Sigl, 'NCSU Libraries Information System Update: Libraries' Database Expands', NCSU Libraries Newsletter v1993n00 (Sigl Doris)
_The NCSU Libraries Newsletter_
Volume 21 no. 4
November 1993
Sigl, Doris
"NCSU Libraries Information System Update: Libraries' 
Database Expands"


On November 1, 1993, the NCSU Libraries added 
approximately 9,000 bibliographic records to its new 
information system, thereby passing another milestone 
in the implementation process.  These records represent 
new titles added to the collection between May 22 and 
October 30.  During that time the Libraries was 
converting its database from the BIS system to the NCSU 
Libraries Information System and could not add new title 
information.  Instead, the Cataloging Department 
cataloged records via the international bibliographic 
utility OCLC and transferred those records for storage on 
the Libraries' VAX computer until conversion was 
complete and the new system was fully functional.

With this addition, the Libraries' database now 
accurately reflects titles held in the collection.  The 
9,000 additional records, however, are only bibliographic 
records that contain basic data describing a work (e.g., 
author, title, pagination); they lack information about 
what the library owns, where it is located, and whether 
it has been checked out.  Therefore, Technical Services 
staff in the Libraries have begun adding the appropriate 
holdings record and item record to each bibliographic 
record.  The holdings record provides location, call 
number, and copy/volume information for individual 
pieces; the item record allows a given book, serial, 
video, or other material, to circulate to a patron, and it 
tracks information such as due date and circulation 
status.  The project of attaching these additional records 
to the newly loaded bibliographic information will take 
several weeks.  During that period, some titles retrieved 
in a search may display the message "No holdings."

Once the project is completed, staff in Cataloging will 
interactively export records from OCLC into the 
Libraries' new information system.  This means that new 
cataloging records will enter the database immediately.  
In the past, records entered the BIS system via a 
tapeload from OCLC, usually resulting in a three- to 
four-week delay in access to new titles information.  
NCSU Libraries staff is now able to capitalize on the 
networking capabilities of the new information system 
to provide better patron service.