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Date: May 10, 2002
As of 9:44 PM PST on May 10, 2002 I've completed updating the setup program and it is now available for download.
Date: May 10, 2002
I will be uploading a new version is afternoon so I temporarily suspended download. The new version is not a bug fix,
but a documentation enhancement and a GUI enhancement. Everyone could live without them I'm sure, but I thought they
might be nice to have. The download will be available again by 10 PM PST on May 10, 2002.
Date: May 8, 2002
I've updated the Ebsco Record Wizard today adding the following features:
- Modify Fields: Adds the ability to append, prepend or replace text in a subfield
- 856 Options: Allows users to add multiple 856s.
- III Options: Modifies URLs to conform to new III proxy settings.
- Minor code enhancements
Date: March 27, 2002
Please read the help file before using. The Ebsco Records Wizard requires the
installation of a handful of free software packages to run.
By request, I've decided to make OSU's Ebsco Records Wizard available
for public use. The Ebsco Records Wizard was designed primarily so
OSU could take advantage of the MARC records offered to us as an Ebsco
subscriber. Like many others, as aIII library, we found that the MARC records
offered by Ebsco presented a number of problems when attempting to import
these records into our catalog. The problem however was not the fault of
Ebsco, but underscored a design limitation by III (or our current setup,
not entirely sure which). The main problem was associated with unwanted
overlays. The records offered by Ebsco were essentially CONSER records, and
as such, had an OCLC number in the 001. However, unlike a record downloaded
from OCLC which looks like: ocm11111111 -- the Ebsco records would remove the
first three characters and replace them with a database identifer, so that the
001 information would look like the following: APS11111111. To you and me,
the OCLC generated 001 and the Ebsco generated 001 are two separate numbers.
However, to III, these are the same numbers because by default, III's record loader
strips out the intitial three characters. These characters have to be in the
001 field to be valid, but they are not used within the system. So in essence,
the two 001's above would be read as 11111111 by III and thus, would cause a
number of unwanted overlayes on local records.
I believe in response to this problem, Ebsco has changed the way that it generates
001s. Rather then just using the OCLC number, Ebsco now adds the three digit
database identifer followed by two zeros so the above Ebsco generated 001 would
look like APS0011111111. Again, while this format will not cause unwanted overlays, the
001 structure is invalid to most III systems, and will thus be deleted on load.
The Ebsco Records Wizard was created to alleviate these overlay problems and
provide a simplified method for record maintenance. The Ebsco Records Wizard allows
users to globally add fields, delete fields, and insert a 229 for records lacking
a 222. In addition, the Ebsco Records Wizard generates a "safe" 001 starting at
number 999999999. The current OCLC value is about 46000000, so the generated 001
is placed far outside of the current OCLC enumeration. By doing this, it allows
users to avoid the hassle of modifying records. Rather, users simply need to
process their records each month, and load the file. On each load, the Ebsco
records will automatically overlay the old inserted records. At OSU, the entire
Ebsco maintenance process is handled in roughly 5 minutes.
I would like to add a special caveat here. Please test all records generated
by the Ebsco Records Wizard before finalizing each record load. While I have had no
problems at OSU in over 6 months of use, every user that utilizes the
Ebsco Records Wizard should have a thorough understanding of how their
systems work before loading any modified records. In other words, I'm not
responsible if you screw something up. Just be careful.
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