The cataloger’s toolkit for Vger

2.1. Background

For years, catalogers have been looking forward to a time when the full benefits of automation would be available to them. To be sure, large libraries now have online systems, and catalogers don’t type headings onto cards any more; yet much of the early promise of automation for enhancing productivity and quality has yet to be realized. The mainframe library system was good at manipulating vast amounts of data, but was not so good at the elaborate routines, sometimes involving substantial interaction with an operator, which are required to perform operations such as the construction of an authority record or the shelflisting of a classification number.

The client/server model offered much promise for altering the library computing environment. The tasks at which a large, central computer excels—for example: managing a vast amount of data, and swiftly executing complicated keyword searches—are left to the central computer (the server), while other tasks—such as the formulation of index and record displays from data passed along by the server—are handed off to programs running on smaller computers perched on individual library workers’ desktops (the clients). Unfortunately, the full promise of the client/server model has yet to be realized: clients are often more elaborate than helpful; productivity and quality can suffer. The most recent library systems appear to offer web-based clients that are even less amenable to high production and high quality than previous systems. For as far ahead as anyone can see, there will be a need for add-on programs to help catalogers attain the highest possible levels of productivity and quality. The cataloger’s toolkit for Vger (CTKV) is one such program, developed at Northwestern University Library and made available to the general Vger community.

2.2. What the toolkit is

The cataloger’s toolkit is a program that runs in the Microsoft Windows™ operating environment. It does its work in some cases by asking Windows certain questions, and then it uses information gained from Windows to query your Vger database; in other cases, the toolkit simply manipulates some information it already has lying around. The toolkit may present information for your inspection, send a modified record back to Vger automatically, or write a record to a file for your later use. Here are some examples:

• If you ask the toolkit to check the access fields in a bibliographic record, the toolkit asks Windows a set of questions that allows it to discover the Vger system number of the record currently displayed by the cataloging client. The toolkit retrieves a fresh copy of the record from Vger,¹ extracts access fields from it, and directly searches the Vger indexes to find out how well the access fields in the record match information in authority and bibliographic records in your database.
• If you ask the toolkit to create an authority record for an access field that doesn’t already have one, the toolkit formulates a new authority record and (on your option) either writes it to a file or sends it directly to Vger. If the toolkit writes the record to a file, you then use the Vger cataloging client to add the record to your Vger database.

Your Vger system is not aware that the toolkit exists; you do not need to make any kind of modification to your Vger system in order to use most parts of the toolkit.² The toolkit does not allow you to do things on your Vger system that your Vger system does not allow, or that you haven’t been granted permission to do; it simply helps you to use your Vger system in a more efficient manner.

The toolkit assists in some of the repetitive tasks of cataloging, and frees you to concentrate on the aspects of your job for which your training and experience are of vastly greater value. The toolkit does not relieve you of responsibility for the content of your records. Instead, the toolkit helps you gather the information you need to make decisions, and then carries out your informed instructions faithfully, quickly and accurately.

2.3. How the toolkit looks and behaves

The cataloger’s toolkit is a collection of buttons with little pictures, letters, or combinations of pictures and letters on them, arrayed together on a floating toolbar. The picture on each button is intended to help you remember what the button does. (The connection between picture and function is not always clear-cut. Suggestions for changes to the icons on the buttons are always welcome.) The buttons have different background colors to identify in a general way the different functional groups into which they fall. (For example, buttons with deep blue backgrounds deal in some way with call numbers.)

In the following illustration, the toolkit is the pad of buttons in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, with the title ‘Cataloger’s toolkit’; Vger is the large window in the upper right-hand corner.

Use the Button arrangement tab on the toolkit’s Options panel to decide how many rows and columns of buttons you see on the toolkit’s main panel. You can also select which buttons appear (you don’t have to look at buttons you don’t use), and rearrange them to suit your whim. In the preceding illustration, the operator has decided to display 26 of the toolkit’s buttons. The following illustration shows a different toolkit layout; this operator has elected to display 39 buttons.

The gray area under the bottom row of buttons is a status window. The toolkit puts messages in this window from time to time. For example:

• While the toolkit is checking the access fields in a bibliographic record, the status window shows each access field in turn.
• While the toolkit is collecting information related to a call number, the status window names in turn each of the major steps.
• After the toolkit has completed certain tasks, the status window will tell you that work was successful or failed.
• When the toolkit doesn’t have anything particular to report, the status window is empty.

The toolkit can (at your option) be set to be always ‘on top’ of every other program you have running. It’s very easy to loose the little toolbar on a cluttered screen. (If you loose the toolkit, you should be able to find its icon in the row to the right of the Windows ‘Start’ button.) If you do not display the toolkit ‘on top’ of other windows, some of the toolkit’s messages may be buried under other programs; displaying the toolkit ‘on top’ of other programs is encouraged.

2.4. General points to keep in mind

You may for one reason or another have multiple copies of the Vger cataloging client open in your Windows desktop. The cataloger’s toolkit will only ‘see’ the one that’s currently ‘on top’ of the other ones.

You may have more than one record (bibliographic, holdings, etc.) open in the Vger cataloging client at a time. The cataloger’s toolkit will only ‘see’ the one that’s currently ‘on top’ of the other ones.

The cataloger’s toolkit works with a bibliographic, holdings, authority or item record as it currently exists in the Vger database, and not necessarily as you see it in the Vger cataloging client. If you have changed a record, save the record back to Vger before using the toolkit to work with the record.

The cataloger’s toolkit does not maintain any kind of permanent connection to the Vger cataloging client; it makes no assumptions about the ‘state’ of the cataloging client. If for some reason you are forced to close and re-open the Vger cataloging client, you do not need to do anything special to the cataloger’s toolkit, such as close it and start it again; the toolkit should be able to find the newly-opened Vger cataloging client without any problem.

The cataloger’s toolkit maintains its own connections directly to the Vger database for reading and writing information. (These connections have nothing to do with the catlaoging client.) On occasion, for reasons the toolkit cannot control, one or both of these connections may be broken, and the toolkit will suddenly begin to provide unexpected results. (For example, it may tell you that a perfectly nice bibliographic record has no access fields.) If this happens, simply close the toolkit and start it again.

2.5. Suggestions for improvements

From time to time, you may find yourself saying ‘Why can’t the toolkit do ...?’, or ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if the toolkit could ...?’ Do not suppress these ideas for enhancements, but let them be known! Many of the buttons in the toolkit are the result of suggestions made by real live catalogers at institutions other than Northwestern University Library, prompted by the needs of the work before them; certainly, the wealth of detail offered by the toolkit is the result of countless suggestions for improvements from many institutions over many years. (For example, the validation/verification routine has been under continuous revision since it was introduced in 1994.) The program exists to make your life easier and better; take the responsibility upon yourself to pass suggestions along.

When you think you have an idea for an enhancement to the toolkit, talk it over with your local toolkit expert—the person responsible for maintaining the current version of the program. In some cases, this person may show you a way to realize your suggestion by using existing features. In other cases, this person should recognize that you have an efficiency- or quality-enhancing idea, and will (with your help) write up your idea into a suggestion, and forward the suggestion to Northwestern University Library.

The idea you have may seem at first blush to be of interest only to workers at your institution. Do not let this deter you from making the suggestion. If your idea will promote efficiency or improve quality at your institution, pass your suggestion along. It often happens that such an idea, bolstered by a few options, will produce a tool that can be used by many institutions.

Also, you will no doubt find cases where the toolkit behaves incorrectly, or reacts badly in some other manner. Please report these: you may be the first to encounter a bug or other infelicity, and your problem report may save grief on the part of many other toolkit users.

2.6. About the online documentation

This online document should tell you everything you need to know to use the toolkit effectively. It is divided into several large sections, each dealing with a different set of tasks performed by the toolkit. In each section, there is a brief general description of the kinds of things the buttons do, followed by a detailed description of the work done by each button.

In this document, the word screen means the video monitor attached to your personal computer.

References to the left and right mouse buttons assume the native disposition of buttons under Windows. If you have reversed the left and right mouse buttons, you should mentally reverse the instructions in this manual as well.

It is assumed throughout this manual that you know how to perform common Windows operations, such as clicking buttons and selecting text.

2.7. Conventions used in the online documentation

Keys on the keyboard are named with the first letter in upper-case: Clear, Enter.

Names of buttons on the toolkit’s button pad are given in upper-case letters, often in italic: BAM button; BIG RED CROSS button.

Names of buttons on other toolkit display panels are given as they appear, within quotation marks: ‘Create authority’; ‘OK.’

If you print out this document in black and white, some of the features of the toolkit which rely on color or shades of gray will only be approximated.

Exceptions and other unexpected but especially important things to remember are marked with a ‘pointing finger’ symbol.

2.8. A note on the illustrations

The illustrations in this document may fairly be assumed to show the most recent version of the item under immediate discussion. Some illustrations will reflect earlier versions of items not under immediate consideration. For example, an illustration of the verification report should show the current version of that report; but the toolkit’s toolbar visible in the same illustration may not show all buttons currently available.

2.9. How to find out more

When you have questions about using the toolkit, you should always look first at this online documentation. You should be able to find answers to most of your questions here. The main toolkit panel has a HELP button; you can pick up this button with the mouse and drop it on some other button, and the online documentation will open to the description of that button.

If you rest the mouse pointer over any of the toolkit’s buttons, you’ll see a very brief description of what the button does. This description also shows you the keyboard shortcut you can use instead of clicking the button.

Most of the toolkit’s subsidiary panels have a ‘help’ button, with a question mark icon. If you click this button, this online documentation will open to the description of that panel. The following illustration shows the lower portion of one such form, with the ‘help’ button in the lower left corner.

Each institution should have a ‘toolkit guru,’ a person responsible for installing and maintaining the program. If you are unable to find an answer to your question in the online documentation, discuss the situation with your local toolkit expert. In many cases this person will be able to find an answer for you.

In some cases, you may wish to post a description of your problem, or a question, to an appropriate online discussion group.

If your friendly local toolkit expert and the body of toolkit users available via an online discussion list are unable to answer your question, your local toolkit expert may decide to contact the appropriate person at Northwestern University Library. (It’s easier on the programmer if each institution funnels suggestions and problems through one person.)

To summarize: When confronted with a question, always try to find the answer yourself. If this doesn’t work, contact your local toolkit expert, or other toolkit users. If all else fails, contact Northwestern University Library directly. You should not rest until you believe your problem has received a proper airing.

2.10. Installation

 
      Start 
         Programs 
            Northwestern University Library 
               Cataloger’s toolkit

      Program Files
         ctk

3.1. Basic concepts

The first of these buttons allows you to verify the access fields in a bibliographic or authority record and validate the MARC content designation (tags, indicators, and subfield codes) in a bibliographic, authority or holdings record.³ The remaining buttons allow you to recall previously-generated reports of this work. These buttons are the BAM button, the Bibliographic BAM report button, the Authority BAM report button and the Holdings report button.

The toolkit first validates the record’s MARC content designation. For bibliographic and authority records, the toolkit also extracts search keys from appropriate fields and compares each access field to other access fields in your Vger datababse. This process, complicated though it is, normally takes just a second or two. If you have told the toolkit to do so with the appropriate options, the toolkit will automatically correct certain kinds of errors, and update the record in the Vger database.

When the toolkit has finished its work, it shows you a report that describes its work, and highlights any problems it found. This online report contains buttons to help you with any additional work that may be necessary: changing MARC coding, creating authority records, and so on. If you use the BAM button for every record you process, you can eliminate many errors in your Vger database.

To validate the MARC content designation in a record and verify its access fields, click the BAM button. (BAM stands for bibliographic and authority verification, and MARC validation.) What the toolkit does next depends on the topmost record in the Vger window.

If the topmost record is a bibliographic record or authority record, the toolkit retrieves a fresh copy of the record from Vger,⁴ inspects the MARC coding in the record, extracts access fields from the record, and checks each of those access fields against bibliographic and authority records in your Vger database.

If the topmost record is a holdings record, the toolkit retrieves a fresh copy of the record from Vger and inspects the MARC coding in it.

If you have asked the toolkit (through a set of configuration options) to save records that the toolkit changes during BAM, leave your computer alone after you click the BAM button, and leave it alone until you see the toolkit’s BAM report. (As part of its work, the toolkit may make changes to the record, save it back to Vger, and re-open the modified record in the cataloging client. Interfering with the computer while all this is happening will probably mean that the toolkit can’t finish its work.) If you have told the toollkit not to re-save records that it modifies during BAM, you can resume work on your computer immediately after you click the BAM button; none of the work you do will interfere with the work the toolkit is doing. In any case, the toolkit’s status window shows the access field with which it is working as it wends its way through the record; this gives you some idea of the progress the program is making. As soon as the toolkit has finished its work, it presents you with its report. (This report is described elsewhere.)

The very first time you use the BAM button, there may be a significant pause (perhaps a minute or more), as the toolkit reads your Vger tag tables and builds a ‘compressed’ version of them. After this first time, the toolkit uses its compressed version of the Vger tag tables; subsequent work with the BAM button will happen much more quickly.⁵

Configuration points to keep in mind

The work performed by the BAM button is controlled by a welter of BAM-related choices on the Options panel, in addition to general settings such as those on the Vger connection and NUC codes tabs.

3.2. What happens during BAM

3.3. BAM reports

4.1. Introduction

This group of buttons allows you to do various things related to call numbers: to build complete call numbers, to find associations between call numbers and subject access fields, to shelflist classification numbers, and to move a call number from a bibliographic to a holdings record. These buttons all have a deep blue background color.

There is a second set of buttons related to call numbers. These buttons have a dark purple background, and only work for catalogers at Northwestern University Library. These buttons are described in a separate section of this document.

From left to right in the above illustration, the buttons with the blue background do the following:

• Construct a list of classification numbers appearing most often with a subject access field (requires setup on the Vger server)
• Construct a list of subject access fields appearing most often with a classification number (requires setup on the Vger server)
• Generate a complete unique call number, shelflisted to fit into the local collection (requires setup on the Vger server)
• Transfer a call number from the bibliographic to the holdings record
• Assign a sequential number in lieu of a call number

These buttons are described in the following sections.

4.2. Generate a list of classification numbers used with a subject field (S# button)

The S# button gives you a way to find the classification numbers that appear in your database most frequently with a given subject field—when that subject field is the first subject access field of its type in a bibliographic record. The image on the button means ‘go from subject to class number.’

For efficiency’s sake, this button was originally designed to call on a library of routines that resides on your Vger server. For most efficient use of this button, you should obtain this library of routines (written in the PL/SQL language, the native Oracle programming language), install the library on your server, and configure the toolkit to use the library.²⁸ Only after the routines have been installed on the server, and you have configured the toolkit correctly, can you use this button in the most efficient manner.

If you cannot or do not wish to install this library of PL/SQL routines on your server, this button will still work—it’ll just take longer for you to see the results.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• The owning library on the General tab
• The first connection on the Connections tab, including the ‘Oracle schema’ box²⁹
• Settings specific to the S# and #S buttons

As mentioned above, this button will use a library of routines installed on your server for most efficient performance, but lacking this library it will simulate the server routine with a workstation routine. The results of the two methods should be identical, but the server routines will always take less time to finish.

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit presents you with an inquiry form that looks something like this:

Type the access field in which you’re interested into the box in the upper frame. If the access field consists of a main heading with subject subdivisions and if you’d like to see a list of call numbers not only for the whole field but also for shorter parts of the field, give two hyphens between each segment. If you’d like to see a list of call numbers associated with any access field that begins with your text, follow your text with a percent sign, a pound sign or a question mark to indicate right truncation. If you’d like to see call numbers for a main heading plus a subdivision, skipping over any intervening subdivisions, place a pound sign (‘#’) between the main heading and the subdivision.

