[897] in ad-lib
Serial records
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eric Celeste)
Wed Jun 21 16:04:01 1995
To: gmeastma@MIT.EDU
Cc: process-lib@MIT.EDU, ad-cat@MIT.EDU, opac-lib@MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 16:03:45 EDT
From: Eric Celeste <efc@MIT.EDU>
I am forwarding Garrett's message and my response to ad-cat and opac-lib
since these groups have considered these matters in the past and may be in
a position to do so again in the future. The state of serials holdings in
Advance will be a compromise when it is done right, and it was not even
done right in the second GMA. Your response, Garrett, is the kind of
real-world frustration I expected to see. It is certainly legitimate! I'm
sorry that we couldn't do much better in the short run, but over time the
system should get a bit clearer.
Here's what _should_ have happened... Each "summary holding" statement
(930 on GLIS) becomes an "item" (or "piece") on Advance, we are calling
these "summary items". Each summary item has "Serial" in the status
column. Each summary item includes the collection, call number, summary
holdings, and notes (in that order) in the collection/call number column.
These summary items will be mixed in with "back-transferred" circ records
from GLIS (which become proper item records on Advance). Active titles
being checked-in using Advance's serials module will get "copy-set"
records as the check-in process occurs, these copy-set records will clear
up the situation considerably, but will take time to generate.
Here's how the second GMA messed up... The word "Serial" was put in the
wrong place, and "not available" appears instead (Yuck!). The notes were
placed before the holdings instead of the other way around (it should say
"Latest 5 years only kept / Latest on Ref", not the other way around). The
"UNCAT" issue (our holdings table was really messed up) leaves the order
of items even more random than it should have been (sigh).
Bottom line: it will be better than it looks in the second GMA, but it
will still be frustrating. There are some tactics we can use to try and
make summary items sort to the top of the item lists, but they have
significant drawbacks themselves (they involve using fake collections to
force the issue, not pretty). Unless there is a _large_ outcry, we
probably won't do that, and will instead rely on copy-set creation to fix
the problem over time.
I hope that helps clarify the situation!
...Eric
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 14:17:46 EDT
From: Garrett Eastman <gmeastma@MIT.EDU>
To: process-lib@MIT.EDU
Subject: serial records in advance
Has anybody looked at any serial records in cat? I see some real
problems, for example in many records a simple statement of what
issues of a series MIT owns is not available. If you look at the
title Journal of the American Chemical Society, the record lists all
of the volumes which were linked in the circ database and then at the
end of the record a series statement is given -- as if it were another
volume record, and listed in the catalog as not available. Now if
someone has to scroll through 5 or 6 screens to find a holdings
statement, it is a nuisance. Granted, if all volumes of a series are
linked then there's no problem. For most of our titles this is not
the case. Also for some I found multiple records (ex: Annual review
of earth and Planetary Science;) one shows the record for the series,
and two shows the series with the individual volume records - and then
the holdings statement is given as if it were another volume (Item 6
to be exact) and again, says "NOT AVAILABLE."
I'm forwarding this info to the group because I'm not really sure how
to communicate this to Grant or even if it is a systems problem or
more of a BAS-type problem. Would anyone corroborate, either by
checking my examples or trying to find some series which you are
familiar with in your library? Thanks in advance. also, if I'm
beating a dead horse and the problem has already been named and either
declared insoluble, will take time or just downright boring, my
apologies in advance also.
Garrett Eastman
Lindgren Library
------- End of Forwarded Message
