Starting this summer, you can get "smart" barcodes with every order!
This new product is available to customers of MARCIVE's Ongoing MARC Record Service (OMRS), an on-demand service in which customers send LCCN's or other "search access numbers" to MARCIVE and we return MARC records on diskette or via direct download. The new barcode add-on service is designed for libraries with local integrated systems that identify individual copies of books by the use of unique barcode numbers.
Anybody who sends in OMRS orders can start receiving smart barcodes, whether your orders come to us on paper, via fax, on an order diskette, over telephone lines, or by FTP over the Internet. However the orders are transmitted, it works best when they are generated from the most current version of our Cataloging Input System (CIS version 4). That's because CIS4 allows you to enter orders containing copy- specific information as part of a MARCIVE Plus Search Request. You will then receive MARC records with the proper number of copies and the proper number of barcode labels.
In the past, OMRS customers who needed barcodes for their new titles would have us make up a batch of generic barcode labels imprinted with their school or library name. Once the diskette of cataloging records arrived, the library would peel off a label, affix it to the book, and link it to a record. This approach-using our generic barcode labels-is still available.
However, many libraries-primarily customers receiving diskettes-asked us for the ability to have the barcode labels also imprinted with the title of the book and the call number, as well as linked to the right record in advance. These "smart" barcode labels save the library from having to perform item conversion. In addition, they look neat and professional because they show the library's name as well as the call number and title of the book.
Another advantage is that we retain the barcode number associated with each search number so that your file can be regenerated at any point in the future, with exactly the same barcode numbers.
To establish smart barcode service for your account, we charge a one-time fee of $125 to determine the kind of barcode that will work with your system and where in the MARC record we need to put the matching item information. After that, the cost is only $0.04 per barcode label plus shipping and handling. Just as with OMRS, there is no minimum required order.
To see the quality of our barcode labels and to add smart barcode labels to your OMRS profile, please call Customer Service at 1-800-531-7678, or e- mail them at custserv@marcive.com. They will send you a short profile to get service established. Sign up now for the convenience of professional barcode labels with every order! Return to Top
A year ago, Librarian Judy Hunter at Huntsville Public Library was worried that the brief records in their local system would be inadequate to the demands of their new Public Access Catalog. After all, titles were truncated, there were rarely good subject headings, and so much of the accurate information patrons need just was not there.
Today however Ms. Hunter is singing the praises of a new service MARCIVE is offering to upgrade minimal databases like hers. [quote] Brief Record Upgrade Service is a far cry from the conversion services offered by other vendors, "services" that do not even try to match on title or other text in the bibliographic record. MARCIVE's software is much smarter, resulting in a higher hit rate and more accurate matches
than other vendors can offer. So if you are upgrading your automation system or migrating from a minimal system to a full MARC system, call MARCIVE first. We do the best job...and at a competitive price. Call Rose Marie McElfresh here at MARCIVE for a complete packet of information about this exciting new service. Return to Top
Most retro customers are anxious to get their conversion going, and want to know any words of wisdom to assist in the smooth completion of their project. I have seven words of wisdom, Include A Test Bundle With Your Cards.
Imagine all the possible locations, call number variations, and special hieroglyphics on your shelflist cards. Now imagine taking several cards from each of these different categories and marking them as Test Bundle 001. You're on your way!
Customers who provide a test bundle are better able to:
| predict the types of questions we may have to ask and then provide specific instructions on how to handle the questions. For example, sometimes customers are unaware that we can standardize their call numbers for them. Some fiction cards may have a call number of Fic, others just F, and yet others FIC. Using the chart we provide as part of our shipping instructions, customers can specify how they want particular types of call numbers or location codes keyed. |
| answer their automation vendor's questions or computer center's questions on what they can expect with the new MARC records. |
A test bundle should contain approximately 200 cards, depending on the size of your conversion project. It is most important that it reflect the diversity of holdings. You might find it useful to also reflect the proportion of categories found in your collection. If your collection contains 50 percent non- fiction, 30 percent fiction, and 20 percent audiovisuals, you may wish to reflect those percentages in your test bundle.
MARCIVE always provides its customers a test diskette or tape of records before providing the final products. When you provide us with a test bundle, the sample we send to you can be provided at an earlier point in the conversion process. You now have time to test and make changes if necessary.
If no test bundle is provided, MARCIVE waits until all cards have been keyed and then selects a representative sample. However, the sample we create may not reflect all of your library's locations, or at least not the ones about which you are most curious. Also, the output of the final conversion will be delayed while you test the sample (or find someone to test the sample) at your institution.
