Serials Client – Pushing to the Serials Client
The bibliographic record
In order to be able to work with serials, it is necessary to first create a bibliographic record for the journal title. Normally, this will be created in the XXX01 database (via the Cataloguing client) and will be a MARC record like any other bibliographic record in the catalogue.
This record may be:
- Catalogued from scratch (typically by using a template)
- Imported from an external source (such as disk, tape or CD-ROM)
- Downloaded on-line from another library
Pushing to acquisitions
Once the bibliographic record exists in your catalogue, it is possible to place an order on the item (optional) and create subscription records.
If you wish to place an order on the item, you will now probably want to ‘push’ the record into the Acquisitions client (see the section below entitled ‘The acquisition record’).
You can push the record by selecting the ‘File|Open acquisitions record’ application menu option (as shown to the right)
…or by clicking on the icon.
If, however, you want to go directly to creating the serial subscription record, you need to ‘push’ the bibliographic record into the Serials client (see the section below entitled ‘Pushing to the Serials client’).
The acquisition record
The creation of an order is optional, but is the only method by which invoices can be processed, budgets debited and subscriptions automatically renewed.
Like monographs, serials are ordered through the Acquisitions client, and the method is very similar. As this has been dealt with in detail during the Acquisitions training session, this topic will only be superficially covered here. The main differences between the processing of monographs and serials are:
The order type
When you opt to create a new order, the following form will be displayed:
Here, you should select ‘Serial’, which ALEPH defines as:
‘… a publication which is issued as a consecutively numbered and indefinitely continuing series. Examples include newspapers and journals. With a serial order, the number of issues to be received during the course of the subscription, and the price of the subscription, are both known in advance.’
By selecting ‘Serial’, different fields are made available for data entry in the Order Form.
Subscription start
The ‘Subscription start’ field can be found on the ‘Vendor’ tabbed page of the Order Form, and is only displayed for acquisitions of order type ‘Serials’. You should enter the date here from which the library will start receiving the serial.
Subscription end
Like the ‘Subscription start’ field, the ‘Subscription end’ field can be found on the ‘Vendor’ tabbed page of the Order Form, and is only displayed for acquisitions of order type ‘Serials’. This field, however, determines the date that the subscription that you are ordering terminates.
Renewal Date
The ‘Renewal date’ is normally a date before the ‘Subscription end’ date and is used to state when a new subscription order should be sent to the vendor.
Budget period
This defines the cycle of annual budgets that will be encumbered for the subscription in the following way: If you enter "1", then each annual budget will be encumbered in turn, as the new budgets are opened. If you enter "2", then every other annual budget will be encumbered; enter "3" to encumber every third annual budget, and so on. For example, if the selected budget is BIOLOGY-2000 and the Budget Period is "2", then the BIOLOGY-2000 budget will be encumbered for the subscription, and the annual budget BIOLOGY-2001 will not be encumbered at all. (BIOLOGY-2000 in effect covers two years.) The next budget that will be encumbered for the subscription is BIOLOGY-2002 (after running the Renew Order Encumbrances function in the Web Services module).
Number of units
This field can be found on the ‘Quantity and price’ tab, and should be used to specify how many subscriptions you are ordering for the title (NOT the number of issues you expect to receive).
Once the order has been placed, the bibliographic record can be pushed into the Serials client, so that the subscription record can be created. This is dealt with in the next section.
Pushing to the Serials client
Before you can create a subscription record, you must first open the bibliographic record in the Serials client. This can be done by:
- pushing the record from another client into the Serials client
or:
- searching and opening the bibliographic record from within the Serials client itself
Pushing from the Cataloguing client
This method is useful if you have just catalogued a new serial title.
The bibliographic record is pushed to the Serials client from the Cataloguing client by selecting the ‘File|Open serials record’ application menu option (as shown on the right)
… or by clicking the icon.
Pushing from the GUI OPAC
You can access the serials records of a specific bibliographic record by displaying the bibliographic record in the GUI OPAC in the ‘Full’ format and clicking on the ‘Nav. Map’ button. When the Navigation Window is displayed, click the ‘Serials’ button:
Pushing from the Acquisitions client
This method is useful if you have just placed an order for a serial title subscription.
The bibliographic record is pushed to the Serials client from the Acquisitions client by clicking on the button labelled ‘Serials’ in the Navigation Window.
Locating and opening the record from within the Serials client
It is now possible to search for a bibliographic record from within the Serials client using the mini-OPAC, and select the relevant record for opening within the client. In the past, users would have had to launch the GUI OPAC, search for the title and then push it into the Serials client.
To locate the record select the ‘File|Find record’ application menu option (as shown on the right)
…or click on the icon.
The mini-OPAC will be displayed, into which you can enter the information you know about the title:
If the search results in only one record being found, the title will automatically be opened in the Serials client. If multiple records are found, the following screen will displayed:
You can page backwards and forwards through the records by clicking on the buttons labelled ‘Prev Record’ and ‘Next Record’. When the relevant record is displayed, click on the button labelled ‘Select’ to open it in the Serials client.