• If you type:
• caribbean area--politics and government--1945
• the toolkit will search for call numbers used with the following subject fields:
• caribbean area--politics and government 1945
• caribbean area--politics and government
• caribbean area

• If you type:
• caribbean area politics and government?
• the toolkit will search for call numbers used with all subject fields that begin ‘caribbean area politics and government’

• If you type:
• caribbean area # bibliography
• the toolkit will search for call numbers used with any subject field that begins ‘caribbean area’ and also contains ‘bibliography’ (such as ‘Caribbean Area $x Politics and government $v Bibliography’)

In the upper frame, also click the radio button that identifies the subject heading system to which your field belongs. In the next frame, click the radio button that identifies the kind of call numbers you’re interested in.³⁰ You can ask the toolkit to search for any combination of subject heading system and call number type; but, of course, your database will probably not contain all of the combinations. (If you ask for a combination that doesn’t exist in your database, the toolkit will simply say it didn’t find anything.)

When everything appears OK, click the ‘Search’ button in the middle. Depending on the nature of your request, you will see results immediately, or after a delay of variable length.³¹ The following illustration shows a typical example of what you might see.

The box at the bottom of the panel now contains a summary list of the classification numbers associated with your subject access field. The classification numbers are sorted in decreasing frequency of occurrence.

To generate this summary, the toolkit routine (which operates either on the server or on the workstation, depending on the toolkit’s configuration) asks Vger for a list of the bibliographic records owned by your owning library that contain a given subject access field and have a call number of the proper type. The toolkit examines each bibliographic record, and considers only those that contain your subject access field as the first subject field.³² The toolkit generates a summary of the classification numbers assigned to records that contain your subject as the first subject and returns it to the toolkit.

When you see this report, you can do the following:

• Click the ‘Revise’ button to move the original search term back into the topmost box. You can modify the string as needed, and click the ‘Search’ button again.
• Supply a different subject string and generate a summary of classification numbers associated with it.
• Click the ‘Show bibs’ button to see a list of the bibliographic records whose holdings contain a particular call number. (Be patient; it takes as much time to generate this list as it does to perform the original search.)
• Assign the classification number to the item you’re cataloging. If you click the ‘Assign call number with this’ button, the toolkit hands the number over to the routine that handles the SHELFLISTING button, which pretends that the number comes from a call number field of your bibliographic record. (Northwestern University Library users only: the toolkit pretends that you’ve just clicked the ‘C’ button, which behaves as if the number you select came from the 082 field of your bibliographic record.)
• Copy the classification number to the Windows clipboard. You can then paste it (with Control-V) into a holdings record.

4.3. Generate a list of subjects used with a classification number (#S button)

The #S button gives you a way to find the bibliographic subjects that appear in your database most frequently with a given classification number. The image on the button means ‘go from class number to subject.’

For efficiency’s sake, this button was originally designed to call on a library of routines that resides on your Vger server. For most efficient use of this button, you should obtain this library of routines (written in the PL/SQL language, the native Oracle programming language), install the library on your server, and configure the toolkit to use the library.³³ Only after the routines have been installed on the server, and you have configured the toolkit correctly, can you use this button in the most efficient manner.

If you cannot or do not wish to install this library of PL/SQL routines on your server, this button will still work—it’ll just take longer for you to see the results.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• The owning library on the General tab
• The first connection on the Connections tab, including the ‘Oracle schema’ box³⁴
• Settings specific to the S# and #S buttons

As mentioned above, this button will use a library of routines installed on your server for most efficient performance, but lacking this library it will simulate the server routine with a workstation routine. The results of the two methods should be identical, but the server routines will always take less time to finish.

What hapens

When you click this button, the toolkit presents you with an inquiry form that looks something like this:

Type the classification number in which you’re interested into the box in the upper frame. The toolkit assumes right truncation in all cases.

• If you type:
• 759.5
• ... and identify this as a Dewey number, the toolkit will consider all call numbers that begin ‘759.5’:
• 759.5, 759.51, 759.52, etc.

• If you type:
• B132
• ... and identify this as an LC number, the toolkit will consider all call numbers that begin ‘B132’:
• B132.D5, B132.V3N38 1977, etc.
• Because of the way Vger normalizes Library of Congress numbers, you cannot use a truncated number to search for a range of numbers; searching for ‘B13’ will retrieve only numbers that begin ‘B13’, and not anything in the range B130-B139.

In the upper frame, also click the radio button that identifies the classification system to which the classification number belongs. In the next frame, click a radio button that identifies the subject system you’re interested in.³⁵ You can ask the toolkit to search for any combination of subject heading system and call number type; but, of course, your database will probably not contain all of the combinations. (If you ask for a combination that doesn’t exist in your database, the toolkit will simply say it didn’t find anything.)

When everything appears OK, click the ‘Search’ button in the middle of the panel. Depending on the nature of your request, you will see results immediately, or after a delay of variable length.³⁶ The following illustration shows a typical example.

The box at the bottom of the panel now contains a summary list of the subjects associated with your classification number. The subjects are sorted in decreasing frequency of occurrence.

To generate this summary, the toolkit routine (which operates either on the server or on the workstation, depending on the toolkit’s configuration) asks Vger for a list of the bibliographic records owned by your owning library whose holdings records contain a given call number of the proper type, and begin with the number you supply. The toolkit extracts from each bibliographic record the first subject of the proper type. It generates a summary of the subjects it finds. This summary does not identify the actual classification numbers assigned to each bibliographic record; you can only be certain that each classification number begins with the information you supply.

When you see this report, you can do the following:

• Click the ‘Revise’ button to move the original search term back into the topmost box. You can modify the class number as needed, and click the ‘Search’ button again.
• Supply a different classification number and generate a summary of subjects associated with it.
• Click the ‘Show bibs’ button to see a list of the bibliographic records whose holdings contain a particular call number. (Be patient; it takes as much time to generate this list as it does to perform the original search.)

4.4. Move a call number from the bibliographic record to the holdings record

This button allows you to move a call number from a bibliographic record into the holdings record without having first to copy it to the Windows clipboard. You define on the Options panel the kind of call number you want to move, and then use this button to move the call number. You can click this button when either a bibliographic or a holdings record is the active record in the Vger cataloging client’s window.

Althoug this button does perform simple duplicate detection, the button does not check to see if the transferred number places the item at the ‘best’ point in your shelflist. (The SHELFLISTING button provides more control over the assignment of call numbers.)

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• The ‘Getting started’ and ‘Handling of finished number’ tabs on the options display for the toolkit’s call number buttons
• The first connection defined on the Connections tab, including the ‘Write UID’ and ‘Write PWD’
• The ‘Path to Voyager.INI’ box also on the Connections tab
• The owning library on the General tab

What hapens

When you click this button, the toolkit obtains from the Vger cataloging client the number of the active record, and retrieves from Vger a fresh copy of that record. The toolkit scans the record for the kind of call number you defined on the Options panel. If it finds the appropriate kind of call number, the toolkit inserts it into the first holdings record attached to your bibliographic record that appears not already to have a call number. The toolkit saves this modified holdings record to your Vger database, and then displays it in the Vger cataloging client’s window. When you see the record in the cataloging client’s window, it has already been saved to your Vger database. If you don’t like the number for some reason, you must modify the holdings record and save the record again.

If this call number duplicates a number already in your shelflist, the toolkit will notify you with a simple message. Use the SHELFLISTING button if you wish the toolkit to fit a call number into your local shelflist.

4.5. Assign sequential numbers (1,2,3 button)

Use this button to find the next number in a sequence and use that number as all or part of the call number in a Vger holdings record.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• Information on the Sequential # tab on the options display for the toolkit’s call number buttons
• The owning library on the General tab
• The ‘Write UID’ and ‘Write PWD’ for the first connection on the Connections tab

What happens

The toolkit retrieves the number of the active record from the Vger cataloging client, and fetches a fresh copy of the record from the Vger database. If the Vger cataloging client shows a bibliographic record, the toolkit also retrieves the first holdings record attached to the record that doesn’t already have a call number; if the Vger cataloging client shows a holdings record, the program also retrieves the bibliographic record. The toolkit extracts various pieces of information from these two records (the location from the holdings record, the leader, 006, 007 and 008 fields from the bibliographic record). The toolkit then attempts to match all this information to the definitions for sequential numbers.

If the toolkit finds exactly one match, it assigns the next number in the series.³⁷ If the toolkit finds more than one match, the toolkit asks you to identify the pattern it should use. After it has assigned the next number, the toolkit puts the finished call number into the holdings record, saves it to the Vger database, and opens the record in the Vger cataloging client. Finally, the toolkit updates its configuration (so it knows the number it has assigned most recently).

4.6. Shelflist classification numbers

Assigning the call number for an item is not simply a matter of finding a likely candidate in a bibliographic record and copying it into the holdings 852 field. The presence of other call numbers in the local database, the handling of earlier editions, and the classification practice for any series that appear in the bibliographic record, must all be taken into account. The toolkit’s SHELFLIST A CALL NUMBER button is not the perfect tool or most complete for working with call numbers, but it has a number of features that can make the process less tedious most of the time.

Several pieces of the toolkit’s configuration (available on the toolkit’s Options panel) are related to work with call numbers:

• Information on the Call number options panel
• The Oracle schema on the Connections tab.

To begin work with a call number, click the SHELFLIST A CALL NUMBER button when the cataloging client shows a bibliographic, holdings or item record. The toolkit finds the bibliographic record and inspects the holdings records attached to it—there must be at least one holdings record with no call number. The toolkit BAMs the bibliographic record (unless you have just BAMmed the record and you haven’t changed the record since) so that it has authority records for all of the access fields (series authority records are the most important, but the toolkit needs all of them). Using your definition, the toolkit searches the bibliographic record for interesting call numbers. The toolkit checks authority records to see if any series in the bib record is classed together, and it looks for other editions of the work.

If the series is not classed together and if there are no other editions of the work and if the call number has not already been used in your holdings records and if you have told the toolkit to do so, the toolkit pastes the call number from the bib record into the holdings record, and you’re done. If any one of these conditions does not apply, the toolkit builds a list of the subject access fields in the bib record, and shows you a panel that describes what it found; the following is a typical example.

The left side of this panel is the same for all kinds of call numbers; the right side has different things for the different kinds of call numbers.

• If an authority record for a series contained in a bib record indicates that a series should be classed together, the ‘Classed series’ box contains the toolkit’s best guess at the complete number. (It sticks the contents of series subfield $v onto the end of the call number from the holdings record.) If no series authority record indicates that it should be classed together, this box is empty.
• The ‘Call number from bib record’ box contains the call number found in the bib record (following your definition for call numbers of interest). The caption for the box will tell you if this number duplicates the number in another holdings record in your database.
• The toolkit removes the date and final cutter block from the call number found in the bibliographic record, and attempts to shelflist the number according to its best lights. If that number is significantly different from the number found in the bib record (for example, if the program had to adjust the cutter number to fit around existing items) the toolkit will show it to you in the ‘Bibliographic call number adjusted’ box. If this box is empty, the toolkit did not need to change the bibliographic number to make it fit into your shelflist.
• The ‘Other editions’ box lists what appear to be other editions of the same work that the toolkit found in your catalog. The ‘Show’ button here gives you a fuller display of the bibliographic record; the ‘Vger’ button calls up the record in the Vger cataloging client.
• The toolkit lists the subject access fields from the bibliographic record in the ‘LC subject headings’ box. Highlight one of the subject access fields and click the ‘List’ button to see the classification numbers used in your catalog with that subject access field; the toolkit shows you the list in the box just below. (The ‘Change’ button next to this list allows you to modify one of the class numbers for use in the holdings record; the ‘Bibs’ button gives you a list of the bib records that contain the subject access field and call number.) Use the ‘Other’ button to see a list of class numbers used with some subject string not found in the bib record.

Next to many of the call numbers on the left side of this panel, you’ll find a number of buttons with identical captions; these buttons apply to the call number with which they are paired.

• Click the ‘Use’ if you want the toolkit to move the adjacent call number into the holdings record.
• Click the ‘>’ button if you want the toolkit to move the classification portion of the number to the right side of the panel, for further work.

For Library of Congress call numbers, the right side of the panel contains the following (in addition to the basic classification number at the top):

• A set of radio buttons, that allow you to choose the pattern of cuttering applicable in this case. Note most carefully that the toolkit does not know how to do all varieties of LC cuttering, only the most common types. If you need a cuttering pattern that’s not listed here, you’ll have to complete the call number yourself.
• Boxes to specify the applicable beginning and ending ranges for the first and second cutters (when there are two cutters). In many classification schemes, cutters at the beginning of the letter ‘A’ and/or cutters at the end of the letter ‘Z’ are reserved for special purposes. If this is the case (at least when the corresponding cuttering text begins with the letter involved in the limited range), you need to tell the toolkit just what portions of the cuttering alphabet are available. Similarly, if the entire alphabet has to be stuffed into a narrow range (for example: Z46-479: Autobiography, by title), give that narrow range here. Finally, if a cutter with a fixed value is relevant in a particular case, give that fixed cutter as the beginning cutter in the range, with no ending cutter. (Example: .A1: Collected works, by date.)

When you click the ‘Use’ button, the toolkit will complete the call number (adding cutters if missing, and date) and paste the finished number into the holdings record.

5.1. Request batch corrections

Introduction

Libraries often need to make the same change to a number of records. If a name or topical access field changes from one form to another (from the personal name ‘Ray, Satyajit, $d 1922-’ to ‘Ray, Satyajit, $d 1921-1992’, or from the MeSH term ‘Hemodialysis’ to ‘Renal Dialysis’, for example), libraries need to find and change each instance of the former access field in their records. Libraries have two principal courses of action open to them: they can ask an operator to call up each affected record and make a suitable change to each; or they can use a program to change records for them. The latter course, because it is quicker and less prone to error, should be the preferred one—provided the batch correction program is sufficiently capable, elaborate and robust.

Northwestern University Library distributes a suite of ‘batch correction’ programs for the Vger system. Working together, these programs allow you to make changes to a number of records with a single request. These programs can make a substantial difference—a positive difference—in the quality of access fields in your database. Endeavor Information Systems, Inc. also distributes a set of programs as part of its Vger system that makes changes to groups of records. The Vger and Northwestern batch correction programs differ in significant ways, both in the manner in which you make correction requests, and the manner in which programs carry out your requests.

Depending on how your institution wishes to change records, the Northwestern University Library suite of batch correction programs consists of either two or three separate programs; this means that the work of performing corrections can be a multi-step task. You will use different programs to request corrections to your records, and to perform the corrections. If you wish to review corrections before they are performed, you will use yet another program some time after you make the initial request but before the request is actually performed.

This section of this document tells you how to do the first step: how to use buttons on the cataloger’s toolkit to request a change to an access field in a set of records; this document also outlines the remainder of the correction process. Another document (Making changes to headings) tells you in detail how the other programs in the batch correction suite use the requests you make with the toolkit to change your records. The description of the correction process is divided into two parts in this manner because the majority of those engaged in this work will only perform the first step (generate the request), while only a very few people at a given institution (perhaps only one person) will be responsible for the remainder of the process (approving and performing corrections). Naturally, at some institutions, one person may be in charge of all of the steps.

There are three different ways you can request a batch correction to bibliographic access fields.

