(Go-live and Beyond) Best practices and guidance for MARCEdit/Alma integration in a Consortium

Legend: NOT STARTED IN PROGRESS STALLED DECIDED

Recommendation

Best practices and guidance for MARCEdit/Alma integration in a Consortium

In a consortial environment, the MARCEdit/Alma integration can only be used to add local extensions to NZ-linked records, update/edit IZ-only records, or update/edit IZ holdings records. 

It cannot be used to edit non-local data in an NZ-linked record. Since the integration uses API calls that may count towards campus and consortial limits, RMFG may eventually need to add restrictions to how many records can be edited in one day.

Set up:

Requires an API key specific to an institution. See: https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/blog/Setting-up-the-Alma-MARCEdit-integration-for-Bib-Records/ for detailed set up information.

Preferred record

The incoming record is the preferred record. For bib records, the match point is bib’s MMS ID in 001. For holding records, two match points are used: bib’s MMS ID in 999 $b and holding’s MMS ID in 999 $d. Note: the 999 is a temporary field used by the program and NOT added to the holdings record in Alma. 

Searching in MARCEdit:

Catalogers can search manually or in batch: 

• Manual search options include title, record number (MMS ID). 

• Batch searches require a text file of IZ MMS IDs. The program will not search on NZ MMS IDs. 

  • When searching in batch, the user is given the option "Would you like the batch results loaded directly into the MarcEditor?"

  • Yes -> if you are planning to edit only the bib records. 

  • No -> if you want to only download the holdings records. Once the search is complete, click "Download All Holdings" at the bottom

Editing records:

After all records are downloaded into MarcEditor, the cataloger uses various functions to add/delete/modify information in these records. When all edits are done, the cataloger presses Update/Create to push these records back to Alma. The record will overlay the matching Alma record.

Catalogers should work with their local departments for training in how to use MARCEdit.

Other considerations:

If your campus Z39.50 and SRU are set up to return holdings data along with bib data because of the services that use it, you may have to go through some extra steps to remove that data when editing records. 

Holdings data can be downloaded separately from bib data. Campuses should consider whether they want to download holdings and bib records separately, and then merge any data that needs to be moved - with an exception for working with a single record. 

MARCEdit prompts the user when downloading holdings: "Do you want to create a new holdings record if one isn't present?" - if you only want to view/edit existing holdings, answer "No".       

Reasoning

Given that the integration is restricted to local fields and holdings, RMFG doesn’t have a strong preference for whether campus staff use the integration or not so opted to provide guidance and some light best practices instead. One area that will need consideration is the impact on API calls.

Background

RMFG conducted extensive testing on IZ and NZ records.

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