MARC Record Processing Information
This document outlines the process by which MARC records are created, linked to titles in the Canadian Electronic Library, and delivered to customers.
MARC records for all Canadian Electronic Library titles are created by SLC (Special Libraries Cataloguing in Victoria, BC.) (http://www.slc.bc.ca)
How are titles published in the Canadian Electronic Library?
The process of publishing or "activating" an electronic title is briefly this:
After licensing rights from the publishers, GLC sets up a process for acquiring PDF versions of documents designated by publishers for inclusion. In the case of commercially published material, documents are transferred by the publisher to GLC on a regular basis. In the case of "public documents" included in the Canadian Public Policy and Canadian Health Research Collections, GLC regularly scans the websites of the publishers for new titles, which it retrieves and stores.
On a monthly basis, GLC sends new titles with metadata to ebrary for processing. At ebrary, the process of quality checking, recording, indexing and activating each instalment takes 2-3 weeks. After this sequence is complete, the documents are activated and made available to all library subscribers on "channels" that are tailored to each customer.
In order to maximize currency, monographs in Canadian Electronic Library may be activated before MARC records are available. There may be a 4-8 week hiatus between the appearance of a document in a customer's channel and the availability of MARC records.
The MARC Processing Routine
MARC records are delivered by SLC on a monthly basis to GLC, where they are registered, given a second quality check, and passed on to ebrary Inc. In the 001 field, each record bears a link to the unique ebrary Document ID (which becomes part of the persistent URL assigned to each document.)
Ebrary processes each monthly batch of MARC records in mid-month. A script is run against the records, tailoring certain fields to ebrary standards. In addition to the insertion of ebrary codes for 003 and minor alterations in other fields to designate the electronic form of publication, the primary changes made by this script are:
Field 533: Insertion of this string:
$aElectronic document.$bSaint-Lazare, Quebec :$cGibson Library Connections,$d2006.$fCanadian electronic library.$nAvailable by subscription via World Wide Web
Field 856: Insertion of this string, customized for each library customer:
40$uhttp://site.ebrary.com/lib/ucalgary/Doc?id=10088549$zAn electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web; click to view
After this script is run, the ebrary MARC database is updated and keys are generated for each customer based on the subscription service(s) held. These files are then placed on each customer's Partner Channel in monthly designations, where they may be downloaded into the customer's OPAC system.
A monthly delete list is also provided on each customer channel to alert customers to documents/titles that have been deleted from the channel or the service, requiring a corresponding deletion in the customer OPAC database. This list is a simple Excel list of the 001's of the records to be deleted. At the customer's option, ebrary will alternately provide the delete file in full MARC format, with a -d in the 005 byte of the record.
It is recommended that the Delete file be run before the Addition file each month.
It is the responsibility of customers to download and run these two files on a monthly basis to insure that their catalogues reflect the current content of the service.
For customer convenience, the Partner channel also provides a file of All Current MARC Records which is updated each month.
When a new customer purchases a CEL or ebrary collection, the first month's MARC delivery consists of all titles in the service to the month of activation. From that point on, the monthly update instalments are issued as described above.
MARC record replacement
From time to time for various reasons MARC records for previously released titles are revised and reissued. When this happens, the replacement records are deposited in the central ebrary MARC database, overwriting the previous versions. This means that new customers will receive the revised & reissued records. However, existing customers will need to go back and download previous months' files (and install them in their systems) in order to correct their MARC files.
This monthly review is not a routine matter. It will happen only in exceptional cases, and GLC customers will be notified when there is any requirement to re-download and replace monthly batches.
Please address any questions to
Bob Gibson, bob@gibsonlibraryconnections.ca