• Many corrections consist of a single change to a single field (such as the replacement of one form of a personal name with another; or the replacement of one topical string with another),³⁸ and are to be applied to all records in a database. You request such simple corrections—which will constitute the great majority of your correction work—with the BIG RED CROSS button. (It may help to remember what this button does if you think of it as the ‘first aid for access fields’ button.)
• In other situations, you will want to do something more elaborate: change one access field into several, or change access fields in some records to one thing but change the same heading in other records to a different thing; or apply a change only to a subset of records that contain a given string. When your needs are more elaborate than can be encompassed within the BIG RED CROSS button, you will use the SPLIT HEADINGS button³⁹ to make the request.
• You can use the BIG RED Q button to review the Vger changed headings queue, and request batch corrections based on the authority records that lie behind the changed headings queue entries.

Here are some examples of the kind of changes the program can make with the BIG RED CROSS button:⁴⁰

• Based on these fields (and other information) in a name authoriy record:⁴¹
• 100 1 $a Kimball, Dexter S. $q (Dexter Simpson), $d 1865-1952
• 400 1 $w nna $a Kimball, Dexter Simpson, $d 1865 1952
• ... these programs can change this bibliographic field:
• 700 1 $a Kimball, Dexter Simpson, $d 1865-1952. $t Selections. $f 1997.
• ... to this:
• 700 1 $a Kimball, Dexter S. $q (Dexter Simpson), $d 1865 1952. $t Selections. $f 1997.

• Based on these fields (and other information) in an LCSH authoriy record:
• 150 $a Iban (Bornean people)
• 450 $w Ibans (Borean people)
• ... these programs can change this bibliographic field:
• 650 0 $a Ibans (Borean people) $z United States $v Bibliography.
• ... to this:
• 650 0 $a Iban (Borean people) $z United States $v Bibliography.

• Based on these fields (and other information) in an LCSH authoriy record for a subject subdivision:
• 180 $x African American authors
• 480 $w nne $x Afro-American authors
• ... these programs can change this bibliographic field:
• 650 0 $a American literature $x Afro-American authors $v Bibliography.
• ... to this:
• 650 0 $a American literature $x African American authors $v Bibliography.

Here is an example of one kind of change the program can make with the SPLIT HEADINGS button:

• Based on these fields (and other information) in two different LCSH authoriy records:
• 151 $a Afghanistan $x Politics and government $y 1973-1989
• 451 $w nnoa $a Afghanistan $x Politics and government $y 1973-
• .
• 151 $a Afghanistan $x Politics and government $y 1989-2001
• ... these programs can, when requested to do so, change this bibliographic field:
• 651 0 $a Afghanistan $x Politics and government 1973- $v Bibliography
• ... to this pair of fields:
• 651 0 $a Afghanistan $x Politics and government 1973-1989 $v Bibliography
• 651 0 $a Afghanistan $x Politics and government 1989-2001 $v Bibliography
• This correction can, when appropriate, be limited to selected bibliographic records.

The Vger system maintains a heading change queue, with an entry for each heading that has changed.⁴² You can use the toolkit’s BIG RED Q button to review entries in the Vger changed heading queue, and convert them into correction requests to be processed by other parts of Northwestern’s suite of access field change programs. Each entry that you choose to process with these programs becomes either a simple request handled with the BIG RED CROSS button or an elaborate request with the SPLIT HEADINGS button. It will make the most sense to describe these other two buttons first, and then show how the BIG RED Q button relates to them.

5.2. Create a 670 field from bibliographic information

The 670 button gives you a way to add a new source citation (670 field) to an existing authority record, based on information in a bibliographic record. Under certain conditions, this button will also add a new reference tracing (4XX) field to the authority record. If the authority record represents a ‘non-unique’ personal name, the 670 button will also generate an ‘[Author of ...]’ 670 field for you.

For example, if a bibliograhpic record contains a statement of responsibility that shows a form of name not reflected in the authority record for the access field, you can use the 670 button to add a new source citation to the authority record; and if that new form of nlame is one of the types for which the toolkit can generate a reference tracing, it will automatically add a new 4XX field, as well.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• Information on the Buttons that add fields to authority tab
• The first connection on the Connections tab, including the ‘Oracle schema’ box

What happens

To use this button, you need to show the toolkit the authority record for the access field, and the bibliographic to draw on for new information. You can click this button when the Vger cataloging client shows either the authority record or the bibliographic record.

• If the Vger cataloging client shows an authority record when you click the 670 button, the toolkit absorbs information about the authority record, then asks you in a simple dialog window for the bibliographic record. You display the bibliographic record in the Vger cataloging client, then click the ‘OK’ button in the dialog window. The toolkit absorbs information about the bibliographic record.
• If the Vger cataloging client shows a bibliographic record when you click the 670 button, the toolkit absorbs information about the bibliographic record, then asks you in a simple dialog window for the authority record. You display the authority record in the Vger cataloging client, then click the ‘OK’ button in the dialog window. The toolkit absorbs information about the authority record.

Once you have shown the toolkit the authority and bibliographic records, the toolkit extracts information from the bibliograhpic record, and adds a new 670 field to the record. If the authority record is for a non-unique personal name, the toolkit adds a new ‘[Author of ...]’ 670 before the new source citation. If the toolkit is able to add a new 4XX field, it does this as well.⁷¹ When this work is finished, the toolkit closes the authority record in the Vger cataloging client, writes the changed record to the Vger database, then re-opens the authority record in the cataloging client. When you see the modified authority record, the changes have already been made to the Vger record.

• Given this field in an authority record:
• 100 $a Smith, James Morton, $d 1952-
• ... and these fields in a bibliographic record:
• 100 $a Smith, James Morton, $d 1952-
• 245 $a This bogus title / $c J.M. Smith.
• 260 $a Chicago : $b Smith, $c 2004.
• ... the toolkit will add a 670 field and 400 field to the authority record.⁷² The new fields are shown in boldface.
• 100 $a Smith, James Morton, $d 1952-
• 400 $a Smith, J. M. $q (James Morton), $d 1952-
• 670 $a This bogus title, 2004: $b t.p. (J.M. Smith)

5.3. Create a 643 field from bibliographic information

The 643 button gives you a way to add a new series place/publisher (643 field) to an existing authority record, based on information in a bibliographic record.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• Information on the Buttons that add fields to authority tab
• The first connection on the Connections tab, including the ‘Oracle schema’ box

What happens

To use this button, you need to show the toolkit the authority record for the access field, and the bibliographic to draw on for new information. You can click this button when the Vger cataloging client shows either the authority record or the bibliographic record.

• If the Vger cataloging client shows an authority record when you click the 670 button, the toolkit absorbs information about the authority record, then asks you in a simple dialog window for the bibliographic record. You display the bibliographic record in the Vger cataloging client, then click the ‘OK’ button in the dialog window. The toolkit absorbs information about the bibliographic record.
• If the Vger cataloging client shows a bibliographic record when you click the 670 button, the toolkit absorbs information about the bibliographic record, then asks you in a simple dialog window for the authority record. You display the authority record in the Vger cataloging client, then click the ‘OK’ button in the dialog window. The toolkit absorbs information about the authority record.

Once you have shown the toolkit the authority and bibliographic records, the toolkit extracts information from the bibliograhpic record, and adds a new 643 field to the authority record. The toolkit closes the authority record in the Vger cataloging client, writes the changed record to the Vger database, then re-opens the authority record in the cataloging client. When you see the modified authority record, the changes have already been made to the Vger record.

5.4. Create a reference tracing from another authority record

In certain cases, you need to add a see reference tracing to an authority record, and the new reference tracing can be based on information in a second authority record. For example:

• You need to add a name/title see reference tracing to a series authority record, and the name portion is represented by an access field in another authority record
• You need to add a subordinate-name see reference tracing to a corporate name authority record, and the name of the main body is recorded in its own authority record
• You need to add a subordinate-title see reference tracing to a uniform title authority record, and the name of the main title is recorded in its own authority record

In such cases you can use the toolkit’s 4XX button to create the see reference tracing for you. The 4XX button does nothing that you could not do yourself with some typing and a series of copy-and-paste operations, but it saves you quite a few keystrokes.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• Information on the Buttons that add fields to authority tab
• The first connection on the Connections tab

What happens

Before you click this button, you should display in the Vger cataloging client the authority record to which you wish to add a see reference tracing. When you click the 4XX button, the toolkit assumes that any authority record at the top of the record display stack in the Vger cataloging client is the authority record to which you wish to add the see reference tracing.

After you’ve shown the toolkit the first authority record (the record to which you wish to add a see reference tracing), the toolkit asks you to show it the second authority record. The second authority record is the record the toolkit will use as the base for the see reference tracing.

The toolkit can only add see reference tracings in certain circumstances.

• One authority record is a series, name/title or title authority record, and the other is a personal or corporate name authority record. The toolkit creates a name/title see reference tracing in the series, name/title or title authority record. (In this case, it doesn’t actually matter which authority record you supply first.)
• Both records are corporate name authority records. The toolkit creates a subordinate see reference tracing in the first authority record, using the body in the second authority record as the main part of the access field.
• Both records are uniform title authority records (maybe series, maybe not). The toolkit creates a subordinate see reference tracing in the first authority record, using the uniform title in the second authority record as the main part of the access field.

If you supply an improper combination of authority records, the toolkit will refuse to proceed. If you show the toolkit two authority records of the proper type, the toolkit will create a see reference tracing in the first record based on information in the second, and will re-display the modified authority record in the Vger cataloging client.

If the authority record’s reference evaluation byte (008/29) contains a code other than ‘a’ or ‘b’, the toolkit will change the code to ‘a’ when it adds the see reference tracing.

• Given this access field in a series authority record ...
• 
• ... and this corporate name access field ...
• 
• ... the toolkit will add this see reference tracing to the series authority record:
• 

5.5. Add RDA-related fields to authority records

The RDA button can assist you in the addition of certain fields to an existing authority record, based primarily on information in a bibliographic record. These fields can be added to any authority record, not just to a record coded as RDA. (These fields can also be added automatically to new, and BAMmed, authority records; this is controlled by other options.)

To use this button, display in the Voyager cataloging client an authority record to which you wish to add one or more "RDA" fields. The toolkit retrieves the authority record and uses it to fill out information on an elaborate workform. (This is the same workform as the one that the toolkit uses when you click the linking fields button, but since you're starting from an authority record the toolkit starts you out on the "Authority" tab.) The next illustration shows an authority record as displayed in this workform.

You can do quite a few things to authority records with this workform. Some of these editing tricks require that you call up a second record (which can be either an authority record or a bibliographic record); some of these features will work even if you don't identify a second record.

Let's look first at things you can do without identifying a second record:

• You can use the drop-down box next to the "Add 375" button to identify a person's gender, then click the "Add 375" button to add a 375 field to the authority record.
• You can use the drop-down box next to the "Add 377 field" to identify a language associated with the entity represented by the authority record, then click the "Add 377 field to add a 377 field to the authority record.
• You can use the "046" tab to build each subfield in an 046 field. (This can be handy if you're unsure of the conventions of the "edtf" specification that's used to describe unusual conditions.) We'll come back to this tab in a bit.
• You can click the "Re-code as RDA" button to code a non-RDA record as an RDA record.
• You can use the work areas on the "Texts" tab to convert information in one field of authority record into information in another field. For example, you can highlight geographical coordinates in a 670 field, select the "034 Coordinates" radio button, and click the "Add text from record on left" button to create the 034 field.
• You can use the work areas on the "Geographic" tab to convert information found at the GNIS and GeoNames web sites into a 670 field, as well as 034 and 451 fields.

If you wish to draw on information in a second record to fill out the displayed authority record (this second record can be either a bibliographic record or an authority record), call up a different record in the Voyager cataloging client, and then click the "Get second record" button. The toolkit retrieves this record and puts information into various places on the editing form.

If the second record is a bibliographic record, the toolkit examines the record in detail and pulls out everything that might possibly be of use in an authority record (as controlled by options you have set), tags the information using MARC conventions, and lists all these fields on the "Suggestions" tab; the toolkit also puts the whole record on the "Texts" tab.

For example, if our second record is a bibliographic record, the "Suggestions" tab might look like this:

The toolkit doesn't attempt to guess whether a particular field is appropriate for the base authority record. (For example, the toolkit always generates a candidate 643 field from a 260 or 264 field, even if the authority record isn't a series record.) It's your responsibility to select things that are useful and move them to the authority record; just ignore the rest.

If you see anything in this list that would be of use in the authority record, simply highlight the line (or multiple lines) and click the "Add highlighted field(s)" button. The toolkit moves your fields to the displayed authority record.

The "Texts" tab contains the entire text of the second record.

If you find text in the record on the 'Texts' tab that can be used in one of the RDA fields in the authority record:

• Highlight the text
• Select the radio button that corresponds to the field's tag
• Click the "Add field" button.

Now, the neat thing about this particular record display is that you can edit this text: you can add stuff, remove stuff, and change stuff. So if there's something here that's almost but not quite what you want, you can modify the text to suit, then highlight it, select the tag, and add the field to the record. (Any changes that you make to the record in this display are not saved to your Voyager database!)

Under certain conditions when the second record is also an authority record, the toolkit will place one or more possible 4XX fields on the "Suggestions" tab; you can add these 4XX fields to your record if you think they're appropriate. Under other conditions there won't be anything on this tab when the second record is an authority record.

But wait, there's more. If the second record is an authority record, go to the "5XX fields" tab. This is actually the same as the "Linking fields" tab that you see when you start from a bibliographic record, but there are different possibilities for authority records.

You can use this tab to create links between authority records; but instead of the 76X-78X fields, when you have two authority records, you use this tab to create 5XX fields. If you want to use the 5XX field to describe a particular kind of relationship, find the relationship in the drop-down box next to the "Add with this code" button, then click the "Add with this code" button. If you want just a plain 5XX field, click the "Add with no code" button.

As is the case with a bibliographic record to which you add linking fields, your change isn't saved to Voyager until you save it by clicking the "Save" button. And in parallel with the toolkit's behavior for bibliographic records, the "Add reciprocal link to the other record" button at the bottom of the "5XX fields" tab reverses the sense of the 5XX field in this record and creates a 5XX field in the other record.

But wait, there's more. If the primary record is an authority record, you can use some of the features of the 'Texts' sub-tab to create a field in the authority record based on information elsewhere in the same authority record. Most of the time this work will involve re-purposing information found in the 670 fields, but it can in truth involve any text anywhere in the record. To use this feature, select some text in the primary authority record, select the radio button for the kind of field you want to create, then click the "Add text from record on left" button. Here are some examples:

• If you select the name of a corporate body in a 670 field, select the "373 Assoc. group" radio button and then click the "Add text from record on left" button, the toolkit will create a 373 field from your selected text.
• If you highlight geographical coordinates in a 670 field, select the "034 Coordinates" button and then click the "Add text from record on left" button, the toolkit will create an 034 field from the selected text, modifying it as best it can. (The toolkit will not be able to create an 034 field in all cases, and its 034 field will not always be perfect, but you will I hope be pleased at how often it is correct.)

Here are some examples of 670 fields, and the 034 fields that the toolkit created from them. In the 670 fields, the text selected by the operator is shown in bold.

