4. Database Maintenance

Authorities Processing

The entire Sierra database underwent Library Technologies, Inc. (LTI) authorities processing during the initial migration (September 2008). Ongoing LTI authorities processing service is used to keep headings in conformance with LC and to replace updated headings in the database; two separate services are used to achieve this.

1. Authority Express (AEX) service enables newly cataloged records to undergo authority control.

2. Authority Update Processing (AUP) service is a notification service that delivers new and revised authority records and updated bibliographic records to overlay into Sierra. The AUP service is used annually and reauthorizes the entire database to keep headings and records updated.

In 2019, LTI closed their doors so we found a new authorities processing service, Backstage. The first service with Backstage will begin in Fall 2019.

Duplicate Records

The original LTI processing of the three databases used a conservative approach in matching and deduping records, erring on the side of duplicates rather than merging records that were questionable. This has resulted in a number of duplicates records not being merged. The merging of duplicates will be a project for post-migration clean-up and must be approached carefully. In March 2009, a clean-up project to address duplicate bibliographic records was begun (see Data Clean-up Projects).

If catalogers want to merge duplicate records outside of the clean-up project, they may do so by first contacting the library that holds the duplicate record. Libraries are free to merge records that are not jointly held or held only by their library as they see fit.

If records are found where inferior data has accidentally overlaid full-level data in the deduplication process, please contact the library that holds the record to make them aware of this and restore the record to full-level as appropriate.

Record Creation

Preliminary search in Sierra

To avoid unnecessary duplication, search Sierra for existing bibliographic records before adding or importing new ones. An ISBN search is sometimes insufficient, because many older records do not contain an ISBN. A title keyword search is the most reliable way to detect an existing record.

Record Editing

001*

246

4xx

5xx

6xx

7xx

8xx

9xx

852

*Libraries may add an OCLC master record number to the 001 field when it is lacking in Arcade and it has been determined to be the same record. Communication about the absence of OCLC holdings to other Arcade libraries is at the discretion of each staff member, but staff is encouraged to pass this information along.

Please note: the OCLC master record number should appear in the 001 field, but legacy data from transferred institutional records may have the OCLC master record in the 079 and the OCLC institutional record number in the 035. These records are still retrievable by their OCLC master record number via deep linking from Worldcat.org.

Errors and typos may be fixed; however, fields may not be removed from the record unless approved by the original cataloging library. If a cataloger questions whether a field can be edited, please contact the owning library to discuss.

Record Deletion

Withdrawing

Withdrawing single item when other items remain attached to the same bib

Change item status to WITHDRAWN

Delete holdings in WorldCat

Withdrawing last item attached to a bib

Change item status to WITHDRAWN

Change bib status to appropriate SUPPRESS option (i.e. b/BMA SUPPRESS, n/FRICK SUPPRESS, or m/MoMA SUPPRESS)

Delete holdings in WorldCat

Replacing Non-English Language Records With Parallel English-Language Records

When non-English-language records (i.e. records whose language of descriptive cataloging is not English, either in the descriptive portion of the record or field 040 $b) are found in the catalog, they should be replaced with English-language parallel records. If a parallel record already exists in WorldCat, it should be imported to Sierra (and edited if necessary). If no parallel record exists in WorldCat, one should be created and imported.

If institutions other than the one importing the English-language record have Sierra item records and/or OCLC holdings attached to the non-English record, the importing institution notifies the other institutions that the English-language record has been imported.

In keeping with the policy of nonduplication of bibliographic records in the NYARC catalog, the library or libraries with Sierra items and WorldCat holdings attached to the non-English-language record relink item records to the English-language record in Sierra, transfer local data to the English-language record, and relink OCLC holdings to the English-language Master Record in WorldCat.

The non-English record should then be deleted from Sierra.

Review Files

Review files display ascending file size order, from 5000 records to 800,000 records and are shared across the consortium. Please follow these review file guidelines:

• • Assign a name and a library identifier (Brooklyn, FARL, MoMA) to the beginning of the list for identification and sorting.

  • Use a list of appropriate size for the expected results.

  • Delete the list as soon as it is no longer needed (You may save the search strategy for re-use).

  • Don’t empty a list you didn’t create without asking the creator.

  • Unnamed or anonymous lists will be removed by Lily Pregill

  • Files 1-11 are our public lists that display in Arcade. Lily and Sara have ownership of these lists so they cannot be edited or overwritten.

  • When saving search strategies, add a library identifier to the name of the search (for example, Brooklyn, FARL, MOMA, NYARC).

Data Clean-up Projects

• 1. Post-migration deduplication – Beginning in March 2009, two part-time employees at the Brooklyn Museum began working on a deduplication project to merge approximately 6000 bibliographic records that match on the OCLC number that were not merged during the data processing for the migration. These records were not originally merged because there were discrepancies in the data that called for manual review. Specifications for this project exist in a separate document and may be reviewed by staff upon request. This project was completed in October 2009.

  2. 598 notes – Although not an official project, catalogers are encouraged to clean-up 598 notes as they find them in Arcade. 598 notes were general 500 notes that were retained when bibliographic records were merged together. As some notes are duplicative in nature, while others provide additional value and access points to the record, it was determined by the Technical Contacts Committee to retain all 500s notes from the merged record in field 598. This field does not display in the OPAC, but is indexed.To clean-up these notes, the cataloger would determine whether the 598 note should be retained. If so, the 598 is changed to a 500 note and the $3 and $5, which indicates which library’s record the note came from, are removed. If the 598 duplicates an existing 500 note, the 598 can be deleted. When the record has been cleared of the 598s, the 999 $z 500 cleanup field should be removed.