Tag: operations
Check the Status of Ongoing, Batch Catalog Record Loads
Have you ever wanted to know how often we get certain batch catalog record loads, and if they have been loaded into OskiCat? Well now you can find this with the click of your mouse! See:
http://ucblibrary3.berkeley.edu:8080/eloads
When you click on “Load Schedule” you will see a list of all the batch loads divided by ongoing and one time. For ongoing, we give you the frequency and the date of the last set loaded. For one time we give you the date loaded.
If you need more details, go to “Millennium Load Logs” and select a load name, e.g., SCP Monographs. Use the calendar icons to change the date range (we default to a 3 month time span) and click submit to see all the loads for that resource during that time frame. For each load, you will see the date on the filename, when we loaded it, how many records were added, overlaid, or rejected. In the future we will be adding a way for Cataloging to see the error logs for the loads on the same website.
Take a look at it and let us know what you think.
Lynne Grigsby
(posted by Bernie for Lynne)
Reminder – If you wish to request a new batch catalog record load, or check on the status of a new request, please use: http://ucblibrary4.berkeley.edu:8088/batchrequest/
PromptCat Record Loading Resumes in Two Phases
OCLC and their WorldCat Cataloging Partners (suppliers of PromptCat records) made substantial changes to how they generate PromptCat files in late October, 2009. PromptCat files loaded with slip dates of 10/26/09 or later contained so many problems that we suspended loading the files into Millennium in early December. OCLC has corrected the problems and regenerated all the files for us. We plan to resume loading files in a two phase process.
Phase 1: Starting immediately, PromptCat files that were never loaded into Millennium will be loaded at a rate of about 1 file per day. After each load, MRU will release the relevant shelf-ready books to the Subject Libraries for processing. Subject Library books that came from PromptCat which were not shelf-ready will be sent to the Catalog Dept. for further processing.
Main PromptCat books will be released for selector review as files are loaded. Lupe Ochoa will send an email to the relevant selectors when materials are ready for review.
Phase 2: Loading the newly regenerated files that correct problems created by the previous PromptCat file loads into Millennium is more problematic. We are test loading a number of these files on the Millennium training server to see what kind of clean-up we have to undertake when these files are loaded into the production server (e.g., duplicate item records created). We’ll post more information on the Catalog Dept. blog, as our plans develop for reloading these files.
Note: Subject Libraries that are holding books due to errors in the previously loaded files should continue to hold these until we have informed you that we have reloaded all the files in Phase 2. Please do not send database maintenance requests for these record problems. You will be able to process these once the corrected records are reloaded.
Catalog Dept. Operations Update – 1/28/09
Catalog Dept. Update – 1/28/09
1) Accompanying Materials
Books with accompanying materials (e.g., CDs, DVDs) are now being cataloged in our standard workflow.
Action: If your unit stores these materials in a separate location or ever withdraws the accompanying material, you will need to follow the procedures found in the “Cataloging” section of AskTico – http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Staff/asktico/
2) OCLC PromptCat Problem Update
Acquisitions, Systems and the Catalog Dept. have worked together to verify that OCLC has (finally) corrected all the problems with PromptCat records. Phase 1 record loads are progressing (see blog of 1/21/10).
Alert:
a) Selectors who review books should be doing so now in 250 Moffitt.
b) Subject Libraries are now receiving Phase 1 PromptCat books
Acquisitions, Systems and the Catalog Dept. are now working on the Phase 2 record load problems to learn what Millennium clean-up will be needed, as these PromptCat files are loaded.
3) Photocopies
FYI – The Catalog Department has developed Millennium procedures for cataloging photocopies of original works and these are now being added to our standard workflow.
Cataloging Prio. #2a (of 3): Maximize Patron Access to Newly Received Monographs
Priority 2a: Maximize patron access to newly received monographs by cataloging as much of this material as possible
A Catalog Department priority will be to move the same number of materials out of the final phase of our new cataloging workflow, as enter the first phase. In this process, we will try to minimize the number of items that receive Level 3 cataloging (i.e., In process call#s)
There also have been cases where new materials have not been cataloged because old Gladis procedures were not updated for Millennium (e.g., analytics, accompanying materials, dissertation photocopies, etc). We have identified all categories of materials with this problem and have made great progress in drafting, vetting and approving new procedures.