• 034: $dW1110036 $e W1110036 $f N0390940 $g N0390940 $2 gnis
• 670: $a GNIS, 24 Feb. 2010: $b (Castle Valley; Valley; Emery County, Utah; 39°09'40"N 111°00'36"W; other Castle Valleys in Utah)

• 034: $d W116.49999 $e W116.49999 $f N051.4999999 $g N051.4999999 $2 cgndb
• 670: $a Geographical names of Canada website, Aug. 14, 2012 $b (Yoho National Park of Canada; other official name: Parc national du Canada Yoho; British Columbia; Feature type: Conservation area; Generic: National Park; Location: Kootenay Land District; Latitude - Longitude: 51°30'N, 116°30'W; Latitude - Longitude (decimal): 51.4999999, -116.49999)

• 034: $e W0890000 $e W0890000 $f N0205000 $g N0205000 $2 other
• 670: $a NIS gaz., Mexico, 1956 $b (Yucatán, Estado de [Yucatán=brief], 20°50'N 89°00'W)

Cases where the toolkit is not able correctly to create an 034 field from text pulled from a 670 field include those where the hemisphere is not always stated explicitly, and where there is important text that describes the meaning of the coordinates. For example, although the toolkit will, if asked, attempt to create an 034 from the coordinate information in the following 670 field, that 034 field will not be free of problems.

The 046 sub-tab

Use the "046" sub-tab on the "Authority" tab to build each subfield for an 046 field. In general, you'll work through the 046 sub-tab from the top down and set controls that correspond to what you know about one of the dates associated with an entity.

• Kind of date: Click the radio button for the kind of date (the radio buttons correspond to the MARC subfield codes available for dates in the authority 046 field)
• Year/century: Type into the box the four digits that represent the year, or the two digits that represent the century. (Remember that under the conventions used in the 046 field, a century is simply a year with the rightmost two digits chopped off. See the examples on the right side of the panel.) Select the "B.C." or "A.D." radio button, as appropriate. If the year/century is uncertain or approximate, check the corresponding box under the date. (You can check both boxes, if that's appropriate.) If there are more parts to the date than just the year (i.e., if there is a month, or month and day) and if this same uncertainty or approximateness applies to all parts of the whole date, click the "Uncertain/Approximate applies to all parts of the date" button. If you do this, the toolkit will copy the values of the Uncertain and Approximate boxes for the year, to the month/season and day parts of the workform.
• Month/season: If the date includes a month or season name, select the appropriate item from the list; else select "NONE." Set the Uncertain and Approximate check-boxes to appropriate values.
• Day: If the date includes a day, select the appropriate item from the list; else select "NONE." (Note that while this list is somewhat sensitive to the month you have already selected, it is not sensitive to leap years, so if you select February in the month box you will always have day 29 as a possibility in the day box.) Set the Uncertain and Approximate check-boxes to appropriate values.

When everything for one date is set to your satisfaction on this tab, click the "Add field" button. The toolkit adds this one date to your authority record. If the authority record already contains an 046 field with the same subfield as your new subfield (or if the authority record doesn't contain an 046 field at all), the toolkit creates a new 046 field; if the authority record already contains an 046 field but that 046 field doesn't contain the subfield you have just defined, the toolkit adds your subfield to the existing 046 field. After you've added one 046 subfield, you can proceed with a subfield for another date, if you have the necessary information.

The Geographic sub-tab

Use the Geographic sub-tab when you have found information at the GNIS or GeoNames search sites that you wish to preserve in an authority record. The toolkit will help you preserve the information in a 670 field, and (depending on the available information) may create 451 and 034 fields for you, automatically.

In all cases, start by calling up an authority record for a place (an authority record with a 151 field) in the Voyager cataloging client, and pressing the toolkit's RDA button to get to the fancy editing form. (You can also use any of the other toolkit buttons that lead to the fancy editing form, then select the "Authority" tab.) In the multi-tab display at the right of the Authority display, select the "Geographic" sub-tab:

Because the GNIS and GeoNames sites present information in different ways, there are two different ways to get information from the sites into an authority record.

The GNIS site provides information about places in the United States, and in Antarctica. One of the features of this site, is that the display of information about a single place (the "feature detail report" page) is represented by a distinct URL. (This URL contains a "session" identifier, and so is only valid while the web browser is displaying the page.) The following illustration shows the first part of such a page.

To capture information from a GNIS page for a single place, highlight the entire URL for the feature detail report and press Ctrl-C to copy the URL to the Windows clipboard. Go to the toolkit's fancy editing panel, click the cursor into the text box within the "GNIS" frame, and press Ctrl-V to paste the URL into the box. You don't have to press Enter or do anything else; just paste. (You probably won't actually see the URL in the box, because as soon as it appears, the toolkit reads it and then clears the box so you're ready for the next use.) As soon as you paste a URL into this box, the toolkit fetches the page on its own (this may take a few seconds), digests the page, and adds information from the page to the current authority record. For the GNIS page shown above, the toolkit picks up the name, category, elevation, county name, state, and coordinates. From this information it builds a 670 field, and also creates an 034 field.

If the GNIS page had contained variant names, the toolkit would have captured them, too, and would have created 451 fields. In the following example, the GNIS page listed one variant, so the toolkit created on 451 field.

The only real trick to using GNIS information in this manner is that you have to keep the original web page open in your web browser, so that the session ID in the URL remains active. As part of its work, the toolkit constructs a "persistent" URL for the GNIS information, and adds it as subfield $u of the 670 field. This allows you (or anyone else) to return directly to the source information, without doing a search.

Unfortunately, the GeoNames web site is not as handy for machine use as is the GNIS site. To capture information from GeoNanmes search results in authority records, you will have to do a bit more work; and just how much work depends on the information available. (Even so, this still beats transcribing everything yourself.)

Before you do a search in GeoNames, you should add at least the "Variant" line to the list of kinds of names to be returned in the search results. (Do not bother to include any of the "vernacular" choices, because for mysterious reasons vernacular data doesn't come through correctly anyway. And if you select any of the vernacular choices, all of the non-vernacular choices are instantly de-selected.)

After you've included "variant" in the search results, proceed with your search in the usual manner. What happens when GeoNames presents you with a results page depends on the information on the results page. If the display for the place of interest includes variant names, you're going to need to get information from GeoNames in two steps; if the display does not include any variant names, you can get information from GeoNames in a single step.

If the display for the place of interest includes variant names, select all of the names (preferred name, and variant names), and press Ctrl-C to copy this information to the Windows clipboard. Try to include just information in the box that contains the approved and variant names, and none of the information from adjacent boxes.

Go to the toolkit's fancy editing panel, click the cursor into the GeoNames text box, and press Ctrl-V to paste the information into the toolkit. The toolkit will digest this information into a 670 field, and will create 451 fields for the variants.

Whether or not there are any variant names, click on the name of the place to move to the little floating "names search results" panel, which gives full information about the place (except of course for the variant names). Select all of the text in this display, and press CTRL-C to copy the information to the Windows clipboard.

Go to the toolkit's fancy editing panel, click the cursor into the GeoNames box, and press Ctrl-V to paste the clipboard information to the toolkit. The toolkit will digest this information, and either add it to the existing 670 field, or create a new 670 field. The toolkit will also create an 034 field for the coordinates.

6.1. Copy a record to the clipboard

This button allows you to put a version of the current Vger record, or just the record’s Vger number, into the Windows clipboard. You can then use standard Windows ‘paste’ functionality to copy the Vger record (or record number) into another application. This capability might be useful if you’re preparing documentation, and need to include all or part of a Vger record in a document.

You can use this button on authority, bibliographic, holdings and item records. If you tell the toolkit to copy the entire record, the toolkit ‘flattens’ MARC records so that each variable field is on a separate line; the Leader and 008 field appear as a labeled display. The toolkit presents item records (which are not MARC records to begin with) as a labeled display.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• Settings specific to the Clipboard button
• The first connection on the Connections tab

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit retrieves from the Vger cataloging client the number and type of the current record. If you’ve asked for the complete record, the toolkit retrieves this record from Vger, formats the record as instructed on the Options panel, and copies this formatted record to the Windows clipboard.

• Given a bibliographic record like this:
• 
• ... the toolkit will produce a display like this (shown here pasted into an empty Notepad document):
• 

6.2. Create 501 fields (‘with’ notes)

The 501 button allows you to build 501 fields (‘with’ notes) in bibliographic records.⁷³ To use this button, you call up each bibliographic record to be linked with ‘with’ notes, and tell the toolkit to add information about this record to a list. When the list contains all of the items to be linked, you ask the toolkit to build the finished notes.

Throughout this section, reference is made to the ‘501’ field. One of the choices available on the Options panel relates to the tag of this field. If you have chosen some tag other than 501 for the ‘With’ note, you should mentally change references to the tag ‘501’ in this section to your chosen tag.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• Everything on the 501 tab.
• The the first connection defined on the Connections tab.

What happens

Begin the creation of 501 fields by calling up in the Vger cataloging client the bibliographic recored for the first item in the collection and clicking the toolkit’s 501 button. The toolkit digests information from this record and puts it into a small window.

This little window has its own menu.

• Cancel: Abandon current work
• Pick up new item: Add the bibliographic record showing in the Vger cataloging client to the list
• Delete item: Remove the highlighted item from the list
• Create notes: Add 501 fields to the records in the list, and clear the list
• Call # search: Find all bibliographic records whose holdings records have the same call number as the call number in the holdings record attached to the first item in the list.⁷⁴
• Save list: Write the current list to a file. The next time you start the process of building 501 fields (i.e., the next time you click the toolkit’s 501 button when this little panel isn’t already visible) the toolkit will prime this list with these same entries. The toolkit clears this file whenever you select the ‘Create notes’ menu choice.

Once you’ve identified the first item in the collection, your remaining task is to identify the other items in the collection. You have two choices.

• Call up the next item in the collection, and either click the 501 button again, or select this little window’s ‘Pick up new item’ menu choice. Proceed in this manner with the other items (if any) in the series: call up each in the Vger cataloging client, and add it to this list.
• Select the ‘Call # search’ menu item. The toolkit finds the call number for the first item in the list, and searches Vger for bibibliographic records whose holdings records have exactly the same call number. The toolkit lists matching bibliographic records on this form. The toolkit adds new items in order by the Vger bibliographic record number⁷⁵.

The toolkit will not add to this list as the second or subsequent member a bibliographic record that already bears a ‘With’ note for the first member in the list.

If you accidentally add the wrong record to this list, highlight the line for that record and click the ‘Delete item’ menu choice.

If you need to change the order of items, highlight an item in the list and use the ‘v’ and ‘^’ buttons to move the item down and up.

When the list is as you wish it:

1. If you want the toolkit to add the text ‘Bound together subsequent to publication’ to the last 501 field it creates in a record, check the ‘Bound together subsequent to publication’ box.
2. If the list of items does not contain the last item in the collection (e.g., if the toolkit refuses to allow you to add any more items to the list), check the ‘Work not yet complete’ box. After the toolkit builds the 501 fields for everything in the list, it will retain the first item in this list, so you can find additional items and build 501 fields for them as well. (The toolkit will not allow you to add more than 75 items to the list. If you attempt to exceed this limit, the toolkit will check this box for you automatically. If your collection contains more than 75 items, you will have to work with them in batches of 75.)
3. If you do not wish the toolkit to open bibliographic records after it has added 501 fields to them, check the ‘Do not reopen’ box. If this box is not checked, the toolkit will re-open each modified bib record in the Vger cataloging client.
4. Click the ‘Create 501s’ menu choice. The toolkit retrieves the bibliographic record for the second and each subsequent item in the list, and adds to it a 501 field that describes the first item in the list. The toolkit then calls up the record for the first item in the list and adds to it a 501 field that describes all of the other items in the list. As it does this work, the toolkit opens the modified records in the Vger cataloging client unless you’ve asked it not to do so.

When the toolkit has finished its work:

• If you checked the ‘Work not yet complete’ box, the toolkit removes all items from the list except the first. You can proceed with additional items in the collection.
• If you did not check the ‘Work not yet complete’ box, the toolkit hides the 501 form. If you click the toolkit’s 501 button again, the list will be empty.

Important things to know about the 501 button

• When the toolkit creates 501 fields, it uses information in each record at the moment the toolkit adds the field, not as the record appeared when you added information about the record to the list. You can modify records as necessary subsequent to adding them to the list and save the records to the Vger database, confident that the notes built by the toolkit will reflect your changes.
• The 501 field built for the first item in the list is ‘additive:’ if the bibliographic record already contains a 501 field, the toolkit will add more information to it, rather than create a new 501 field.
• If the 501 field for the first item in the list grows to a length of more than 3200 characters, the toolkit will create multiple 501 fields as necessary, retaining up to about 3000 characters in each field. The toolkit tries to divide the 501 field between items.
• The 501 field built for the second and subsequent items in the list is not additive. The toolkit will remove any 501 fields that may be present in these record before adding the new (replacement) 501 field.
• Even if you’ve told the toolkit not to re-open modified bibliograhpic records, the toolkit will reopen the bibliographic record for the first item in the list if you’ve checked the ‘Work not yet complete’ box.

6.3. Convert a series from not traced to traced, or from traced to not traced

You may discover that an authority record indicates that a series should be traced, yet your database contains one or more bibliographic records in which the series is not traced; or you may decide that a series formerly not traced should now be traced, and one or more bibliographic records require attention. Use one of the toolkit’s 490/830 buttons whenever you wish the toolkit to change a series in a bibliographic record from ‘not traced ’ to ‘traced’, or from ‘traced’ to ‘not traced’. To use either of these buttons, your Vger database must contain an authority record for the series.

The two buttons perform similar actions, with one important difference. Use the button with a border around it if you wish to change a group of bibliographic records all at once. Use the button without a border if you wish to change individual bibliographic records. The button with the border can save you a lot of tedious clicking if you are certain that a group of records can be changed safely; the button without the border gives you full control over each record to be changed.

The 490/830 tab on the toolkit’s Options panel controls this button’s behavior.

Convert a series from traced to not traced

The toolkit’s 490/830 button with a border around it functions as a ‘batch correction’ button to change a series from traced to not traced. To change all occurrences of a series in your database from traced to not traced, open the authority record for the not-traced series in the Vger cataloging client and click this button. The toolkit absorbs information from the authority record and then immediately does a search for bibliographic records that contain the record’s 1XX field as a series access field. The toolkit will change each matching 440 field to a 490 field with first indicator ‘0’; it will delete each matching 8XX field and change the first indicator in the corresponding 490 field from ‘1’ to ‘0’. You cannot use the toolkit for any other work while it is batch-converting a series to not traced, but you can do other work with the Vger cataloging client.

If the toolkit finds bibliographic records in your database that contain the indicated series access field plus additional information (qualifiers, subseries, etc.) the toolkit will show you a message before it undertakes any work. You should carefully examine the bibliographic records before allowing the toolkit to proceed. After the toolkit has finished its work, you should search Vger for the series access field again, to make sure there are no leftovers for you to clean up on your own.

The toolkit’s 490/830 button without a border around it is a ‘one record at a time’ button. Use this button when you need to exercise full control over the bibliographic records that are changed. (Some bibliographic records may have the wrong series added entry.) To use this button, open the authority record for the not-traced series in the Vger cataloging client and click this button. Do a search in the Vger cataloging client for the series, and click this button again when the client is displaying a bibliographic record you wish the toolkit to change.

Convert a series from not traced to traced

Using the 490/830 buttons to convert a series from not traced is a two-step process: you show the toolkit the authority record for the series, then you show the toolkit the bibliographic records that contain the not-traced series. (Because the series are not traced, and the toolkit has no access to the Vger keyword indexes, you must find the records yourself, and show them to the toolkit.) One of these buttons has a border around the caption, the other does not. Both buttons start out by looking at authority records in exactly the same way, so you can begin the process of converting a series from not traced to traced by clicking either button when the cataloging client shows an authority record. The border, or its absence, marks an important difference between the two buttons in the handling of bibliographic records.

