Cataloging Home

Libraries' catalog
Journals | E-Matrix
WorldCat NCLive | Beta
Public Department page
Staff server
Cataloging wiki

Department
Annual reports
Directory
Forms for staff (pwd)
Help requests (pwd)
Personnel guidelines
Planning and projects
Presentations
Production statistics

Department sections
Continuing & Electronic Resources
Metadata & Database Quality
Monographs

Cataloging tools
Cataloger's Desktop (pwd)
ClassWeb (password)
Cataloging agencies
Cutter tables
Design images classification
Format-specific tools
Library of Congress tools
MARC documentation
OCLC tools
OPAC tools
Reference sources
Remote OPACs
Special call numbers
Unicorn tools

Local procedures
Cataloging guidelines and procedures by topic
Cataloging guidelines and procedures by branch
Memo bank
Metadata project procedures
Rare/special materials

News for catalogers
Recent news/events
Technical service e-journals

Marcive GPO record processing within technical services

Prior to 1999, the NCSU Libraries maintained the full post-1976 GPO depository file in a separate database within the DRA system. This file was accessible to users at NCSU as well as UNC-Chapel Hill. Titles that fit within the NCSU profile at that time (ca. 88% of depository titles) were identified as being held here while all records were marked as held in the regional depository collection at Davis Library. To enable use of the GPO file for circulation purposes within DRA, we contracted with our GPO record vendor, Marcive Inc. of San Antonio, Texas, for purchase of the GPO retrospective file matching our profile and for three GPO related current services: the weekly Shipping List Service (SLS), monthly Notification Service (SLM), and the monthly GPO URL Service. While these three services are marketed separately, there is a fair amount of overlap in the records packaged in each. The following is an attempt to describe both the contents of the three services and some of the problems inherent in loading them into the Libraries' catalog.

Marcive file names

Marcive file naming conventions for the NCS (North Carolina State) account are as follows for the three series of GPO files ftp'd from their site. Numbers following the alpha prefixes below are sequential from the start of our subscription, except for the SLS files, where it is the shipping list date for depository titles in MMDD format:

Shipping List Service (SLS)

The Shipping List Service provides brief preliminary MARC records corresponding to materials GPO is packing up for weekly distribution to depository libraries. Files are made available by Marcive midday each Thursday and are loaded into the catalog by our Computing Consultant on receipt. In the OPAC and staff clients, these records are instantly recognizable for their brevity and a tendency to use all upper case characters in the title:

When loaded into Unicorn, SLS records contain a 949 field that generates the following:

Call number=SuDoc number from the 086

Class scheme=SUDOC

Library=DHHILL

Item type=BOOK

Home location=SLS

Current location=INPROCESS

Item cat1=BOOK

Auto barcode (1234567-1001)

So that these records do not display to the public until they have been matched with an incoming physical volume by Acquisitions staff, SLS has been defined in Unicorn as a "shadowed" (non-displaying) location. When the corresponding title is processed in Acquisitions, staff there reset both the home and current locations to US-DOCS, US-DOCS-MF, or one of the US-DOCS oversize codes, thus allowing the brief SLS record to display in the OPAC. For microfiche or CD-ROM titles, item type and item cat1 are adjusted appropriately. Automatic barcodes are replaced with regular NCSU Code 3 of 9 barcodes.

In the example below, a Shipping List record is displayed in its WorkFlows iteration. Note the truncated title (245) in upper case, generic publisher statement (260), lack of pagination (300) or series statement (440/830), and the presence of the "tmp" number in 001. This number is assigned by Marcive, temporarily becomes the Unicorn title control number and, within a month or perhaps two, will become the basis for an overlay when GPO finishes cataloging the title. Click on the "Control" tab to see the Unicorn title control number and on the "Vol/Copy" tab to see the edited holdings after receipt of the matching depository material in Acquisitions.

Monthly Notification Service (SLM)

The Monthly Notification Service consists of two files. The first, with filename of NCSU038 in our example above, consists of GPO update records whose purpose is to replace the brief SLS records with full-level cataloging. By arrangement with Marcive, these are delivered with an OCLC control number in the 001, a duplicate OCLC control number in 035 with prefix (OCoLC), and the tmp number of the brief record targetted for replacement in a second 035. On load, the incoming 035 tmp number matches on the existing SLS title control key to effect the overlay. The OCLC number in the incoming 001 will permanently overwrite the existing tmp number in the Unicorn title control number. In the example below, the existing title control number "tmp97312989" will become "o51648832" once the overlay is completed (click on the "Control" tab to see). All unprotected fields in the brief bibliographic record will be replaced. Currently, the only protected fields are the 919 (DBCN from migrated DRA records), 596 (owning library), 597 (call number overflow), and 599 (latest issue received).

All SLM records contain default holdings information in 949 identical to that found in SLS records for all subfields save one. In this case, a home location of "GPO" is provided to enable these records to be harvested when no matching item is ever received. Since 949 is ignored where holdings already exist on the record being replaced, only records which fail to overlay will utilize the provided 949 data, primarily records from the second category of SLM files, change records. Click on the "Vol/Copy" tab to see a case where the the default location GPO has been loaded for a SLM record. After six months we might well decide that this title will never be received and can thus be deleted. In searching by title however, it was discovered that Acquisitions had indeed received this title on a SLS record that had never been overlaid due to a failure to match on tmp number. Holdings were moved over from the SLS record.

Files with the prefix NCSUC consist of records that are meant to update or replace existing full-level records. These are often serial records which are being updated as changes occur to a title over time (succeeding title information, changes in SuDoc number, editor, publisher, frequency, etc.). These will often lack tmp numbers altogether, as they are intended to match existing catalog records on OCLC number.

