USER DOCUMENTATION
MARCit! Setup Instructions
1
Table of Contents
Overview of MARCit! Service 3
How Does it Work? 3
MARC fields 3
System Requirements 4
Scheduled Maintenance & Customer Support 4
Working with MARCit! in SFX 5
Using the SFX MARCit! Tool 6
Using Manual Export 6
Creating an Export Profile 9
Merging e-journal lists in a consortium environment 10
Instructions for enabling MARCit! in SFX 11
1. Authorize access to MARCit server. 11
2. Enable the interface in SFX. 11
Working with MARCit! in Metalib 14
Enable ejournals in MetaLib (if applicable) 14
Request for MARCit Service Activation 15
Overview of MARCit! Service
The Ex Libris MARCit! service allows customers access to full MARC records for their e-journal titles. These records can be used in MetaLib, Aleph or any other catalog to provide a greater level of access to the E-Journal titles.
Using the E-Journal list already activated and managed through their SFX instance, customers can automatically update their catalog with availability information of their e-journals, whether those are available through a publisher’s website or through aggregators and A&I vendors.
How Does it Work?
An enhancement request is initiated using the MARC Enhancement Tool in the Admin interface in SFX. The first time this service is run the output file will contain all records. These are identified as new records. Subsequent enhancement files will contain new, changed and deleted records, which are marked as such with a code in position 5 of the leader. Changed records include those that have changed in SFX (i.e., a date coverage change) as well as changes in MARCit! database records.
When an enhancement is requested, the file is sent to the MARCit! Central server, where the SFX export records are augmented with MARC data. The enhanced file is then requested from the MARCit! Central server when the process is complete. The file transfer uses either secure or regular FTP.
A report of the enhancement is included with the load file, indicating the number of records enhanced and the number of new, updated, or deleted records.
MARC fields
The MARCit! service takes full advantages of the standard record set by the Library of Congress and CONSER. Where applicable the MARC Enhancement service will use the print (rather than electronic) version of the record for enhancement to preserve SFX linking services based on ISSN. Subjects are available following the MARC standard of indicators on the 650 fields to specify the classification used (Library of Congress or medical subject headings (MeSH) for example).
The following MARC tags are derived from SFX:
- 210 fields (abbreviated titles)
- 866 fields (SFX availability/holdings)
- 022 field (ISSN)
- 090 field (Object ID/SFX control number)
- 856 field (Electronic Location, if specified)
- 852 field (Location, if specified)
- 245 field, subfield h (GMD, if specified)
In order to accommodate differences in local catalog practice, the librarian can omit specific fields from the enhanced record. These fields are determined during the setup of the MARC enhancement service, and comprise the institution’s “profile” for the service.
In addition, Ex Libris adds specific information to each record to facilitate the later identification of records once loaded in the local catalog. For instance, the 003 field of all records contains the text “SFX”. The 090 field and the 003 are combined to make an 035 that acts as a unique ID in each record. Two non-standard MARC tags are also added: LCU, to identify the date of the enhancement, and SRC, to identify the source of the records.
Any of these fields, whether retained from SFX, applied from the CONSER record, or inserted by the MARCit service can be removed. A simple list of fields is provided to Ex Libris and a profile name is issued for use in the interface.
How record changes are tracked
Changes in records are reflected in position 5 of the leader in each record - “n” for new records, “c” for modified records and “d” for deleted records. Examples of the leader in the MARC records are:
For new records (or if this is the first export created in this format):
leader-----nas-a22-----z--4500</leader
For records deactivated/deleted in the SFX database between the previous export and the current export (note deleted records are included in the export and enhanced by the MARCit! service):
leader-----das-a22-----z--4500</leader
For other changes made between the previous export and the current export, such as a change to coverage information:
leader-----cas-a22-----z--4500</leader
If no change was made between the previous export and the current export:
leader------as-a22-----z--4500</leader
System Requirements
Up-to-date SFX installation of SFX version 3 with all recent updates and/or service packs applied.
