Recently a process which allows name and series authority records created in the Library's six overseas field offices to be loaded directly into MUMS has gone into production. This means that items that were previously handled manually now appear online in MUMS automatically, thus saving a significant amount of staff time.
The ODE project began in the early 80's. Production began in 1985 with the actual uploading of monographic cataloging records created in the New Delhi field office to the MUMS APIF and BOOKS files. This version of ODE was based on specialized microcomputer hardware and software. The introduction of the IBM Personal Computer (PC) caused rapid changes in microcomputers, so rapid that the original version of ODE was obsolete shortly after its introduction. Consequently, the project never expanded beyond the New Delhi office. Rather, a search for a PC based solution was made, and after a thorough review of several systems, the MINARET MARC database management system was selected.
The selection of MINARET software meant that all one needed to create MARC records was a PC running under the DOS operating system. This permitted the introduction of ODE2 in all six field offices. In addition to monographs, the offices also implemented the creation of serial records for contribution to the CONSER project.
While this was easily accomplished after suitable training in Washington of key office staff, it took a long time to get the CONSER and MUMS related software to read and load these standard MARC records. The uploads to CONSER began in the fall of 1993 and was followed by loads to the APIF and BOOKS files later that year. Production has been high. In 1995, the field offices uploaded over 20,000 APIF and BOOKS records to MUMS and over 2,000 Serial records to CONSER. Also, cataloging records for books that are cataloged in Arabic or Persian are uploaded directly to RLIN as roman-only records -- the vernacular portion being added online later by MENA staff members in Washington.
But these upload channels still left a major gap: name and series authority records.
The Overseas Field Offices began creating Name and Series Authority MARC Records in 1994, but it wasn't until March 1996 that we were able to upload these records directly to MUMS as a production job. This meant a particularly frustrating practice of having to re-key or transfer by TCEC items into MUMS that were already in MARC format. This further meant that records had not only to be handled again, but also proof-read again. Frequently, the proper use of diacritic marks and special characters proved troublesome because these were names based on non-roman scripts and non-Western naming conventions.
The implications of "just" re-keying are large with respect to all the other work that could have been done. Last year, RCCD estimated that over $130,000 was spent in labor in the manual handling of authority records for MUMS and adding the romanized portion of Arabic script records into RLIN.
The process used for ODE2NSAR uploading replicates that used in the cooperative NACO project. MARC authority records are sent to OvOp in Washington either electronically (Cairo, Jakarta, and Rio) or on diskette (Nairobi, Islamabad, and New Delhi). These are reviewed in OvOp for structural soundness, e.g., correct fixed field data for series authority records, etc., and combined into a single file. The file is then sent via FTP to one of the UNIX machines in ITS and picked up by a daily job run from the main frame computer and checked automatically by the load program for structural and logical consistency. For example, a record that lacks required sub-fields $a and $5 in tag 642 will be rejected.
The fate of each record is written to a response file which contains codes indicating an "OK," i.e., the record was loaded to MUMS with verified status, or "Not OK," i.e., the record was not loaded to MUMS.
Error responses are gathered into a summary report that looks like:
Error records are
LCCN Error Message Tag n 93902404 Illegal field structure 010 n 93902406 Incorrect number of indicators 411 n 93902407 Duplicate 001 -- record ID on file n 93902919 Illegal subfield data values 646 n 93902952 Duplicate 001 -- record ID on fileThe total number of response records is 160 There are 5 records in error
This report makes it easy to find the offending records, correct them, and re-submit as part of the next run.
While the project was waiting to go into production a significant backlog built up. A review of the 4,500 records in the backlog was made and most structural errors that would have blocked loading were corrected using MINARET. This investment in pre-editing appears to have paid off in that 98 per-cent of the initial batch loaded without error.
One can easily spot authority records uploaded under ODE2 in that they have two 985 fields, the first has a 985$e field that looks like ODE-ca or ODE-rj, etc., for records created in the Cairo or Rio field offices.
4.1 Telecommunications
A key problem faced by the offices is that, well ..., they're there and we're here. Access to MUMS and other cataloging resources is difficult given the shaky telecommunications services available to the offices. For several years, the offices have relied on CDS's CD-ROM based CD-MARC product to access the master authority file. However, it is expected that, due to budget restraints, CD-MARC products will no longer be produced after March 1997. Thus, a great step forward was made when the offices gained access to the Dept. of State's Diplomatic Telecommunications Service's network.
Not only does this telecommunications facility allow some offices to upload MARC records electronically to OvOp, it also allows them to access the OCLC and RLIN databases. Using OCLC's XPO command or RLIN's "put" command, the offices can obtain MARC records immediately which may be used as sources for copy cataloging, as needed. The service is being expanded to cover all offices during 1996.
4.2 Integrated Field Office System (IFOS)
The Integrated Field Office System (IFOS) is being developed for the offices under contract with IME, Inc. and is planned to provide all "back-bone" functions required by an office:
Catalog Access
USMARC Record Creation/Edit and Export
Order Placement and Tracking for purchases and exchange materials
Fund Control and Reporting
Monographic and Serials Check-in
The catalog will be set up as an opening day collection in that bibliographic records for each of the countries of publication covered by an office will be online and accessible to all staff with an IFOS terminal, (i.e., a networked PC).
Name and series authority records are too numerous to be stored online in the IFOS and these will be addressed via a cooperative approach such as Z39.50 where the IFOS terminal will be the client and a CD-ROM based product will provide host services. Alternatively, it is possible that the host may be accessed online via the State Dept. telecommunications facility mentioned earlier.
IFOS provides several helpful features for field office catalogers:
Ability to cut and paste headings from authority records into bibliographic records being created
Strong tag, indicator, and sub-field validation
Validation of country and language codes
Floating display of diacritics so that the mark appears in proper relationship to the letter being modified
Ability to both create records bearing Arabic script and to search the online catalog using Arabic search expressions
Implementation of a review and approval process prior to export of MARC records
Several people contributed to getting ODE2 for authority records off the ground. Thanks go to Mary Bader, Ardith Bausenbach, Ken Carpenter, Larry Dixson, James Gentner, Diane Humes, James Kimball, Andy Lisowski, Mercedes Ondich, and Yuri Van Duyne.
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(06/07/96)