I said that the creation of a test bundle is a double win situation. What is in it for us? The knowledge that we are creating your records the way you want them and overcoming any obstacles at the earliest point in the process.
Now that you have the seven words of wisdom (and a few more), let's get started on your retro!
Rose Marie McElfresh would be happy to give you a quotation and explain our services. Or, if you are already starting to fill out the Retrospective Conversion Profile and boxing up your shelflist cards, give me a call. Together we'll provide the best retro possible for your library. Return to Top
| SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION Montreal, Quebec June 10-14 Users' Meeting June 12 5:30-6:30 PM Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Rm #366 |
| ALA ANNUAL Chicago IL June 24-27 Users' Meeting June 25 8:00-9:30 AM Hilton, Continental C |
| AMERICAN ASSN OF LAW LIBRARIES Pittsburgh PA July 16-19 Users' Meeting July 17 1:00-2:00 PM DLCC, North 8 |
| PACIFIC NW CHAPTER/MLA Bellevue WA Sept. 15 10AM- 4PM |
We always make an effort to attend two Medical Library Association regional chapter meetings every year. This fall we would like to meet with librarians at the meetings of the Pacific Northwest Chapter (Bellevue, WA) and the Mid- Atlantic Chapter (Richmond, VA), however our plans were not finalized at press time. If you will be at one of these meetings and would like to organize a users' meeting to get together and discuss MARCIVE services, please let Jan Meldrum know. She would love to hear from you.
We are always tremendously excited when a national library association meeting comes to our hometown. In 1996 the American Library Association will hold its MidWinter meeting here (Jan. 20-22). We'll try to have water in the River, sun in the sky, and grackles out-of-town, so try to be here! Return to Top
Approximately 70 documents librarians attended our annual Users' Meeting at the Federal Depository Conference in Rosslyn, Virginia on April 11.
They heard a brief presentation on how we distribute MARC records via FTP. This option is available for Shipping List Service records, Ongoing GPO Database Service records, as well as records distributed through our Authorities Notification Service.
Also discussed was how GPO is now cataloging NASA documents with NASA thesaurus descriptors instead of LC subject headings. A few customers have reported some minor problems with these new headings. Libraries can opt to have them removed from the records, but this would mean that there would be no subject access to them.
We were pleased to have John Stevenson of the University of Delaware as a featured speaker. John delivered a detailed presentation on how his library uses our brief SLS records to check in documents and then overlay them with our full MARC GPO Ongoing Database Service records. John accented his talk with a handout that included a timeline for documents processing as well as screen prints of the records in their NOTIS system. Topics covered included:
| profiling; (ongoing or retro, serials or not, and dual distribution materials); |
| processing routine (can the 10-day rule be made to work? cooperative efforts with other library units); |
| NOTIS overlay process (loading and converting SLS records from ASCII diskettes, overlaying SLS records with GPO Enhanced Cataloging Records); |
| cleaning up (extra records, coding records for documents not received, adding item numbers); and |
| corrections (when shipping lists contain typographical errors, when GPO corrects the class of distributed materials, when SuDoc Numbers change). |
Although a few thought the presentation was perhaps too- system specific, most attendees praised the information given as being very interesting and extremely practical.
Do you have a story to tell about how your library uses our services?
Your colleagues would love to have you tell it! Contact Joan Chapa if you would like to contribute to a meeting at a future conference. If you are unable to make a presentation, but would like to contribute a case history to help other librarians with planning and implementation, please let her know.
If you would like a copy of John's outline or would like further information about our Shipping List Services, please call Joan at 1-800-531-7678.
You can also reach her at jchapa@marcive.com.
Recent changes in GPO CAT/PAC Plus software make updating your discs easier. In the past, when a new disc arrived, it was necessary to run the installation program to be able to use the new disc.
Now all you need to do is replace the old disc with the new one and restart CAT/PAC. The indexes will be updated automatically.
Customers who occasionally ran out of time before getting the new disc installed will be glad to know our new software eliminates expiration problems.
Another change now allows CAT/PAC to time out to DOS. Customers running CAT/PAC as an option on a menu of other databases should be glad to see this new feature. Enabling this feature will end the CAT/PAC program after a period of inactivity defined by you and return your workstation to your local menu.
To activate this option, go to CAT/PAC's main menu and press Alt-P to bring up the parameter screen. Move down to the line labeled TIMEDOS and change the default `9999" to the number of minutes you wish CAT/PAC to remain idle before returning to DOS. When you are finished, exit from the program. At the DOS prompt, type CFGPAC and press [Enter] to make the change take effect. The next time you run CAT/PAC the time-out will be in place.