The SFX server must have sftp installed and available.
Completion of Activation Request form (at the end of this document).
Version 3.12 of MetaLib or higher (if loading records to MetaLib).
Scheduled Maintenance & Customer Support
Service downtime for server maintenance is scheduled daily from 1am-6am ET and on Sundays from 12am-12pm ET. Project managers will be notified as soon as possible of any unforseen outages or downtime.
Customer support is available by contacting Cassandra Targett of the Boston office of Ex Libris, Inc. Cassandra can be reached by mailing or by phone at 617-332-8800 x542.
Working with MARCit! in SFX
Understanding the Workflow
When requesting a file of MARC records for SFX e-journals, SFX generates an export file (Step 1) and uses SFTP to transfer the file to the Ex Libris MARCit server (2) where the new data is added to the SFX file (3). The output of this process is returned to the SFX server (4), to the scratch directory of the SFX instance that initiated the process. An email is also sent to notify the user (5). The scratch directory can be found in this path:
/exlibris/sfx_ver/sfx_version_3/<sfx instance>/dbs/scratch
The file names will be different for the export and the enhanced file using the following patterns.
Export file pattern:
e-collection.<MMDDYYYYHHMMSS>.xml-marc.gz
Example:
e-collection.05032004160733.xml-marc.gz
Enhanced file pattern:
ec_<MMDDYYHHMMSS>_<server>_enhanced.<format>
Example in XML format:
ec_05032004160733_sfx2_enhanced.XML
A report is returned with the records, with the same name as the records file but with the suffix of _report.txt at the end:
ec_05032004160733_sfx2_enhanced.XML_report.txt
At the end of the process, an email is sent to the address specified (see below) with the results of the process. This email will contain details on the number of records processed and the name of the file. In addition, a log file is also kept in the scratch directory, called marc_enhancement_log.txt. This log will provide information on the results of the export and MARCit process. In case of an error, the contents of this log will be sent in the body of the email notification.
The update process works by comparing the current export with the previous export file. In order to do this, SFX must keep a copy of the previous file. This is stored in a subdirectory of the scratch directory called e_collection_update:
/exlibris/sfx_ver/sfx_version_3/<sfx_instance>/dbs/scratch/e_collection_update
Using the SFX MARCit! Tool
The MARCit! Tool provides several options to control the titles that MARC records are retrieved for. The tool is the only way to retrieve MARC records for active objects – i.e., it is the only way to initiate the process for exporting the records, sending to the MARCit server and getting records in return.
There are two modes to use the MARCit! Tool: a profile can be created and saved, or a manual export can be created.
When first entering the MARCit Tool, the user must choose which mode they’d like to use.
Select the radio button to choose the mode.
The profile provides the same options as the manual export. Detail on how to create and save a profile follows in the next section.
Using Manual Export
The manual export option informs SFX how to create the export file. It is designed to be used for one-time or ‘on the fly’ record generation.
1. If using institutes, select which institutes to use as a restriction on the export.
2. Specify an email address for notification. When the process is complete, an email notice will be sent with the file name of the MARC record set and details on the records or errors, if any occurred.
3. Select the format of the records to be returned.
4. Select the export type. The options are to create a ‘Fresh export’ or to ‘compare’ with a previous export file.
A. 'Fresh export': this option exports all targets/services selected as new records.
B. 'Compare with previous export': this option creates a file of records and compares it to a previously created export file. The status of each record is inserted into the leader field of each record.
A drop down menu lists the previously created export files, if available. When selecting 'Compare Export', you also need to select the previous export file to compare against in the drop-down.
The first time you create an export file, the drop down which lists the previous files will be empty, and all items in the XML file will be marked as new. If ‘compare’ method is used after the first export, the new file will contain information about changes, additions and deleted items. See above for more information on how the status is represented in the file and how it is handled at the MARCit server.