• The 490/830 button without a border works on one bibliographic record at a time. After you show the toolkit the authority record, you open one bibliographic record and click this button. The toolkit corrects just that one bibliographic record. You then call up the next bibliographic record for the series and click the button again; the toolkit changes that one record. Use this button when you need to examine each bibliographic record before turning the toolkit loose. For example, your search may retrieve series with the same title from many different publishers; you may need to examine each record before deciding that its series should be converted to match the authority record.
• The 490/830 button with a border converts a batch of bibliographic records all at once, without pausing for your approval. You open all of the bibliographic records that need to be changed (you can open as many as the Vger cataloging client will allow you to open) and then click this button; the toolkit inspects each record and changes it as appropriate. Only use this button when you are certain that the series in all of the bibliographic records you’ve opened in the cataloging client need to be converted. Do not use your computer’s keyboard or mouse, or interfere with your computer in any way, while the toolkit is converting a series in group of bibliographic records from not traced to traced. You can’t even use another program while the toolkit is processing this group of records. Hands off your computer until you see the message ‘Done’ in the toolkit’s message area below the last row of buttons.

You can use these buttons to convert simple series access fields (i.e., series access fields that consist only of a ‘main series’). You can also use these buttons to convert series access fields that contain a subseries, but do not use these buttons for main series plus a subseries if you need separate added entries for the main series alone and the main series plus the subseries.⁷⁶ Do not use these buttons if information (such as ‘new series’) needs to be moved in some (but not all) circumstances from the series numbering (subfield $v) to the text of the series access point, or vice versa.

When converting a series from not traced to traced, the change the buttons make depends on circumstances, and will even vary from one bibliographic record to the next within a given series. The following are general guides.

• If the series access field is a title and if the text of the 490 field corresponds to the established series access field, the toolkit will retag the 490 field as a 440. The toolkit should be able correctly to deal with initial articles.
• If the series access field is a title and if the text of the 490 field does not match the established series access field, the toolkit will change the first indicator of the 490 field from zero to one and add an 830 field.
• If the series access field is not a title, the toolkit will in every case change the first indicator of the 490 field from zero to one and add an 8XX field, even if the text in the 490 field matches the series access field.
• In some cases, you will be able to choose whether to keep a title series as a 440 field, or use a 490/830 pair of fields.

To use these buttons effectively to change a series from not traced to traced, you’re going to need to be able to find the bibliographic records that contain the series in a 490 field. The toolkit can find 490 fields when presented with a bibliographic record, but it can’t itself do the search to find the records. The most reliable way to find bibliographic records that contain a not-traced series (perhaps the only way available to all Vger customers) is with a keyword search.⁷⁷

• It’s useful to to define a keyword index consisting of 490 subfield $a, so you can to restrict a search to records that contain a word or phrase only as an untraced series. You might want to include 490 subfields $x and $v in the index, too. For historical reasons, you may wish to include 500 field subfield $a.⁷⁸ Subfield $f of the 533 field and subfield $f of the 534 field are also useful things to have in the keyword index of not-traced series.
• It’s also handy to have a keyword index for series traced differently. You’ll include every bibliographic 8XX subfield in this index.

Use the SysAdmin client to define these keyword searches. You may well decide that both of these indexes should be suppressed from the OPAC.

You start the process of changing a series from not-traced to traced by calling up the authority record for the series in the Vger cataloging client. Make any changes to the authority record that seem appropriate, and save the record. When the authority record is in its final form, click either of the toolkit’s 490/830 buttons. The toolkit retrieves the authority record from Vger and extracts information from it for future use. (The toolkit retains information concerning this authority record until you click one of the 490/830 buttons again when the Vger cataloging client shows an authority record.) The toolkit digests the authority record’s 1XX field and each of the 4XX fields into an internal table; the toolkit also saves subfield $a of the first 642 field (series numbering example). If the 1XX field in the authority record ends with a full stop, the toolkit asks whether or not the full stop is an integral part of the term. (If the full stop is not an integral part of the term, the toolkit modifies the authority record to remove the full stop, and re-opens the authority record.)

When the toolkit has finished its examination of the authority record, it shows the series access field, or at least the first part of it, in the frame underneath the last row of buttons. You can also see the current access field at any time by resting the mouse pointer over either of the 490/830 buttons.

Once you’ve shown the toolkit the authority record for the series, you need to do a search to find bibliographic records that contain the series. The button you press after you’ve done the search depends on your perception of conditions.

• If you’re absolutely certain that it’s safe to hand a set of records over to the program and let it work all by itself, open all of the records in the cataloging client (or, of there’s a lot of them, as many as the cataloging client can handle), then click the 490/830 button with a border. The toolkit inspects the first record and changes it as appropriate. If there is no problem, the toolkit closes this record and inspects the next one; and proceeds in this manner through the bibliographic records opened in the cataloging client until it runs out of records, or encounters something other than a bibliographic record, or hits a severe problem. If there are more records to convert, you can open another group, and press the button with a border again.
• If you suspect that you need to look at each bibliographic record before turning the toolkit loose on it, click the 490/830 button with no a border when the Vger cataloging client displays a bibliographic record. The toolkit inspects this one record, changes it as appropriate, and closes it if there is no problem.

The program for changing bibliographic records that lies behind these buttons is quite complicated. (The program logic for working with an individual bibliographic record is identical for both buttons.) There are many points at which the toolkit might have to pause to ask for your assistance. Some of these queries are in the form of simple yes/no questions; others require you to supply more information. The most severe of these latter cases involve the matter of series numbering. When the program looks over the authority record for the series, it saves the numbering pattern from the first 642 field.

The toolkit expects every series statement in bibliographic records to have numbering in the form specified by the authority record. (For example, if the series numbering example is ‘v. 5’, the toolkit will accept ‘v. 17’ or ‘v. 18-19’ or ‘v. 16, etc.’ but it will not accept without question ‘no. 12’ or ‘18.’) If the bibliographic record contains variant numbering (or other text in the 490 field beyond the end of the series name), the toolkit opens a window and asks what should happen next. In the example shown in the following illustration, the authority record contains the series numbering example ‘no. 12’ and the bibliographic record contains the numbering ‘2nd ser., no. 1.’

• If the text in the box is indeed series numbering, you can touch it up as necessary to match the series numbering example or otherwise get it into the form you want. You can tell the toolkit to retain the series access field as a 440 field, or to keep the series statement as a 490 field and make a new 8XX field, by selecting the appropriate radio button. (You will not always be offered this choice—sometimes the toolkit will insist on the 490/830 pattern.) If you wish the toolkit to make the same change to the numbering in other 490 fields that follow the same pattern, you can check the ‘Apply to all’ box. (Sometimes, the toolkit will make this decision for you, and this box will not be available to you.)
• If the text in the box (or part of that text) is the subtitle for the series rather than series numbering, move the text into the ‘Subtitle’ box. The toolkit will add a 667 field identifying the subtitle to the authority record; if other bibliographic records have the same series and subtitle, the toolkit will immediately recognize the subtitle and act accordingly.
• If the text in the box is neither series numbering nor subtitle (the name of a series editor, for example), clear the text from both boxes.

When this dialog panel reflects the handling of the numbering (or other text) you wish the toolkit to follow, click the ‘OK’ button. If you want the toolkit to cease working on this bibliographic record, click the ‘Cancel’ button instead.

If you click the ‘OK’ button and the toolkit has the information it needs, it changes the bibliographic record as appropriate and closes the record in the Vger cataloging client. The toolkit shows you the bibliographic record’s number in the message area below its bottom row of buttons. (If you’re using the 490/830 button with a border to change a group of records, the toolkit won’t show you the completed record number because it will immediately move on to the next record.) If you wish to see the modified record, you can call it up in the Vger cataloging client when the toolkit has finished its work.

How the toolkit finds a not-traced series in a bibliographic record

The following paragraphs should give additional understanding of the basic procedure the toolkit uses to find series statements in bibliographic records, and change them. If you are unsure how the toolkit is going to handle a series, the best thing to do is to have the toolkit perform the work on one bibliographic record, then call up the bibliographic record and see what happened to it. If the series you attempt to convert is within the button’s design limitations, you’ll probably be surprised how well the toolkit copes with your request.

The toolkit looks for bibliographic 490 and (for historical reasons) 500 fields that match information in the authority record. The toolkit considers 490 fields with first indicator ‘zero’ or ‘blank’; it also considers 490 fields with first indicator ‘one’ if there are no 8XX fields in the bibliographic record. If the bibliograhpic record contains the same series in both a traced field (4XX or 8XX) and a 490 field with first indicator ‘zero’, the toolkit won’t try to modify the bibliographic record. The toolkit isolates series numbering in subfield $v and the ISSN (in subfield $x, or in subfield $a when preceded by the text ‘ISSN’). The toolkit compares this extracted information against the 1XX and each 4XX in the authority record. (The toolkit compares authority fields in descending order by length of the field.)

If the 490 field exactly matches an access field found in an authority record, the program handles the record on its own. If the 490 field contains a field from the authority record plus additional text, but the matching point is not at the first character of the 490 field, the toolkit considers the test to the left of the match point to be an ‘initial article’. If this text is in the toolkit’s small internal table of articles, the toolkit retains the series in a 440 field and sets the nonfiling characters indicator as appropriate; otherwise, it creates a new 8XX field. For example:

• If the 490 field contains:
• The foundations of modern history
• ... and the toolkit is looking for this series:
• Foundations of modern history
• ... the toolkit will change the 490 tag to 440 and set the nonfiling characters indicator to ‘4’

• If the 490 field contains:
• On cover: Problems and documents
• ... and the toolkit is looking for this series:
• Problems and documents
• ... the toolkit will change the 490 field’s first indicator to ‘one’ and add an 830 field for the series

If the 490 field contains a field from an authority record within it, but the 490 field contains text beyond the series access field, the toolkit considers this text to be ‘numbering’. If the pattern of this numbering matches the pattern of the series numbering example in the authority record, the toolkit moves the numbering to subfield $v; otherwise, it asks you what it should do with the text. For example:

• If the 490 field contains:
• Witnesses of Spain. Historical series ; no. 4
• ... and the established series access field is:
• Witnesses of Spain. $p Historical series
• ... and the series numbering example is:
• no. 2
• ... the toolkit will change the tag to 440, and change the field in this manner without asking for your approval:
• Witnesses of Spain. $p Historical series ; $v no. 4

• If the 490 field contains:
• Anglistica & Americana, no. 86
• ... and the established series access field is:
• Anglistica & Americana
• ... and the series numbering example is:
• 185
• ... the toolkit will ask you what it should do with the series numbering. Your most likely course of action will be to tell the toolkit to keep the 490 field (with first indicator ‘one’) and create an 8XX field. In the new 8XX field the toolkit should change the numbering to ‘86’. Finally, you’ll probably tell the toolkit to apply the same change to other access fields with numbering in the same state. (So that if the toolkit later encounters ‘Anglistica & Americana, no. 91’ it will make parallel 490/8XX modifications without asking first.)

6.4. Edit the fixed fields (FFD button)

This button allows you to edit the ‘fixed fields’ in a bibliographic, holdings or authority record. The fixed fields are the Leader, 006, 007 and 008 fields. You can also use this button to add and remove 006 and 007 fields. The advantage of this button over similar features offered by the Vger cataloging client is that you can directly change codes of interest, without necessarily consulting a menu of options. In most cases, this button will save you time and trouble, if you need to change more than one code in the fixed fields.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• Everything on the Fixed field editor tab. (This tab only allows you to change the fixed field editor’s colors; you can safely leave these at their default values, unless you find them objectionable, or illegible.)
• The owning library on the General tab
• The ‘Write UID’ and ‘Write PWD’ for the first connection on the Connections tab

In addition, this program assumes that the folder named in the ‘Files of validation rules’ box on the File locations tab of options for the BAM button contains three configuration files, which are described in an appendix.

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit obtains from the Vger cataloging client the number and type of the current record. The toolkit retrieves a fresh copy of this record from Vger, and hands it over to the component that makes possible the editing of fixed fields. ⁷⁹ This component displays the fixed fields from this record in a small panel. The following illustration shows a typical example.

Each field in the record (Leader, 008, etc.) is shown in a different group; alternating field groups have different background colors to make them easier to distinguish. Each defined element in each field is displayed with a brief alphabetic prefix. (You can change these prefixes by changing a configuration file, if you can’t easily tell what is intended.) The color of each element reflects its status. (The default colors are: gray if you can’t actually modify the element, black if the element’s code is valid, red if the element’s code is not valid, and green if the element’s code is obsolete.)

To change a fixed-field code, click the cursor on either the code or its label, and type the code you want. Changing one code automatically advances the cursor to the next box. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move from one field to another, and the tab/reverse tab keys to move from one element to another. If you aren’t sure what codes are available in an element, you can put the cursor on a code and then press the F2 key. (The F1 key does the same thing.) You’ll see a tiny panel naming the code and providing a drop-down list of valid codes. (This tiny panel will appear over the currently-highlighted code.)

To add a whole new 006 or 007 field, select the type of field in which you’re interested from the panel’s menu, and modify the codes as appropriate. (The default values for each type of 006 and 007 field are in one of the configuration files, which you can of course change as you wish.) You can’t add an 006 field to a record if it’s of the same ‘type’ as the basic record itself. (For example, you can’t add a ‘book’ 006 to a ‘book’ record.)

To delete an 006 or 007 field, place the cursor anywhere in the field, then click the ‘Delete’ menu choice. (You can’t delete the leader or the 008 field.)

If you wish to make any one of the 006 or 007 fields the first field of that type, place the cursor anywhere in the field, and then click the ‘Make first’ menu choice.

When you’re all done working with the fixed fields, click the ‘OK’ menu choice (or, if you’ve enabled this on the Options panel, press the Enter key) to save your work. Click the ‘Cancel’ menu choice (or, if you’ve enabled this on the Options panel, press the Escape key) to abandon your work on the fixed fields.

6.5. Divide a long field into pieces

The DIVIDE LONG FIELD button lets you split long fields in a bibliographic record (such as long contents notes) into two pieces. (The Vger cataloging client has problems displaying and allowing you to edit long fields.)

To split a field in a record into two pieces, click this button when the Vger cataloging client displays a bibliographic record. The toolkit examines the record, and shows you a window listing each field in the record that is longer than an arbitrary length, and whose tag is defined as repeatable.

Click the cursor in the long field at the point at which you wish to split it, and click the ‘OK’ button. The toolkit will modify the record as you instruct, save it to the Vger database, and open the modified record in the Vger cataloging client. If the text for the new field as found in the original field doesn’t begin with a subfield code, the toolkit begins the new field with $a.

6.6. Export a record as MARC or XML

The EXPORT buttons allow you to send the record displayed by the Vger cataloging client to an export file. During the export, the toolkit can transform the record in a number of ways; if you export a bibliographic record, the toolkit can also include information from associated holdings records. There are two buttons, allowing you to maintain two separate configurations at a time. (You might define one button for MARC export, and another for XML export; or one for MARC export for OCLC, another for MARC export for a vendor.)

Configuration points to consider

The Export to disk tab on the tookit’s Options panel controls the behavior of these buttons. From the ‘Button details’ tab, click the export button you wish to configure. The toolkit maintains two separate configurations, one for each export button.

What happens

When you click an export button, the toolkit gets the number of the current record from the Vger cataloging client and pulls the current version of that record from the Vger database. The toolkit transform the record as necessary (perhaps converting the character set for MARC output; or applying the selected schema for XML output) and saves it to the folder (and, as appropriate, file name) indicated in the button’s configuration. The toolkit shows a message in its status area when it has finished its work. The operation should take a second or less.