In response to a customer request, we have developed a sign to alert your patrons to the contents of CAT/PAC. Subscribers can obtain a free copy by calling or e-mailing Dianne Rendon. Please let her know whether you subscribe to GPO CAT/PAC or GPO CAT/PAC Plus. [CAT/PAC Plus is the deluxe version of CAT/PAC that enables users to see which depository selects a given title. A different sign is associated with that service.] If you have any questions about these new features or GPO CAT/PAC in general, don't hesitate to call or e-mail us. Return to Top
We are now offering libraries the option of purchasing a specialized set of retrospective records for government document serials. This new subset of the entire MARCIVE Enhanced GPO Database currently consists of around 23,000 records. The GPO Serials Backfile (or GSB for short) includes contains records from the Periodicals Supplement as well as a great many other serial records: other periodicals, annual reports, yearbooks, journals, proceedings, and transactions.
The Periodicals Supplement file, corresponding to the print edition of the Monthly Catalog, has been available for some time. Libraries not desiring to perform a retrospective conversion and just wanting to receive current cataloging through our Ongoing GPO Database Service opt to obtain those "core" titles. As this file contains only current periodical titles, some libraries wish later they had records for such things as continued titles, annual reports, and other serial records not covered by the Periodicals Supplement. Before now, these titles could only be retrieved if the library performed a full-scale retrospective conversion project.
The new GPO Serials Backfile option includes records from the Periodical Supplement and any other serial records in the MARCIVE Enhanced GPO Database. The options and setup are much like a regular GPO retro in that a library can apply holdings codes, restrict to just microfiche format, obtain barcode labels, and matching authorities records. However, for Ongoing GPO Database customers, the cost for obtaining the GSB file is significantly less than if the records had been extracted as a standalone retro project.
For pricing and information on this useful new option, please contact me at 1-800-531- 7678. Return to Top
As the time draws near to update your item number selections with GPO, don't forget to let us at MARCIVE know about your new selections. Many of our customers choose to send us their updated information in August and September so that changes in the records they receive will be in place at about the same time that GPO is distributing documents according to the new profiles.
I am sometimes asked if we automatically add to customer item profiles the new item numbers announced on shipping lists and in Administrative Notes Technical Supplement. We do not add these numbers automatically. Without your input we don't know which numbers you actually will retain or how you want them handled.
If you find you haven't kept up with the numbers announced on the shipping lists, we can help. We have kept a list of these numbers, the item numbers they sprang from, and the shipping lists on which they were announced. If you would find a copy of the list helpful, contact me here. I'll be happy to send it. Return to Top
MARCIVE sells label protectors along with spine labels and barcode labels. Here are some of the situations label protectors are meant to handle:
| Cover spine labels which are exposed to rougher-than-usual handling. |
| Keep spine labels in place when attached to certain types of binding. (However, no adhesive is going to work well with some types of plastic binding.) |
| Secure labels to filmstrip boxes or cans or other audiovisual containers. |
| Cover barcode labels that have been affixed to the outside of the book. |
| Cover barcode labels that have been affixed to unusual surfaces, such as the shell of a videocassette or other audiovisual containers. |
| Protect labels from scratching caused by barcode wands which physically touch the barcode. |
| Protect barcode labels from fading. |
Our label protectors are made of tough, transparent vinyl and feature a non- yellowing adhesive. The rounded corners of our label protectors offer more lasting protection than square corners do.
It is usually not necessary to use label protectors on every label, especially MARCIVE labels which offer excellent contrast, non-yellowing adhesive, and smudge resistance. However, when you have situations which call for label protectors, we do have them available.
Please call Customer Service to order spine label protectors. The current price is $10.95 per 200-count package.
Barcode label protectors may be ordered from the representative from whom you are receiving barcodes. Customer Service supplies protectors to Ongoing MARC Record Service customers. The Manager of Conversion Services handles protectors for retrospective conversion and Brief Record Upgrade service customers. The Manager of GPO Services handles barcode protectors for Ongoing GPO Database and Shipping List Service subscribers. Prices vary depending on requirements. Return to Top
At the Medical Library Association meeting in Washington DC, we held a users' meeting for current customers and librarians considering using our services. Several interesting questions arose, including the following from Dena Fracolli Hanson at the Cook-Ft. Worth Children's Medical Center.
