Working With Holdings - Items & Holdings Module

Owned by Jennifer Koerber (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jun 26, 2019
8 min read


This is the second section of the items & holdings module of the Alma Overviews course. The video is at the top of the page, followed by the script.

In this video, you'll review:


In this video, we'll review general information about holdings records. If you haven't already watched the Metadata Editor Overview video or have some experience navigating through the MDE, please watch the overview before proceeding. This segment assumes some familiarity with the Metadata Editor.

Let's begin by viewing holdings records.


Viewing Holdings

First, notice that there is no Physical Holdings search type in the drop-down. You can't directly search for holdings records in Alma; you get to the holdings from either the Title record or the Item record.

  • If you search for an item record, you can click on Holdings to see all holdings attached to the bib for this item
  • If you search for a title record, you have a few more choices. Make sure you're looking at the Expanded view to see all of them.
    • If you click on the text in the Location column to view (and not edit) the MARC information for the holdings record
    • If you click on the Holdings link below the snapshot, or from the row action item list for the title, you'll go to the List of Holdings
      • Now, choose View from the row action item list for the holdings you want, or you click on the record number to go to the MARC view

As we mentioned in the items video, when you're looking at title record search results in Alma, the snapshot of information for serials lists the first and last item held, but doesn't indicate any gaps in coverage, nor the full holdings summary statement. The List of Holdings or the MARC view of a holdings record are better places to find that information. Also remember, not all physical materials in Harvard's libraries have item or holdings records - especially in Special Collections - so no record in Alma may reflect the complete holdings of a library.


Now, let's look at editing holdings.


Editing Holdings

While you can view holdings records in the main Alma interface, you will edit them in the Metadata Editor. The Metadata Editor videos in the Cataloging and Bib Records module go through the features of the editor in more detail, but let's review a few holdings-specific elements.

First, find a holdings record and click Edit.

The MDE will keep keep track of records that you are working on in the Left Pane. Click on the plus sign for the MARC 21 Holdings folder to see all the holdings records you've opened. Click on any holdings in the left pane to display and edit that record.

When you open records to edit (bibs or holdings) they become locked to you for 4 hours, to prevent others from overwriting your work. Make sure to release records when you are done working on them either by going to the File menu and choosing Save and Release or - if you want to release all of your records - click on the MARC 21 Holdings folder and Release All Records.

Now let's work on a record.

Under the Edit menu, you see options to Add and Remove Fields and subfields.

  • Click into the field you want to delete and choose Remove Field.
  • Click into the field you want a new field to appear below and click Add Field.

You can open forms to edit complex fixed fields like the 008, LDR, and 852 by clicking into them or hit Ctrl + F. Hit the Escape key on your keyboard to save your work and close a form in one stroke.

Using a form to edit the 852 can help with choosing subfield entries. The only required subfields for the 852 are the $$b (sublocation or collection) and $$c (shelving location). Note that the drop-down options in $$c are context-sensitive and will change depending on what you chose for $$b. You'll also notice that when a new holdings is added to a bib, for many locations the bib 050 will be copied into the 852 $h and $i.

You can save as you go by clicking the Save icon, clicking File >> Save Record, or clicking Ctrl + S.

When you're finished working on the record, choose Save and Release from the File menu or Ctrl+Alt+R on your keyboard.


Now, let's look at adding a holdings record.


Adding a Holding

When you place a one-time order for a physical item, Alma will automatically create a holdings record and item record for you. When you place a continuous order, a holdings record is created and items are either predicted or added as they're received. When you manually create an item record, a holdings record is created automatically if needed.

However, there may be some workflows where you need to create a holdings record manually, such as processing a gift book for a title other Harvard Libraries own copies of.

There is more than one way to perform this task:

In Alma:

  1. Use the Physical Titles search type and relevant criteria
  2. From the search result, get to the List of Holdings
  3. Choose Add New Holdings at the top of the page
  4. This opens the workform for a new holding in the MD Editor, with some information pulled in from the bib.

If you have a bib record open in the Metadata Editor:

  1. Click on the Add Holdings icon, use CTRL + ALT + H on your keyboard, or go to Tools >> MARC Bibliographic >> Add holdings
  2. This will open a holdings record in split screen mode, with information pulled in from the bib
  3. Click into the new holdings record and edit as needed

When you're finished working on the record, click on Save or Save and Release.

When you save the record, Alma will copy the bib 050 into the holdings call number information if both these conditions are met: 

  1. Subfield h and i were blank 
  2. The library/location is configured to default to LC classification. 

Please check with your manager to see if this is set up for your unit.