5. Select the services and targets to define which titles will be used as the basis for MARC records. Select multiple service types using the control key (Ctrl) while clicking the type. If all targets are required, leave the pull-down menu selected to ALL. To select specific targets, select SELECTED in the menu.
6. Optional: Specify a prefix to be added to the name of the export file. While optional, this will make it easier to identify the file later when selecting it for comparison, particularly to distinguish partial exports (e.g. using only selective targets) from complete exports which were created. This may be done to get a smaller set for the OPAC than for MetaLib, for example.
7.a. Optional: Specify base-URL (856 $u). Use this option to create an OpenURL 856 field in the export record by inserting the base URL of the SFX instance. SFX will add the 856 field to each record during the export. Use the ‘link text (856 $y)’ field to specify a public note that should appear in the 856 $y field of the record.
Example:
datafield tag="856" ind1="" ind2="">
subfield code="u">http://demo.exlibrisgroup.com:9003/sfx_local?sid=sfx:opac_856&issn=1079-0762&pid=serviceType=getFullTxt</subfield
subfield code="y">SFX links</subfield
</datafield
7.b. Optional: Specify institution info (852 $a). You can request that an 852 field containing the institute name be inserted in each record. This field would make it easier to create holdings records when several MARCit-enabled SFX instances share a catalog.
Example:
datafield tag="852" ind1="" ind2="">
subfield code="a">Science Campus</subfield
</datafield
7.c. Optional: Define the 245|h field. You can specify text which will be included in the 245 MARC field (subfield h) of each record in the export file. The text will be identical for all records.
Example:
datafield tag="245" ind1="" ind2="">
subfield code="a">Conformal geometry and dynamics </subfield
subfield code="h">[electronic content available] </subfield
</datafield
8. Optional: Define the ‘merge’ file. You can combine an export from the current SFX instance with one generated from another instance by using an additional TXT export file from an other instance (for more information, see next section on using MARCit in a consortial environment).
9. Optional: Define Enhancement profile. If you have selected to omit specific fields from the file that is returned to you from the MARCit! service, you will have received a profile name from Ex Libris. Enter that profile here.
Creating an Export Profile
Profiles allow the library to save the details of record selection and customization for future use. To set up a profile in the SFX MARCit Tool, follow these instructions.
First, access the MARCit Tool from the SFX Admin interface.
Choose the ‘Use a MARCIt! Profile’ radio button.
A window opens with the options to select an existing profile or add a new one. If no profiles already exist, the screen will say ‘No profiles defined’.
Add a new profile by clicking the link to ‘Add a Profile’. A new window opens, and the option to add a profile is found at the top of this window. Selecting that option opens another window with the same options described above (in the section on Using the Manual Export). Choose the appropriate options and save them to create the profile.
Once profiles have been enabled, they can be used for each MARCit session.
Merging e-journal lists in a consortium environment
It is possible to get a file of MARC records for electronic journals which include both the local and shared resources.
To create a complete e-journal list, it is necessary to merge:
- the information about shared resources is stored in the 'shared resources' instance
- the information about local resource is stored in the local instance
Step 1: Create a tab-delimited list e-journal list for shared resources
a. Go to SFXAdmin Center of 'shared resources' instance and log in with your username and password
b. Go to the Export tool.
c. Using the Advanced Export, select the TXT output format, and specify your instance name.
d. Save the TXT file on your local PC.
Step 2: create a complete e-journal list for shared and local resources
a. Go to SFXAdmin Center of your local instance and select the MARC Enhancement Tool.
b. Specify the options for the output format, output type, 856 fields, etc., as needed. For item 10, use the 'Browse' button to locate the file on your PC and specify the file name for SFX. The MARC Enhancement Tool will upload the file to the SFX server and merge it with the exported file of local titles. The file of MARC records returned will then contain e-journal titles from both SFX instances.