Priority 2b: Fix high-priority record problems reported to the Catalog Department
The Catalog Department has categorized and made an attempt to quantify the different types of record maintenance requests we receive. For example, book and record do not match, mistake in a record that compromises retrieval (e.g., in an authors name), incorrect treatment (book cataloged as a monograph that should have been part of a MVM set), reclassification needed. We are in the process of developing a plan to distribute this work throughout the Department. This will require the development of a new “ticket” tracking system (e.g. based on Footprints). A Task Force has been charged to design and implement this new system. Its members include people who submit tickets to ensure that we develop features such as a user-friendly form to report errors and the ability to allow library staff to see the tickets they have submitted.
Phase 2 PromptCat File Loading Complete
Good News – All the Phase 2 PromptCat files have been (re)loaded into Millennium.
Phase 2 files were regenerated by OCLC to correct problems created by previous PromptCat loads with bad and missing records. For more details, see http://blogs.lib.berkeley.edu/catdept.php/2010/01/21/promptcat-record-loading-resumes-in-two-phases
Your unit should now be able to process any books that are being held due to PromptCat load problems. If you have books that are still missing bibliographic records, or have other unusual problems, please contact Lupe Ochoa at lochoa@library.berkeley.edu
Current PromptCat files are now loaded through the end of January. We should be completely caught up and back to a normal file loading schedule within a week.
A special thanks to Jim Gordon, Rico Estrada and Dave Zuckerman who bore the brunt of the file loading, clean-up and coordination with OCLC. We greatly appreciate your patience, as we recovered from this problem.
Thesis and Dissertation Backlogs
Over the past several weeks, I have been blogging about the Catalog Department’s new priorities. We started work on our third priority, “Find Creative Methods to Address our Large Backlog,” by categorizing and counting the backlog.
As part of this process, we discovered that well over 2,000 dissertations & thesis were waiting for cataloging. LSO programmers volunteered to catalog a small number of these every day, starting with the dissertations. Catalog Dept. staff have now trained the Systems programmers on the finer points of dissertation cataloging and they have begun work on this backlog.
I haven’t tried to estimate when this project will be completed, but the end of the calendar year would be a safe bet. This collaboration between LSO & the Catalog Dept. not only has clear benefits to our library patrons, but will sharpen the bibliographic skills of a number of our programmers. It also will be a useful experience when we start receiving electronic dissertations, as we will investigate automating the cataloging process using metadata from Proquest.
A special thanks to all the people involved in this project. …Bernie
Copy Specific Notes
There is now a form for sending books to the Catalog Dept. that need Copy Specific notes (previously called PRV notes).
In the past, books have been received in the Catalog Dept. with various different methods attached to notify of the need for copy specific notes. The form is available from the Technical Services wiki under “Copy Specific Local Note Form.”
The form allows you to specify if your note is a “Provenance” or “Miscellaneous” note. The definition and examples of these notes are provided on the form.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Tonette Mendoza, tmendoza@library.berkeley.edu
Two SCP Milestones Reached
I am pleased to announce that all the back-files for the SCP Monographs have been loaded into Millennium. We are currently up to date and will promptly load ongoing weekly monograph files as they arrive from SCP.
The SCP Serials Recon Load has also been completed. This includes SCP serial records through July, 2009.
We are currently programming and testing the SCP Serials Ongoing Load program and plan to start loading these back-files in the near future. More information on this last step in the SCP load process will be provided, once we have firmer dates.
Best, Bernie
June 22, 2010
The SCP Load Projects are Complete (Hallelujah!)
In our last Catalog Department blog, we presented an overview of the Shared Cataloging Program (SCP).
I am please to announce that OskiCat is now up to date with respect to all SCP record loads, both serial and monograph.
The final step in the SCP project, just completed, was to load the backlog of “ongoing” SCP serials into OskiCat. The SCP record loading project was extremely complicated and included a large number of people who went though multiple iterations of spec writing, review, programming and test record loads.
I am extremely grateful to all the people who worked on this project. Our thanks go out to Lynne Grigsby, Dana Jemison, Eileen Pinto, Alvin Pollock, Tom Raftery, Jackie Silva, Charis Takaro, David Zuckerman, Serials Cataloging and the Catalog Management Group, especially Lisa Rowlison de Ortiz.
Bernie Hurley
7/20/10