllew...@biblio.org -- Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange 26 Cherry Hill Drive Danvers MA 01923 Blog: http://www.noblenet.org/ethomsen/ E-mail: e...@noblenet.org
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] ***SPAM*** Re: SQL Repository?
I agree with Dan about it being pretty broad. But there might be some basic samples that we could share, to offer best practices. For instance, when crossing tables, there are two ways - to use join or two use explicit ands to connect the corresponding columns. I've done it both ways but notice that when we get sql scripts from Equinox, they always use the join syntax, so I'm starting to switch. Maybe the first thing to establish is whether the intent is to provide complex canned scripts for common functions run regularly, like Conifer's perl scripts, or shorter examples that help to demonstrate the relational structure of the tables for use in making quick one-off queries in something like pgadmin. Amy, I'd be happy to send you some examples of the latter, if you give me your email address. Melissa Belvadi --- Melissa Belvadi Emerging Technologies Metadata Librarian University of Prince Edward Island mbelv...@upei.ca 902-566-0581 Dan Scott d...@coffeecode.net 10/2/2009 5:48 PM 2009/10/2 Amy Terlaga terl...@biblio.org: Hi all— We’re just getting our feet wet with writing SQL scripts for our Evergreen test server, so I was wondering, and I apologize if this has already been asked . . . Is there some central repository, maybe a wiki or a website, which houses SQL queries that have already been written by other Evergreen sites? http://svn.open-ils.org/trac/ILS-Contrib would be one good place to establish such a repository, although SQL scripts is a very broad category. There are some scripts that we run in Conifer at http://svn.open-ils.org/trac/ILS-Contrib/browser/conifer/trunk/tools/daily-scripts for example. What goals are you hoping to use these scripts to accomplish?
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] how to copy-and-paste marc tag with subfields from other software?
Hello. I want to have a workflow that involves having student assistants who write up 505 formatted notes fields, using the $t and $r subfields, in email and send them to our copy cataloguer for copy-and-pasting into the appropriate record. The intent is to not have the students assistants have access to the full cataloguing client, for training and record integrity reasons, but not to make the copy cataloguer have to copy and paste every single subfield of a long table of contents piece by piece. Is there any way to do this? Obviously, using a literal $ character won't work. Is there any character that could be used in email, either directly or in a binary attachment like a Word document, that would? If not, are there any plans for upcoming versions to improve on the whole field copy and paste functionality including this problem of handling subfield markers? Thanks! --- Melissa Belvadi Emerging Technologies Metadata Librarian University of Prince Edward Island mbelv...@upei.ca 902-566-0581
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] question about relevance - mult eds of same book not in most recent order
Hi, all. We've noticed no apparent pattern to how the relevance in 1.4 sorts books that are multiple editions of the same book. For instance, we choose to keep many older editions of veterinary textbooks in our role as the primary veterinary college library in our region. We have all 6 editions of Textbook of internal veterinary medicine: diseases of the dog and cat, the 6th ed being 2005, and on back to the first edition being 1975. With the default relevance ranking, a keyword search on Textbook of veterinary internal medicine diseases of the dog and cat results in the 6th coming up first, but the rest are in the order (by ed# going down) 3, 2, 4, 5, 1. A title search is much worse, coming up in the order 3, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6. I would suggest that it is very likely that patrons would consider the most recent edition to be the most relevant. Is this something that we can change locally, or something we'll see changed in 1.6, or can we suggest it as an enhancement for a future update? Thanks! --- Melissa Belvadi Emerging Technologies Metadata Librarian University of Prince Edward Island mbelv...@upei.ca 902-566-0581
[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] opensrf as fed search target?
Sorry for a dumb question, but is it appropriate to ask a federated search vendor to create a target connector for our EG 1.4 catalogue using OpenSRF instead of Z39.50? Or is OpenSRF only good for passing information about known items? If it does make sense, can someone send me a pointer that I can send to our fed search vendor for more information? Thanks! --- Melissa Belvadi Emerging Technologies Metadata Librarian University of Prince Edward Island mbelv...@upei.ca 902-566-0581
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] how to attach note to a copy as it goesoutwith override?
Yes, it's somewhat infrequent, maybe a handful of times per semester, and also the check-out is being done by someone who doesn't normally do circ stuff - generally, a reference librarian. Putting Edit Alert Message as a choice as you describe, particularly in the Items Out and Check In's 'Actions' menus seems like a very nice solution. How difficult is it to add that? I assume this would be a special coding request, but perhaps also worth adding to the main code base. I know what you mean about Fake accounts, but in this case we need something that is easy enough that the reference librarians would be willing to use it rather than just keep doing what they're doing now, which is to ignore the circ system completely and just leave pieces of paper taped around the reference desk noting the book and borrower (shudder!). I really want to move this into the system not only for fines/overdues, but also just so the opac indicates the item isn't available so patrons don't waste time searching for it on the shelf. Aside from our particular context, would other libraries find it useful to have an easier way to edit item Alert Messages on checkout and checkin? Melissa --- Melissa Belvadi Emerging Technologies Metadata Librarian University of Prince Edward Island mbelv...@upei.ca 902-566-0581 Jason Etheridge ja...@esilibrary.com 8/16/2009 2:39 PM On Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 8:58 AM, Melissa Belvadimbelv...@upei.ca wrote: Well, the specific situation is that we sometimes need to checkout materials, esp. reference materials, to someone who isn't in the borrower database (and isn't going to be added). Ah, so it sounds like an infrequent thing? In that case, we might better be served with a simple Actions - Edit Alert Message menu option in the Items Out and Item Status and Holdings Maintenance interfaces. Have that wrapped in a specific permission and staff won't need to go through the heavier Item Attribute Editor. I worry about fake accounts though. They almost always make me think some specific and better workflow should be implemented. Perhaps in this case you could put the item in a Copy Bucket and still set an alert message. But then, you still want to be able to charge fines and/or know when the item is overdue, eh? -- Jason Etheridge | VP, Tactical Development | Equinox Software, Inc. / The Evergreen Experts | phone: 1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457) | email: ja...@esilibrary.com | web: http://www.esilibrary.com