Monthly URL Service

Our subscription to the GPO monthly URL service began some time after the other services and is a 100% depository subscription. That means that we should receive records for all federal documents that are available through the Internet, not just those falling under our standard profile. Both retrospective and current files were purchased from the vendor, but there was a considerable time lag before these were all loaded into the catalog as the URL records were considered to be a lower priority than print items. As of the migration, it is believed that these files are now current.

This service is similar to the SLM subscription described above with both "new" record (NCSR) and change record files (NCSCxx) and batch loads are handled in exactly the same manner. With increasing numbers of profiled print titles also appearing via the Web, the URL records may duplicate, and thus replace, records already received through the SLM service. This created some problems when the URL loads lagged considerably behind print loads in DRA as older records from the URL service were replacing newer ones from SLM. The URL record may have either or both an OCLC number and a tmp number and overlays may be triggered by either. Records are loaded with the following defaults in 949:

Call number=SuDoc number from the 086

Class scheme=SUDOC

Library=ONLINE

Item type=EBOOK

Home location=US-DOCS

Current location=US-DOCS

Item cat1=EBOOK

Auto barcode (1234567-1001)

In cases where there was already a print item attached to a catalog record when an incoming URL record overlaid it, no ONLINE holdings were created. This is the situation for many URL-bearing GPO titles and it creates some problems in retrieval where a material type (EBOOK, EJOURNAL) or holding library (ONLINE) filter is used to identify electronic resources in an OPAC search. Since there is no receipt/check-in procedure for URL titles, as exists for print shipping list titles, these are not examined by staff after load to ensure that the online volume record has been created. While we could force auto-generation of the ONLINE volume on load, this would guarantee creation of a new ONLINE volume record each time an updated GPO record was received, something that happens with some regularity.

Note, in the example below, that GPO URL records contain both 530 (Additional physical form available note) and 856 fields. The 530 often provides a direct link to the resource while the 856 is almost always a link through the GPO PURL server.

Problem areas

There are a number of potential error sources and/or problem areas with the GPO loads beyond those noted above. Here, I have divided these into categories by source of the problem: migration problems or problems originating within DRA, duplicate record or mismatch problems, and problems related to format of materials.

Migration problems

DBCN control numbers: One of the major problems with migrated SLS records (those transferred from our old DRA system) is that they will not have the tmp number in their title control key, but rather a DRA control number (DBCN). With no match point, the incoming SLM record will become a duplicate and the DRA SLS record will become orphaned. Cataloging has tried to manually intervene in this process to ensure that DBCN control numbers have been replaced by tmp numbers, but we have not been able to find all occurences of this problem. This problem may also affect a small percentage of SLM records where the OCLC number was not in 010$o in DRA or where this data failed to map to 035 as was intended.

Duplicate records or mismatches

tmp records for periodical issues: One source of duplicate records is a result of the Marcive policy of sending out separate SLS records to match individual journal issues being sent to a subscriber. In these cases, every issue receives a tmp numbered record, but the SLM record will contain only one tmp number or perhaps none at all. In most cases staff checking in the title should note this and move the issue to the proper serial record, deleting the offending SLS record along the way.

Non-MvI source OCLC records: Yet another source of duplicate federal document records is Marcive (OCLC symbol=MvI) records batch loaded after Acquisitions staff have already downloaded a non-GPO record from OCLC. This happens when no SLS record is found in the catalog for a title received in the depository shipment. Rather than set the shipment aside until SLS records have been loaded, the documents receiver may simply search OCLC for an existing record on which to receive the title. When the SLS record is finally loaded, it may not match on the OCLC record used, causing it to load as a duplicate. Cataloging has been working with Acquisitions staff to prevent this problem.

Format-related problems

Multiple formats/multiple records: Another source of duplication in the catalog is titles cataloged both separately and on MulVer records when more than one version exists. While in most cases GPO will use the same record to describe print, microform and Internet resource copies of a title, in other cases they will not. In general the NCSU Libraries has attempted to keep these versions together on a single record. Unfortunately, GPO has not been consistent on this, sometimes creating separate records for electronic or microform versions of a title, sometimes putting all formats on a single record, and sometimes creating both separate and MulVer records! Even when we attempt to maintain MulVer records for these titles locally, GPO can frustrate us by sending update records which will then appear in the catalog with default holdings until they can be harvested using the "GPO" home location.

Serial vs analytics: Parallel to the multiple versions problem is GPO's penchant for creating both serial and analytic records for monographic series. As a policy, the NCSU Libraries has favored analyzing monographic series wherever possible so that patrons might find particular works by either series title or the title of the particular volume. Unfortunately, GPO has been inconsistent on this issue, sometimes cataloging sets as monographs, sometimes as serials, and sometimes as both. Removing the serial record doesn't solve the problem, as serial records are frequently updated within the notification services and will simply reappear without our notice. Probably the easiest technique for dealing with these is to create MFHD holdings on the serial record, either generated from serial check-in or manually as a summary statement (866). Leave item records on the analyzed monographs.

Incorrect format appears on volume records: Since GPO loads are assigned default holdings that may differ from what we receive, the catalog may either temporarily, or in the case of e-resources, permanently, reflect incorrect formats held. For most titles received through Acquisitions, the default values are changed on receipt from BOOKS to MICROFICHE or BOOKS to CD-ROM and so on. Materials that were not assigned smart barcodes during the initial FedForce Project may still reflect an incorrect format since we have not yet worked on microforms, maps or electronic resources added at that time. In addition, e-resource records loaded since January 2003 may show EBOOK as the Item Type even though the title may be a WEBSITE or EJOURNAL. This latter problem can be addressed through API fixes based on recurring values in the bibliographic description and volume records.