She had received a "no-hit" card indicating that no cataloging was available for LCCN 90-63756. She sent us the title page and verso for the book, Men & grief : a guide for men surviving the death of a loved one by Carol Staudacher. As the book was published in 1991, it seemed reasonable to assume that the Library of Congress would have cataloged it by now.
Our customer service representatives can look problems like this up by title in our authoritative cataloging databases (LC, National Library of Medicine, US Government Printing Office, and National Library of Medicine) as well as a small database of user-contributed cataloging. We did not find an authoritative record.
Thinking that perhaps the book had changed title, we checked LC's own database. We found a single, skeletal record containing the phrase "Book Not Yet In LC". The title was slightly different but not significantly so.
The short answer to Dena is that LC has not yet cataloged the book and therefore we have not received good cataloging copy. But why?
It turns out that the clue was in the LCCN itself. Apparently, the Cataloging In Publication division of LC runs two programs of which the CIP program (full cataloging on the verso of the t.p.) is the famous one. The other is the PCN program in which publishers get a pre-assigned number and nothing more. PCNs are distinguishable because the number after the hyphen in the LCCN is in the format 06NNNN. [Note: Usually you will not see the leading zero, as in Dena's example.]
In the meantime, what is Dena going to do to get cataloging? Her profile was already set up for back-ordering. When the cataloging had not turned up after an additional 12 weeks, Dena elected to create an original cataloging record.
The most economical way to create MARC records when appropriate cataloging does not exist is to use the Cataloging Input System (CIS). The cost of CIS is $175 (one time cost) and the cost for each original cataloging title is $0.60. There is a special offer available to good customers through the end of June. Please call Customer Service for details.
All representatives are available at 1-800-531-7678 or via e-mail at custserv@marcive.com.
Many customers have asked how depository shipping lists can be searched in CAT/PAC Plus. The shipping list number is kept in a note field, so shipping lists can be searched on the "Combined Search" screen, in the "Notes" index.
To avoid confusion with other numbers which might be in the note fields, enter the words "shipping list" followed by the number, e.g., shipping list 95-0014-M. The search will then retrieve all titles associated with that shipping list number, which is especially useful if you either didn't receive a shipping list or lost one. Return to Top
If any of the following situations describes your situation, you may be a candidate for our latest service for depository management: SLS-Backfile. This new service consists of a deduplicated, corrected file of brief records reflecting all of the shipping lists since November 1991.
Depository libraries know that they can count on MARCIVE for solutions. If you recognize a need for the backfile of Shipping List Service data at your institution, please give Joan Chapa a call. We look forward to helping you work out a plan for your particular situation. Return to Top
We will again sponsor a breakfast Users' Meeting, so bring your appetites and questions! It will be held on Sunday, June 25 from 8:00 to 9:30 AM in the Continental C Room at the Chicago Hilton Hotel. If you are staying at the Allerton Hotel, take the Gale/ALA shuttle from the Radisson Hotel across the street and it will drop you in front of the hotel.
In addition to our usual update on MARCIVE news, we will feature a presentation from a current customer. Marilyn Mercado of the University of Northern Iowa will speak on how her library uses our Shipping List Service records and checks in documents on them, and then overlays them with the Ongoing GPO Database Service records. Many of you heard John Stevenson's (University of Delaware) presentation at Federal Depository Conference and were impressed enough to ask us to repeat it! Marilyn will give a different perspective as a systems librarian loading into an Innovative Interfaces system. Her library receives all GPO records via FTP as well as our Authorities Notification records.
Topics to be covered include: background of documents dept. at UNI and the MARCIVE products used there; the testing process; actual receipt of SLS records; internal use of the records; how the FTP process works; receipt of the monthly full MARC GPO records via FTP; and the overlay of the SLS records. Also discussed will be processing work flow, level of staff involvement, and where to place the "tmp number" in the records. We look forward to seeing you there!
Another meeting not to miss is sponsored, not by GODORT or MARCIVE, but by the ALCTS Pre- Order/Pre-Catalog Search Discussion Group on Monday, June 26 from 2:00-4:00 PM in McCormick Convention Center Room E352. (Be sure and check your ALA program in case of room change.) Mary Konkel from the University of Akron will talk on how they incorporate MARCIVE SLS SuDoc Labels into their documents processing work flow, as well as the loading of our Ongoing GPO Database Service records. She will touch on why they chose to use vendor cataloging, how it is being used in the pre-order process, the success that they have had, and the better patron service that MARCIVE has facilitated. Joan Chapa of MARCIVE will also give a presentation on Shipping List Service as it relates to pre-cataloging. Return to Top