6.7. Load a file of records; merge records

The MERGE button allows you to do to two rather different things, not necessarily involving the merging of two records. (The capabilities originally intended for this button have been expanded over time.)

• You can open a file of records, which the toolkit will read into a special split-panel display. The toolkit will use searches on standard numbers in this record (ISBN, LCCN, etc.) to look for corresponding records in your Vger database.
• You can pull records from the Vger cataloging client into the same split-panel display.

The following illustration shows the toolkit’s ‘merge’ panel, before any records have been loaded into it. The left side of this panel will contain ‘source’ records—records from which you want to extract information. Source records may be read from a file, or from your Vger database. The right side of this form will contain ‘target’ records—records into which you want to copy information from source records. Target records are always records found in your Vger database.

If you load a file of records from some file, the left side lists these records, and shows you them one at a time. The right side shows the records in your local database that match the record on the left side. If the import file contains more than one record, the box in the upper left corner lists them all; you can move from one import record to another by highlighting each line in turn. If a record in the import file matches records in your Vger database, the box in the upper right corner lists them, and identifies the tag of the matching field; you can move from one matching record to another by highlighting each line in turn.

The following illustration shows the toolkit’s split panel ‘merge’ display while some work with this button is in progress. The operator has loaded an import file into the left side, and the toolkit has found matches for one of them. The box at upper left lists the records from the import file; the larger box on the left shows details of the highlighted record. The box at upper right lists records found in the Vger database that appear to match the record on the left side;⁸⁰ the larger box on the right shows details of the highlighted record found in the Vger database.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• Everything on the Merge tab. (This tab only allows you to change the fixed field editor’s colors; you can safely leave these at their default values, unless you find them objectionable, or illegible.)
• The owning library on the General tab
• The ‘Write UID’ and ‘Write PWD’ for the first connection on the Connections tab

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit shows you its ‘merge records’ display. What happens after that is under your control. The first thing you need to accomplish is getting one or more records into the left side of the panel.

• To load a file of records from some source, click the ‘Load import file’ button. The toolkit will offer you a standard find-the-file dialog. If you select a file, the toolkit will clear the display, list each record from the file in the box at upper left, and perform duplicate detection (using criteria you have established) for each item. (The file you load may contain bibliographic, authority or holdings records, or any mixture of these record types.) When finished, the toolkit will highlight the first item in the list, which will cause the right side of the display to show any records in Vger that match this record.
• If you wish to use a record in the Vger database as a source record, click the ‘Pick up record from Vger’ button on the left side. The toolkit will retrieve the record currently shown in the cataloging client, and add it to the list on the left side, as if the record had been read from an input file. If you have already opened a file of records, the toolkit acts as if this Vger record were another record read from that input file. The toolkit does not do any duplicate detection for records picked up from Vger in this manner.

Once you have populated the left side of the toolkit’s merge panel with records (from a file, from Vger, or some combination of these), and perhaps populated the right side with matches found in your Vger database as well, you can do various things. You cannot directly modify the records displayed on this panel by typing, etc. The buttons distributed around the panel allow you to interact with and modify the records in carefully limited ways.

• If the toolkit did not find the proper match in Vger for the record in the left-hand window, you can display that record in the Vger cataloging client, then click the ‘Pick up record from Vger’ button on the right side. The tookit retrieves the record shown by the cataloging client, and adds it to the right side of the merge form, as if it had found the match by searching by standard numbers. (If the right side already showed one or more matches for the record on the left side, the toolkit simply adds the Vger record to the list as another match.) In this manner, you can overlay a Vger record with a record from an import file even if the source and target records have no standard numbers in common.
• You can move individual fields from the record on the left side into the record on the right side. Highlight one or more fields in the left-hand record that you want to move (you don’t have to select the exact whole field; any portion will do), then click the button with the right-pointing arrow and the caption ‘Fld’.
• You can delete individual fields from the record on the right side. Highlight one or more fields in the right-hand record that you want to delete (you don’t have to select the exact whole field; any portion will do), then click the knife button with the right-pointing arrow.
• You can ‘merge’ the left-hand record into the right-hand record, based on a profile you define on the toolkit’s options panel. When you click the ‘merge’ button in the center of the panel, the program applies your merge profile to the two records. (There are separate profiles for merging bibliographic or authority records.) The right-hand record is the new composite record.
• Edit the fixed fields (006, 007 and 008 fields) of the record on the right by clicking the ‘FFD’ button. This button gives you the fixed-field editor that is also available with the toolkit’s ‘FFD’ button
• You can save the record on the right side (which is always a record pulled from your Vger database) back to your Vger database (with any changes you’ve made) by clicking the ‘Save to Vger’ button.
• You can create a new Vger record from either the left-hand or the right-hand record by clicking the ‘Add to Vger as new’ button on the appropriate side of the form. A new record created from the right-hand record reflects any changes made to it.
• If the record on the left side is a record from your Vger database (i.e., a record you picked up with the ‘Pick up record from Vger’ button on the left side), you can delete it by clicking the ‘Delete Vger record’ button. You might want to do this if you find two authority records for the same access field in your authority file; after merging data to create a composite, you can get rid of the redundant source record.
• You can erase the import file with the ‘Delete import file’ button. The toolkit does not keep track of what you do with records pulled from the import file. If you wish to get rid of the import file, you must ask the toolkit to do this by clicking this button. Erasing the import file does not clear the merge panel; you can continue to work with the records after you’ve deleted the file. The toolkit makes no other modification of any kind to the file of records you process via this button. Unlike the Vger cataloging client, the toolkit does not remove records from the file as you work with them.
• Clear the form: Remove data from all of the display boxes on the panel.
• The ‘Close’ button hides the merge panel. The toolkit does not clear the panel when it hides it, so you can go away and come back to this information later in your session.

6.8. Transfer fields from one record to another (Needle and thread button)

The NEEDLE AND THREAD button allows you to save fields from authority, bibliographic and holdings records, and copy them into other records. At the same that you paste a field into a record, you can (subject to certain limitations) change the field’s tag. (For example, you can copy a 1XX field from an authority record, and paste it into a bibliographic record as a subject.)

The toolkit maintains the access fields you identify from one session to another, by saving them in a configuration file. Once you have copied an access field, the toolkit will remember it until you delete it.

Configuration points to consider

The Needle and thread tab on the tookit’s Options panel controls the behavior of this button.

• File of terms for ‘needle and thread’ button: The toolkit uses a separate configuration file to hold the terms you have saved. This box contains the name of the file the toolkit will use to store your terms. In most cases, you can leave this set to its default value of ‘CtkNeedleAndThread.txt’.

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit shows you its ‘Save headings for later re-use’ display. This display contains your current list of terms, and gives you options for working with members of the list. The display shows only the text of each saved field, but the toolkit also saves other important information, such as the original record’s type (authority, bibliographic or holdings) and the original field’s tag and indicators. The list is sorted (by Windows) by the displayed text of the field; unfortunately, this sort takes the subfield codes into account.

• Add to list: The toolkit gets the number of the current record from the Vger cataloging client, pulls the current version of that record from the Vger database, and displays it in a separate window. Click on any variable field you wish to preserve, and click the ‘OK’ button. The toolkit adds your field to the list.
• Delete selected: The toolkit removes all highlighted fields from the list.
• Clear selection: The toolkit un-highlights any selected lines.
• Erase list: The toolkit removes all fields from the list.
• As 1XX, As 4XX, As 6XX, As 7XX, As 8XX, As is: These radio buttons identify the tag you wish all of the new fields in the modified record to have.
• Paste to one: The toolkit gets the number of the topmost record from the Vger cataloging client, closes it, pulls the current version of that record from the Vger database, transforms the field(s) as necessary as it inserts them into the record, saves the record to the Vger database and (on your option) opens the modified record in the Vger cataloging client. This button only works on the topmost record visible in the Vger cataloging client.
• Paste to all: The toolkit gets the numbers of all records open in the Vger cataloging client and closes them. For each record, the toolkit pulls the current version of that record from the Vger database, transforms the field(s) as necessary as it inserts them into the record, saves the record to the Vger database and (on your option) opens the modified record in the Vger cataloging client. This button works on all of the records open in the Vger cataloging client.
• Re-open changed records: Check this box if you want the toolkit to open records after it has added fields to them.

6.9. Clear out (‘zap’) a bibliographic record

The ZAP button allows you to repeat certain restricted operations on bibliographic records, and/or the holdings and item records attached to them. This button was originally intended to remove variable fields from bibliographic records—hence its name—but its capabilities have grown somewhat beyond that original intent. With this button you can now not only remove variable fields from bibliographic records, but add constant data to bibliographic records at the same time; you can set (but not un-set) the bibliographic and holdings records’ ‘Suppress from OPAC’ flag; and you can change the location code in all holdings and item records to some constant value. If you wish, you can define this button so that it only works on bibliographic records whose holdings reflect certain characteristics.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• Everything on the ZAP button’s tab.
• The ‘Write UID’ and ‘Write PWD’ for the first connection on the Connections tab

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit gets from the Vger cataloging client the record number from its uppermost window; this record must be a bibliographic record. If you have told the toolkit only to modify records whose holdings bear certain characteristics, the toolkit will inspect the holdings records attached to the bibliograhpic record. The toolkit removes any fields you’ve asked it to remove, adds any fields you’ve asked it to add, and writes the bibliographic record back to Vger, setting the suppression flag at the same time. If you’ve asked the toolkit to set the suppression flag, and/or asked it to change the location codes in holdings in item records, the toolkit changes the holdings and item records for you.

6.10. Make subsitutions for diacritics

The EXCHANGE DIACRITICS button allows you to see exactly what diacritics are used in a MARC record, and to replace one diacritic or special character in a record (or a combination of diacritics) with a different diacritic, special character or combination of diacritics. The button provides a ‘global replace’ capability at the level of individual characters.

This button does not depend on any configuration options that you can set within the toolkit. The toolkit uses the diacritics defined in the file ‘Special Characters.cfg’ that’s part of your Vger cataloging client’s configuration, and the diacritic combinations defined in the ‘Diacritics.cfg’ file that’s part of the BAM button’s configuration files.

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit gets from the Vger cataloging client the record number from its uppermost window; this can be an authority, bibliographic or holdings record. The toolkit retrieves the record from Vger and shows you a formatted version of the record in a special panel.

You have two choices for the record display (as indicated by the radio buttons at the bottom of the panel). You can display diacritics as ‘pre-composed’ characters (i.e., with the diacritic displayed with its base character) and as text labels. The preceding illustration shows the record displayed with diacritics on the base charcter. The following illustration shows the same record, with labels instead of diacritics. In the following illustration, notice that some diacritics are repeated, which is not obvious when the diacritics appear with their base characters. The labeled display is probably the better choice.

To exchange one diacritic or special character for another, select from the list in the upper right corner the character you wish to remove, and select from the other list the character you wish to insert. Click the ‘Make this one change’ button. The toolkit will re-display the record, with changes made up to this point. (Because the toolkit cannot display the entire Unicode character set, not all special characters will show in the record display.) Make additional character substitutions as appropriate. When the record is entirely to your liking, click the ‘Save changed record’ button to send the changed record back to Vger.

This panel will be enhanced as the need for additional capabilities becomes evident. The ability to find geographic coordinates in authority 670 fields and insert the correct markers for degrees, minutes and seconds is anticipated for this panel in the near future.

6.11. Set item type to default value

The DEFAULT ITEM TYPE button allows you to set the ‘item type’ value in one item record, or all of the item records attached to one holdings record, to some constant value. In effect, this button provides a ‘global replace’ capability for the item type code.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• Everything on the DEFAULT ITEM TYPE button’s tab. You need to tell the toolkit which item type is associated with each location code. (You don’t need to create a pattern for every location; just the locations you’re likely to want to change.)
• The ‘Write UID’ and ‘Write PWD’ for the first connection on the Connections tab

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit gets from the Vger cataloging client the record number from its uppermost window.

• If the Vger client shows an item record, the toolkit will look up the item record’s location in the table you have created. If this location is defined and if the item record does not have the specified item type, the toolkit changes the item record’s item type to match your definition.
• If the Vger client shows a holdings record, the toolkit will look up the holdings record’s location in the table you have dreated. If this location is defined, the toolkit retrieves each item record attached to the holdings record, and changes its item type to match your definition.

6.12. Create item records for added volumes

The ADDED VOLUMES button allows you to add a series of item records to an existing holdings record. This button can save you some time, keystrokes and tedium when you’re adding more than one item record to a holdings record.

This button can handle numbering that consists of multiple units (such as volume and part) only if just the last number changes. (For example, in numbering that consists of volume and part, the toolkit can only adjust the ‘number’ portion.)

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information on the Options panel:

• The table of corresponences between location code and item type defined for the DEFAULT ITEM TYPE button, and the default copy number on the same tab.

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit gets from the Vger cataloging client the record number from its uppermost window.

• If the Vger client shows an item record, the toolkit finds the holdings record to which the item is attached.
• If the Vger client shows a holdings record, the toolkit uses that holdings record.
• If the Vger client shows a bibliographic record, the toolkit finds the first holdings record attached to it.
• If the Vger client shows anything else, the toolkit complains, and stops work on this button.

The toolkit looks at the holdings record, and makes a list of the item records already attached to it (if any). The toolkit shows you what it found. Your job is to supply information about the item records you want the toolkit to add to the holdings record.

The first consideration is the identification used on the individual pieces. The toolkit allows you use enumeration (such as ‘v. 1’ or ‘3.Bd.’), chronology (year only), or both enumeration and chronology. A set of radio buttons toward the upper left corner of the panel allows you to choose the type of designation to be included in the item records. Your choice of radio button determines the other information you need to provide.

• If you select either the ‘Enumeration’ button or the ‘Both enum. and chron.’ button, supply in the ‘Enumeration pattern’ box the caption to be used for the enumeration. Use the hash mark (‘#’) to show where the individual numbers stand in relation to the caption. (Examples: ‘v.#’ ‘#.Bd.’) If the numbering consists of multiple units (such as volume and part) use the hash mark to indicate the location of the numbering of the last unit (‘v.1, pt.#’); the toolkit can only vary one number in the enumeration. If there is numbering but the numering has no caption, leave this box blank.
• If you select either the ‘Enumeration’ button or the ‘Both enum. and chron.’ button, supply in the ‘Enumeration’ box the actual designations for the pieces (minus any caption). The numbering can be consecutive (e.g. ‘1-5’), non-consecutive (e.g. ‘1,3,5,7,10’) or a combination of the two (e.g. ‘1,3-7,19-22,36’).
• If you select the ‘Both enum. and chron.’ button, supply in the ‘Chronology’ box only the year that corresponds to the first piece. The toolkit will calculate the remaining years in parallel with the changing volume numbers. For example, if you supply ‘v.#’ as the enumeration pattern, ‘1-3,5’ for the enumeration and ‘1992’ for the chronology, the toolkit will create 4 item records: v. 1/1992, v.2/1993, v.3/1994 and v.5/1996.
• If you select the ‘Chronology’ button, supply in the ‘Chronology’ box the year designations for the pieces. The designation can be consecutive years (e.g. ‘1975-1992’), non-consecutive years (e.g. ‘1975,1979,1983’) or a combination of the two (e.g. ‘1975-1986,1988-2003’).

If the 852 field of the holdings record contains subfield $t, the toolkit puts the contents of the subfield into the ‘Copy number’ box. Otherwise, it assumes copy number 1. You can change this number if you wish.