Duplicating a Holding

Another way of creating holdings is by duplicating an existing one, useful in situations when a library holds several copies of a serial run or multiple copies of a popular book.

To duplicate a holdings record in the MDE:

  1. Search for a Physical Title and click on Holdings
  2. On the List of Holdings, find the one you want to duplicate and choose Edit from the row action item list 
    1. I could also have done this by opening the bib record to edit in the Metadata Editor, then clicking on the View Inventory icon, which would display the holdings records on that bib. Then find the record you want to duplicate and click Edit, and proceed as below.
  3. With the holdings record open that we want to duplicate, go to File and Duplicate; the duplicate holdings record now displays in the Main Pane
  4. Note that the data in the 852 field exactly matches the data in the existing holdings record. If you are using the very same field 852 data in your new holdings record, you need to add $$t to differentiate that field from the 852 in the existing record. More information is available on the Holdings - Creating, Editing, and Suppressing page.


Creating and Expanding a Holding Using a Template

Next, let's review the basic process for creating and expanding holdings records using a template. Detailed information about working with templates is available on the Working with Templates wiki page in the Resource Management section.

Creating a Holdings Record Using a Template

New holdings records can be created for existing bibs, if there aren't items to add yet - remember, adding items automatically creates the necessary holdings record if it doesn't exist.

To add a new holdings record to a bib:

  1. Use the All Titles search type to make sure you find your bib whether or not it has any other holdings or items on it. Click Edit to open the bib record in the Metadata Editor.
  2. Now, expand the Templates tab in the Left Pane by clicking on the title bar
  3. Choose the appropriate template from the MARC21 Holdings folder. In this case, I'll choose the Serial prediction monthly regular template.
  4. From the drop-down set of choices, select New.
  5. This will open a new holdings record in the MD Editor based on the template you selected. Since you already have a bib record open, Alma will associate the draft holdings record with that bib record.
  6. Now, edit your holdings record as needed, then save and release it.

You can see, using templates saves a lot of typing and clicking, speeding up the inventory process.

Expanding a Holdings Record Using a Template

Existing holdings records can be also expanded using templates in the MD Editor, to add fields quickly to a number of records.

The process is very similar to adding a new holdings record:

  1. Find the bib record, go to the list of holdings, identify the holdings record you want to expand, and click on Edit to open it in the Metadata Editor.

  2. With the holdings record open, select Edit and Expand from Template or hit Ctl + E to display the Expand from Template dialog box

  3. Next you would choose a template from the list and select it. Definitely get guidance from your local unit on what templates are available for you to use and for which types of records.
  4. Note that when the target record and the template have some of the same fields, the results can be complicated. This has a major impact on our ability to use templates to do things like add new 853 fields with new prediction patterns to existing holdings for serials.
  5. Once I choose a template and click OK, the holdings would be expanded using all the additional information in the template. I could edit as needed and save the record.
  6. After I have expanded the holdings using a template, I could edit as appropriate, and save the record.


Ok, now that we've looked at creating and adding holdings, let's look at deleting them.


Deleting Holdings Records

To delete a holdings:

  1. Find the Title or Item Record
  2. Go to the List of Holdings
  3. Find the holdings record that you want to delete
  4. Tick the tickybox next to the record
  5. Click on Delete Holdings
    1. You would want to make sure you had deleted any items before you went to delete a holdings record, because only empty holdings will be deleted.
  6. Click Confirm


Suppressing/Unsuppressing a Holdings Record

To suppress or unsuppress a holdings record, you would also work in the Metadata Editor.

Suppressing

Suppressing a holdings record (and its associated items) from display in HOLLIS is very simple. Again, suppression should only be used for holdings that contain items that Harvard still owns that should not be visible to the public.

  1. As before, open the Holdings record in the Metadata Editor
  2. Click on the Tools menu
  3. Under MARC 21 Holdings, go to Set Management Tags
  4. Now, click on the box next to Suppress from Discovery
  5. If you look in the Left Pane, the house icon for the record in the left pane has been replaced by an eye with a red slash through it that indicates it's been suppressed
  6. Also, if I go back into Tools and Set Management Tags, there is a check mark next to Suppress from Discovery.

Unsuppressing

To remove suppression - or unsuppress - a holdings record, go back to Tools >> Set Management Tags >> and click again on that tickbox. The icon will change back into a house and the check mark will disappear from Suppress for Discovery.


There is much more information on working with holdings records in the Alma documentation on the Harvard wiki: Holdings - Creating, Editing, and Suppressing (including a note about local fields and paired/textual holdings statements)


In this video, we looked at general information about holdings records. In the next segment, we'll go through the related processes for moving holdings and items records.