Alma Interim Policies and Guidelines

Notes on the fly to be added to documentation

BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

• DO NOT create provisional records in OCLC.
• Diacritics
  
  • No issues when exporting records from Connexion to Alma.  However, editing records directly in Alma will require diacritics to be manually added.  You can copy and paste from LTS Guide to Entering Diacritics and Symbols in Alma, or use the supplied character map in the Windows system.
    • If you'd like to utilize the character map, open up the windows file explorer, click on "Windows (C:)" on the left hand column, and type in "character map" in the search box located on top right.
    • When the search result is displayed, right click on the appropriate option and choose "Create shortcut" (or "Pin to taskbar").
• Name Headings/Access Points
  
  • Due to the way Alma processes authority work, we must add qualifiers to all name headings if the names we add to records match the names in NAF but are different individuals or entities.  For example, if your John Smith is a different person than the NAF John Smith, you must add a qualifier to your John Smith so that it does not automatically flip to match to the NAF John Smith.  Follow the Metadata Standards Working Group's Best Practices for Name Access Points in Alma.

HOLDINGS RECORD

• Recording stats - Follow new policy on the use of 920 field.
  
  • Aleph H08 and H09 are mapped to Alma 908 and 909 MARC fields.  We are not currently able to create and manage a set using the 909 field.  While we will continue to record our data in 908 and 909, we will need to attach our initials at the end of the subfield "b" in 908 as follows:
    • 908 _ _ $$a c $$b 20180703zz [your initials]
    • 909 _ _ $$k A19C19zz [for fully accessioned and cataloged records]
      
      • For Holdings records created by Acquisitions:
        • 909 _ _ $$k A19###zz - for books and printed material awaiting cataloging from acquisitions
        • No 909 for manuscript material going to manuscript accessioning from acquisitions
    • N.B. Records from Aleph with the carat (^) symbol to indicate blank spaces have been stripped during migration to Alma in 909 field.  For stats reporting purposes (which needs to be exactly eight characters), please use the number sign (#) to indicate blank characters.
      • Example (cataloged without accession info): 909 _ _ $$k ###C19zz
      • Example (accessioned but not yet cataloged): 909 _ _ $$k A19###zz

• Single record policy vs. Multiple record policy: 

The Metadata Standards Working Group has been working on creating an interim policy to address the relevant issues as we move away from the single record policy towards the multiple record policy.  Because Alma handles purchased e-resources differently from prints, we are currently following the multiple record approach for prints and purchased e-resources prospectively; this means that the holdings of newly acquired printed material should NOT be attached to purchased e-resources bibliographic record (or vice versa).  For all other formats (e.g., microforms, CD-ROMs, in-house digitized surrogates, etc.), we are to follow the old practice until further notice.  See Metadata Standards Working Group's Metadata Best Practices wiki page.

ITEM RECORD

• Item records and material types
• Fixing Items with a Status "Not Available"

ALMA-HOLLIS DATA UPDATES

• Information entered into holdings and item records will be visible in Hollis in real-time.
• Information entered into bibliographic records will be visible in Hollis when data is refreshed per the standard publishing schedule.  The LTS documentation for the latest updates on the schedule.