If you have defined a correspondence between the location code in 852 subfield $b and an item type, the toolkit will show that item type in the ‘Item type’ box. Otherwise, this box will contain some other value. You can change the item type as necessary.

The right side of the panel lists item records already attached to the holdings record. This is for your information only.

If you wish the toolkit to prompt you for a barcode number as it creates each item record, check the ‘Prompt for barcode numbers’ box. Each finished item record will contain its barcode.

If you wish to see a list of all of the item records attached to the holdings record once the toolkit has finished its work, check the ‘At end, open list of item records in Voyager’ box.

When the holdings panel accurately describes the item records you wish to create, click the ‘OK’ button. If the holdings record does not already contain an 866 field, the toolkit will create one for you. The toolkit will then attach new item records to the holdings record, supplying the enumeration and/or chronology as indicated. If you have asked the toolkit to prompt for barcodes, it will ask you for a barcode number for each record; you can supply the barcode number either by scanning or typing. (If you’ve told the toolkit you want to supply barcode numbers but you fail to supply a barcode for an item record, the toolkit will stop its work even if there are more items to create.)

If you asked the toolkit to open the list of item records in the cataloging client, it will attempt to do so. (This is the same display you see if you select ‘Record|Retrieve Items’ from the cataloging client’s menu.) The connection between the toolkit and the cataloging client being tenuous, it’s possible that the toolkit won’t be able to open the list for you, but it will try.

6.13. Work with romanized and vernacular data

The ROMANIZATION/CAPITALIZATION button allows you to convert bibliographic data in a vernacular script into romanized form, and convert romanized data into vernacular script. The button also allows you to change with the 'case' of text.

Configuration points to keep in mind

This button depends on the following information:

• The Files of validation rules box on the Files tab of the configuration for the BAM button. This folder contains your ‘romanization’ tables, rendered as files. In addition, in the ‘supplementary’ configuration files, the FieldOrderExtended stanza may instruct the toolkit to place 880 fields next to the fields they parallel.⁸¹
• Configuration files that tell the toolkit how to change records. You need a separate configuration file for each script/language combination in which you’re interested. (For example, if you’re working with Cyrillic-script languages, you will need separate configuration files for Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and so on.) A separate document (Configuration files for romanization) tells you how to construct the necessary configuration files. Northwestern provides preliminary versions of some configuration files.

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit obtains from the Vger cataloging client the record number from its uppermost window. The toolkit displays the record in a special panel that should be able to display the same Unicode characters that Vger can display. You cannot edit this record directly, but you can use buttons to manipulate the record.

Here is a typical record ready for manipulation. In this case, the record is a romanized Russian record, and we will assume that the operator wishes to create vernacular fields that parallel the romanized fields.

(The above illustration shows the latest implementation of this record display, with convenient hanging indentions for variable fields. Many of the illustrations in this section show an earlier version, without hanging indention.)

At one side of the romanization form is a small frame that contains options for the display of diacritics. The standard convention is to display diacritics attached to their base characters; but you can instead display diacritics as text labels. The following illustration shows part of a record, with diacritics and special characters represented by labels. The important distinction between the two views is that you cannot use many of the toolkit's features, such as the ‘Convert highlighted text’ button on this tab, when you are using the labeled view.

Before you do anything else, make sure that the ‘Script/language’ drop-down list at the top of the panel is correctly set to the appropriate romanization definition for this record. The toolkit will attempt to do this for you, based on the bibliographic record's language code, but you should always check this setting.

What you can do next depends on the record and the romanization table you’ve selected.

• If the romanization table allows conversion of romanized text into vernacular, you can highlight all or part of a romanized variable field and then click the ‘Convert highlighted text’ button. The toolkit will either create a parallel 880 field with the highlighted text converted into vernacular text, or (if there already is an 880 field) convert the text within the 880 field.
• If the romanization table allows conversion of vernacular text into romanized form, you can highlight all or part of a vernacular variable field and then click the ‘Convert highlighted text’ button. The toolkit will either create a parallel 880 field and then convert the highlighted text, or (if there is already an 880 field) convert the text in place.

In the following illustration, the operator has highlighted the entire text of the 245 field, then clicked the ‘Convert highlighted text’ button. The toolkit generated an 880 field that parallels the 245 field and linked the two fields with subfield $6 codes. The operator then highlighted subfield $a of the 600 field, and again clicked the ‘Convert highlighted text’ button. The toolkit generated an 880 field to parallel the text of the 600 field, but converted only the highlighted portion. The operator is now free to preceed with the conversion of other parts of the record, such as the 246 and 260 fields.

You can, if circumstances permit, instead click the ‘Convert whole record’ button. The toolkit will apply the current romanization table to each field in the record and then show you the modified record.

In the following illustration, the operator started with the same record as above, but instead of transforming fields one at a time simply clicked the ‘Convert whole record’ button. The configuration file allowed conversion of only the 100, 245, 246, 260, 600 (but not subfield $x), 650 (subfield $z only) and 651 (subfield $a only) fields. The toolkit converted the appropriate portions of these fields, creating a parallel 880 fileld for each. The operator is now free to preceed with the conversion of any other part of the record that can be rendered in vernacular script.

The next example begins with a record input by the operator using vernacular charcters in the standard fields.

It would be possible to work on this record one field at a time; but in general, because a program can unambiguously identify ‘vernacular’ characters in such a record, it’s simplest (and very safe) to do the whole record at once. If the operator selects the Chinese romanization table and then clicks the ‘Convert whole record’ button (with the configuration file probably set to allow conversion of all fields) the toolkit converts the Chinese text to its romanized form, moves the vernacular data to 880 fields, and links the parallel fields with subfield $6.

Although this particular conversion appears to have been successful, the whole record should receive careful review. In some cases, the toolkit's configuration file will not contain the equivalent for a vernacular character. When this happens, you can highlight a vernacular character and use the 'Define' and 'Replace' buttos to translate the character in this record and at the same time add the character to your configuratino file.

• Highlight one of the charcters that didn’t convert, and click the ‘Define’ button. The toolkit asks you for the romanized equivalent. The toolkit not only replaces this character in the current record, but also adds it to the conversion file, so the change will take place automatically the next time this character appears.
• Highlight a string of characters, and click the ‘Replace’ button. The toolkit gives you the highlighted text in an editing window. Change the text as you deem appropriate; the toolkit replaces the original text with the new version.

If the field being worked on contains an indicator for the number of nonfiling characters to skip, the toolkit will attempt to adjust the indicator in the converted field. In the following illustration, the toolkit changed the nonfiling indicator ‘4’ in the original 245 field to ‘2’ when it created the 880 field.

In some cases, there will not be a configuration file appropriate to a script or language represented in a record. Even in these cases, the "romanization" tab contains something that may be of use to you: the "new 880" button. Use this button to create an initial parallel field for a field in a MARC record; the principal advantage to allowing the button to help you in this work, is that the toolkit will construct subfield $6 in the original field and the 880 field for you, so you're spared that difficult and exacting task. After you save the modified record to Voyager, you will need to finish the parallel field in Voyager.

For example, to create an initial 880 field parallel to this 100 field, click anywhere in the 100 field. (You don't have to highlight a block of text; just click anywhere in the field.)

When you click the "New 880" button, the toolkit calculates the next sequence number for the pair of parallel fields (in this example, the new 880 field will be the first parallel field in the record), replaces subfield $a with an asterisk, and adds an 880 field to the record. After you save the changed record to Voyager, return to the Voyager cataloging client to finish work on the field.

The "New 880 RTL" button does exactly the same thing as the "New 880" button, except that it adds "/r" to the end of the text of subfield $6 of the new 880 field.

To create a right-to-left 880 parallel to the 100 field in this record, click anywhere in the field, then click the "New 880 RTL" button. The toolkit creates a new 880 field, with "/r" at the end of subfield $6. You can make additional changes to this field with the "Edit RTL" button. You can also work with the field in the Voyager cataloging client after you save the changed record to Voyager.

The "Edit RTL" button allows you to make very careful changes to an 880 field that contains right-to-left text. (Editing such text in either Voyager or OCLC can be a chore, as it's not always clear how to select text you want to change. If you want to modify an 880 field that contains right-to-left text, click the cursor anywhere in the field, then click the "Edit RTL" button. The toolkit copies the 880 field into a special editing window. The next illustration shows how this special editing window might look.

The important thing about this special editing window is that the toolkit has substituted names for each right-to-left character and each diacritic, but has left other characters as they stand in the field. The toolkit shows each character in input order, not in the order determined by any particular display convention.

When you have displayed a field in this editing panel, you can modify it, but you must be very careful.

• To remove a right-to-left character, highlight the character name and its containing angle brackets, and click your keyboard's "Delete" button, or click your keyboard's "Backspace" key.
• To insert a right-to-left character or a diacritic, click the cursor on the point at which you wish to insert the character. Be very careful not to insert a right-to-left character or diacritic into the display name of a character. Then select the character you wish to insert and click the corresponding "Insert" button.
• To insert left-to-right text into the field, simply place the cursor where you wish the text to go, and start typing. Be very careful not to insert text into the display name of a character.

Click the "Save" button to return to the main editing panel. The toolkit will insert your changed right-to-left field into the displayed record, but it has not yet saved the changed record to Voyager.

There are yet other buttons on the "romanization" tab:

• Insert sp.: Click on a point in the record at which you wish to insert a space, then click this button. The toolkit adds a space for you.
• Remove characters: To remove one or more characters, highlight the characters, then click this button.
• Define (this button is not always available): This button allows you to define a new replacement; it will most often come in handy for the Han (Chinese) script. You will discover the need to define a new replacement when you convert text, but the toolkit fails to replace a character. Highlight the vernacular character, then click this button. When you supply the Romanized equivalent for the vernacular character, the toolkit will make the replacement in the record, and also add the definition to the configuration file, so you won't need to do the same work again.
• Replace: Use this button to remove one or more characters from the record, and replace those characters with other characters. Highlight the characters to replace, then click this button. When you supply the replacement text, the toolkit makes the substitution for you.

Working with uppercase and lowercase characters

The workform that the toolkit presents when you click the romanization/capitalization button also has a number of features that help you convert the 'case' of characters. At one time, these were in the same place as the romanization features, but because the capabilities of the fancy editing panel grew beyond all expectation, they eventually had to be on their own tab, with the clever caption 'Capitalization, etc.' For all of these features, you select the text on which you want the toolkit to operate, then click a button. As is the case with all of the tabs on the fancy editing panel, none of the work is actually written to the Voyager database until you click the 'Save' button.

This button should work for all scripts scripts that have distinct uppercase and lowercase character forms, including (but not limited to) the Cyrillic and Greek scripts.

• The "Clean up coordinates" button: this button only works on authority records. The toolkit attempts to make character substitutions in $b subfields of 670 fields that appear to contain coordinates; it replaces the angstrom and superscript zero with the degree sign, it replaces apostrophe and high comma centered with the miagkii znak, and it replaces the double quotation mark with the tverdii znak. When you click this button, the toolkit inspects all 670 $b subfields, regardless of what you may have highlighted.
• The ‘Title case ...' button convers all of the important words in the selected text to uppercase, and converts the less-important words to lowercase. This button is controlled by one or more configuration files, described in an appendix. The 'Title case' drop-down list just above this button allows you to select the configuration file to apply to a piece of text; the name of the language of the currently-selected file is also displayed in the caption of this button.
• The ‘Sentence case' button convers the first word in the selected text to uppercase, and the remaining words to lowercase.
• The ‘Lowercase 1’ button converts the first character in the highlighted string to lowercase.
• The ‘Lowercase all’ button converts the entire highlighted string to lowercase.
• The ‘Uppercase 1’ button convers the first character in the highlighted string to uppercase.
• The ‘Uppercase each’ button convers the first character of each word in the highlighted string to uppercase.
• The ‘Uppercase all ’ button converts the entire highlighted string to uppercase.

When you have done everything you can to a record using this feature and you wish to preserve your changes, click the ‘Save’ button. The toolkit writes the modified record back to Vger, and opens the record in the cataloging client.

6.14. Search for records in other databases via Z39.50

The Z39.50 protocol allows a program running on one computer to search for bibliographic records at a remote site without knowing the details of the search engine at the remote site. The Z39.50 button implements this protocol within the cataloger’s toolkit. This button allows you to search remote bibliographic databases for records that match a Vger record. (For example, you might want to search OCLC if a vendor supplies you with a minimal-level record, or a record with no subject headings.)

If the toolkit finds a record in a remote database and if you approve that record, the toolkit will replace the Vger record with the record from another database. (The toolkit does not replace a Vger record without your approval.) As it overlays the record, the toolkit can preserve certain fields originally found in the Vger record. If none of the records in any of the remote databases is suitable for overlay, you can copy seleted fields (such as subject headings) into the Vger record (to make original cataloging simpler), and you can make other changes to the Vger record at the same time.

Configuration points to consider

This button depends on the following information:

• The definition of at least one Z39.50 database to which the toolkit can connect. You can define connections to several databases, if you want. (You can also define several connections into the same database, with different associated criteria.) If you define more than one connection, you can ask the toolkit only to search a subset of the remote databases for a single search session. If there is more than one active connection, the toolkit will search each appropriate database in turn, until it finds something.
• You can apply a transformation to all of the records downloaded from a particular database, and after you have selected a record to keep you can apply one or more additional transformations to the preferred record. If you wish to apply transformations to records retrieved via Z39.50, you must define those transformations before you use the Z39.50 connection.

What happens

When yhou click this button, the toolkit obtains from the Vger cataloging client the record number from its uppermost window. The toolkit extracts from this record those standard numbers that it knows how to search, and also the 1XX and 245 fields and the date of publication (from the 008 field). For ISBNs, the toolkit creates both 10-digit and 13-digit search keys whenever possible.

The toolkit sends each of the search keys derived from the Vger record to the first Z39.50 database. (If the toolkit uses a connection at all, it always sends the database all of the search keys derived from the Vger record.) If after sending all of the search keys the toolkit has found at least one record, the toolkit stops to display the search results; otherwise, it moves on to the remaining databaess, stopping its work as soon as it has retrieved at least one record from a remote database.

If the toolkit is not able to find at least one record at one of the Z39.50 databases, it tells you what has happened. As described below, you can apply a transformation to the Voyager record if appropriate (for example, you may wish to apply a some local convention to indicate that you have searched OCLC without finding anything), or you can move on to the next task.

If the toolkit finds at least one record, it displays the results. Here is a typical example:

The list in the upper left corner shows each of the records retrieved from the connection. Each line in the list briefly identifies the search key(s) by which the toolkit found the record, the language of cataloging (from 040 subfield $b—default is ‘eng’), the type of record, and a count of the subject headings in the subject system of interest. (In these examples, LCSH has been declared the subject heading system of interest for this database.) The large box at lower left contains the record retrieved from the remote database (more on this below). In the example shown above, the toolkit has found two matching records, one in English (and a PCC record to boot) and one in German; the English record has four LCSH headings, but the German record has none. If the list at upper left contains more than one record, the toolkit displays the first record; you can click other lines in the list to view the other records that the toolkit has retrieved.

The large box on the right shows the Vger record just retrieved from your local database.

The toolkit does a number of things to each record that it decides should be presented to you on this panel:

• The toolkit deletes all 9XX fields
• The toolkit moves the remote system’s record number (001+003 fields) to an 035 field
• The toolkit copies any fields from the Vger record that you wish to preserve (as defined for this Z39.50 connection)
• The toolkit applies any transformation associated with the connection

(In the illustration above, the toolkit copied the 948 field from the external record into the Voyager record and then applied to the external record a transformation that changed the code in 948 subfield $b and the date in 948 subfield $c, then added subfield $e.)

Because the toolkit does this work before showing you any record, the record you see in the box on the left is (or should be) ready for you to send to Vger, without additional modification. Nonetheless, you may wish to make some change to the record on the left. You can’t directly edit the record, but you can make a few program-assisted changes. (If you want to make other changes to the record, wait until it’s in Vger.) If you want to copy a field from the Vger record into the replacement record, click the cursor on the field in the Vger record and then click the button between the records with a left-pointing arrow; the field appears in the record on the left. If you want to copy several contiguous fields from the right record to the left one, you can highlight them all (you don’t need to be too careful—some part of the first and last fields is all that’s needed) and then click this button; they all appear in the record on the left. You can also apply a transformation to the record on the left: select the transformation’s name from the list above the record, then click the blue transformation button next to the list.

If you wish to send the record on the left to Vger, click the ‘Replace Voyager record’ button. The toolkit will update the record in the Vger database, and then attempt to call up the modified record in the Vger cataloging client. The toolkit’s ability to retrieve a record in the cataloging client is imperfect; if the toolkit isn’t able to retrieve the Vger record, you’ll have to call it up yourself if you wish to do anything else to the record, or its associated holdings or item records. If you wish to send the record on the left to Vger and then immediately BAM the record, click the ‘Replace Voyager record and BAM’ button.⁸² (If the toolkit isn’t able to open the record in the cataloging client, the BAM step won't work.)

If you decide that none of the records found by the toolkit should overlay the Vger record, you may stil determine that one or more fields in a retrieved record is worth retaining in the Vger record. For example, even though the toolkit has found no exact match, it may have found a close variant whose subject headings are worth preserving. You can click the cursor on a field in the left record (or highlight multiple contiguous fields) and then click the button between the records with the right-pointing arrow; the toolkit copies the fields into the Vger record. You can also apply one or more transformations to the Vger record. (For example, you might have a transformation that marks a record as having been unsuccessfully searched in OCLC.) Select the transformation’s name from the list above the right-hand record, then click the blue transformation button next to this list. Click the ‘Update Voyager record’ button to send the changed record back to the Vger database.

When you’ve disposed of one Vger bib record (either by replacing it and performing any additional actions, or by deciding that there is nothing to be done) you can either call up another record in Vger and click the toolkit’s Z39.50 button again, or (if you know the record’s Vger bib record number) click this panel’s ‘Search Voyager bib ID’ button to feed a Vger record number directly into this form, and bypass the Vger cataloging client altogether.

Search a list of bib record numbers

You may, through some means of your own devising, create a text file that contains Vger bib record numbers you wish to search in one or more remote databases via Z39.50. When this is the case, call up the Z39.50 panel by clicking the toolkit’s Z39.50 button, then click the ‘Load file’ button on the Z39.50 panel. Browse to find your file of Vger bib record numbers. The toolkit will read all of the bib IDs into an internal array, proceed to search for a replacement for the first record, and display the results. The display of results for any one record in your file is exactly the same as if you had called up the record in the Vger cataloging client and then clicked the Z39.50 button, except that the ‘Search Voyager bib ID’ button is replaced by a pair of navigation buttons and there’s a message showing the relative location of the current record within the file of bib record numbers.

When you see the results for a record, you can replace the Vger record, change the Vger record, or decide that nothing is to be done—just as if you had called up the record from the Vger cataloging client. When you’re ready to move to the next record, click the navigation button with the right-pointing arrow. (To move back to a previously-viewed record, click the navigation button with the left-pointing arrow.) As you update records in Vger, the toolkit marks the record IDs in its copy version of the list as having been handled; when you close the Z39.50 panel (by clicking the ‘X’ in the upper right corner) the toolkit saves back to your file a list of the Vger bib record numbers minus the ones that you’ve handled.

6.15. Work with linking fields (76X-78X)

The behavior of this button is controlled by a set of options.

The linking fields button can assist in the generation of 76X-78X fields in bibliographic records. The tool to which this button leads can also assist in the addition of 5XX fields to authority records. (Authority 5XX fields are another way to specify relationships.) You can use this button to create linking fields in one bibliographic or authority record that point to other records (involving change to just one record), and you can use this button to create mutual relationships between two records (involving changes to both records).

To add a link to one record: To add a link to a Voyager record, display in the Voyager cataloging client a bibliographic record to which you wish to add a linking field, then click the linking fields button. The toolkit uses information from the record shown in Voyager to populate a multi-tabbed workform. The toolkit uses this workform for a number of different editing operations (working with diacritics, with parallel vernacular fields, with uppercase/lowercase transitions, as well as linking fields). If you start with the linking fields button, the toolkit starts you out on the "linking fields" tab, but you can move to other tabs to perform other operations on the same record. Before the toolkit shows you this record, it may make a number of changes to it, depending on options you have selected. (These changes are described in an appendix.)

Here is how the top part of this multi-tabbed editing form might look immediately after you click the "linking fields" button:

Once you've got the record that will serve as the focus of your linking fields, the next thing you need to do is identify the second record: the record to which the first record will be linked. Go to the Voyager cataloging client and display the record that the toolkit should use as the source of information for the linking field. When you have this second record, return to the toolkit's editing panel and click the "Get second record" button. The toolkit digests information from this second record. After you've shown the toolkit your two bibliographic records, the top part of this editing panel might look like this; information from the second record is summarized on the right side:

At this point, all that remains for you to do is to use the "Tag", "Ind. 1" and "Ind. 2" drop-down lists to select the kind of linking field you want to create. (The lists of indicators aren't available if there is only one choice.)

Once you have identified the base record and the secondary record, and set the tag and indicators:

• If you wish to include a subfield $i text in the linking field, use the remaining drop-down list to find the subfield $i text you want, then click the "Add with this code" button
• If you do not wish to include subfield $i in the linking field, click the "Add with no code" button.

When you click one of the 'Add' buttons, the toolkit adds the field you have defined to the displayed version of the record. For example, if we have asked the toolkit to add a 775 field to our record, with no subfield $i, the lower part of the base record might look like this at this point:

The toolkit has not yet updated the Voyager database with the record containing the new linking field. If you wish to save the record at this point, click the "Save" button. If you want to perform any of the operations made available on any of the other tabs, you might want to do that that work as well before you save the record. (You can always save the record more than once.)

Use the "Print" button to send a version of the record to the printer. Use the "Reset" button to discard any changes you have not yet saved, and return the display to the current state of the record in the Voyager database. When you're done with this editing panel, click the "Close" button. When you click the "Close" button, the toolkit discards any changes you have made but not saved.

If you need to add more than one linking field to the primary record, you can call up another record in Voyager, again click the "Get second record" button, and create the additional linking field.

To add reciprocal links between records. You can also use this button to create links both ways between your records. To do this, first create the link one way, as described above. Then click the "Add reciprocal link to the other record" button at the bottom of the editing panel. When you click this button, the toolkit will reverse the sense of the existing linking field, and add a linking field to the other record. For example, if you have used the toolkit to add a 780 field to the first record, a click of this button will cause the toolkit to add a 785 field to the second record. If the record contains more than one linking field, click first on the linking field of interest, then click this button.

Create a reciprocal link for an existing linking field: If any bibliographic record already contains a linking field and you want to put the reverse of this linking field into the "other" record in Voyager, you can call up the first record with the linking fields button, then simply click the "Add reciprocal link to the other record" button. In this case you don't need explicitly to identify the second record: it's already identified in the linking field.

6.16. Work with pre-RDA subfield $l

6.17. Work with pre-RDA records for librettos

6.18. Transform bibliographic records

Use the 'transformer' button to make a collection of changes to a set of bibliographic records. The separate transformer button on the toolkit's main panel allows you to make pre-defined changes to the record currently displayed in the Vger cataloging client; some secondary forms (such as the Z39.50 form) have their own 'transformer' button that allow you to do the same kind of thing in other contexts.

Any transformation you make with this button must be defined ahead of time, on the options panel. Use the options panel to define as many different transformations as you need, and also to assign one of those transformations to the transformer button. Although you can have a large number of defined transformations, the transformer button only performs the one transformation currently assigned to it.

To make a transformation to a bibliographic record, define a transformation and assign it to this button. Call up the record in the Vger cataloging and click this button. The toolkit makes the changes defined for the button's current transformation, saves the changed record to the Vger database, and attempts to re-display the record in the cataloging client for you.

6.19. Re-link holdings and item records

The re-link button uses features added to the BatchCat interface of the Vger system beginning with version 8.2. These features allow a program to move an item record from one holdings record to another, and to move a holdings record from one bib record to another. If you have an earlier version of Vger, you can not use the re-link button.

For any number of reasons, it can happen that you need to move an item record from one holdings record to another, and/or to move a holdings record from one bibliographic record to another. This process, commonly called 're-linking,' can be done through the Vger cataloging client. Unfortunately, the method used by the Vger cataloging client requires that the operator correctly type the target holdings record ID or bibliographic record ID. In addition, re-linking can only be done one record at a time, so if you have a large number of items to move on a single record, the Vger interface seems a hinderance rather than a help.

The re-link button on the cataloger's toolkit is an attempt to overcome these problems with the Vger cataloging client. With this button, you show the toolkit what you want to do, and the toolkit carries out the work for you. For example, you can grab a handful of item records and move them to a different holdings record in a single motion (sometimes this takes two moves); after you verify that the items are now at the correct place, the toolkit makes the move permanent for you.

You can also use this feature to create a new holdings record, and then move item records to that new holdings record. You can suppress and un-suppress holdings records, change the location of a holdings record and its associated item records, and change the item type in a group of item records.

You can use this button to re-arrange the holdings information attached to a single bibliographic record (for example, you might use this button to move older serial volumes to a new storage location). You can also use this button to shift holdings and item information between two bibliographic records. (For example, you could use this button to help you split apart a record that combines print and microform information into separate records, with appropriate holdings attached to each one.)

The behavior of this button is controlled by choices you make on the toolkit's Options panel.

To begin your work with this button, call up a record in the Vger cataloging client, and click the button. The toolkit will retrieve the bibliographic record, and list all of the associated holdings and item records linked to it, in a simple indented display. Each line in the display represents a holdings record or an item record; item records are indented under the holdings record to which they are linked.

The following picture shows a reasonably typical display. The bibliographic record has two holdings records with linked items, and one holdings record without any items.

The toolkit places each data element in each line into a separate subfield, using the vertical bar as the subfield delimiter character. For a line that represents a holdings record, many of the subfield codes are the familiar ones used in the 852 field, but there are some different ones, too; all of the subfield codes used for data from item records are made up just for this display.

Holdings record subfields:

• $a: First indicator from the 852 field ('#' = blank)
• $b: Location code (852 $b)
• $h: Call number: classification part (852 $h)
• $i: Call number: item part (852 $i)
• $j: Shelving control number (852 $j)
• $k: Call number prefix (852 $k)
• $l: Shelving form of title (852 $l)
• $m: Call number suffix(852 $m)
• $t: Copy number (852 $t)
• $w: Vger holdings record number; if the holdings record is suppressed, the number is within parentheses
• $z: Purchase order information

Item record subfields:

• $b: Barcode
• $c: Chronology
• $e: Enumeration
• $t: Item temporary location code
• $w: Vger item record number
• $x: Item type code

You will select holdings and item records in the display, and the use the buttons running down the middle of the display to tell the program what you want it to do. Here is a brief description of these buttons (there's more detail below about how to use each one):

• Use the "left" and "right" arrows to move an entire holdings record and all of its associated items from one bibliographic record to another, or to move one or more item records from a holdings record attached to one bibliogrpahic record to a holdings record on another bibliographic record. (These buttons aren't available unless the display shows two bibliographic records.)
• Use the "up" and "down" arrows to change the sequence of item records within a holdings record. Because the BatchCat interface doesn't provide a way for the toolkit to change the sequence of item records already linked to a holdings record, the changes that you make with these buttons will only affect the order of item records that the toolkit is going to link to a different holdings record. The toolkit can only change the order of item records when it moves the items from one holdings record to another.
• The "SUP" buttons change the state of a holdings record's suppression flag: if a holdings record is suppressed, this button will un-suppress it; if a holdings record is not suppressed, this button will suppress it.
• The "PLUS" buttons add a new holdings record to a bibliographic record. If you highlight an existing holdings line before you click this button, the toolkit will copy much of the information (first indicator and call number, for example) from that record into the new record; if you do not highlight an existing holdings line, the toolkit will create a mostly empty record. (If you create such an empty record, the program will copy the 852 first indicator and call number from the source holdings record when you move the first item record to it.) Either way, the toolkit will ask you to supply the location code for the new holdings record. If the new location is defined as suppressed from OPAC display, the toolkit will mark the new holdings record to be suppressed. If you select the option that creates subfield $t in new holdings records, the toolkit will attempt to generate a new copy number for the new holdings record.
• The "LOC" button allows you to change locations: either the location in a holdings record (with implications for the attached items), or the temporary location in item records. If you highlight a holdings line you can change the location in a holdings record (852 subfield $b); the toolkit will apply this code to the permanent location of all of the item records linked to this holdings record; you can also ask the toolkit to remove any temporary locations in the item records at the same time. (If the holdings record's new location is defined as suppressed from OPAC display, the toolkit will mark the holdings record for suppression.) If you highlight one or more item records you can use this button to change the temporary location codes in the item records, or to clear out the temporary locations
• The "TYP" button allows you to change the item type code in one or more item records.
• If you need to move item records from one holdings record to another on the same bibliographic record, use the "CUT" button )with a red down-pointing arrow) to make a copy of the item lines in a separate work area, then use the "PASTE" button (with a red up-pointing arrow; it's invisible unless there are item records available to move) to move them to their new location.
• Use the "question mark" button to call up this online description.

When you are working with holdings records, you should work with just one holdings record at a time; but when you are working with item records, you have more flexibility. You can use the familiar Windows keyboard commands to select multiple item records:

• To select a consecutive group of items, highlight the first item, press and hold down the Shift key, and then highlight the last item.
• To select items that are not consecutive, press and hold down the Control key, and highlight each item of interest.

When you are working with the re-link button, you can do the following, in whatever order seems appropriate to the situation at hand:

• Suppress or un-suppress a holdings record: Highlight one holdings line, and click the 'SUP' button. This flips the state of the record's suppression flag: if the record is suppressed, it will become un-suppressed; if the record is not suppressed, it will become suppressed.
• Create a new holdings record: If you want to copy call number information from an existing holdings record, highlight one holdings line, and click the 'PLUS' button; if you do not want to copy a call number from an existing holdings record, make sure no holdings line is highlighted, and click the 'PLUS' button. The toolkit will ask you for the location code (852 $b) in the new record, and then it will add a line at the bottom of the display for your new record.
• Change the item type: Highlight one or more item records (they don't have to be under the same holdings record), and click the 'TYP' button. The toolkit will ask you to identify the new item type, and then it will change the item type in the display to match your selection.
• Move item records from one holdings record to another on the same bibliographic record: Moving item records from one holdings record to another on the same bibliographic record is a two-step process; think of this as a cut-and-paste operation. First highlight the item records you want to move to a new home, then click the 'CUT' button. The toolkit makes a copy of the item records in a holding area at the bottom of the panel, and marks the items in their original home as being part of a move in progress. Then, highlight the holdings record to which you wish to move the item records, and click the 'PASTE' button next to the reserved item records. The toolkit will move the item records to their new home, and remove the temporary 'ghost' entry.
• Change the location code in holdings 852 $b: Highlight one line for a holdings record, then click the 'LOC' button. The toolkit asks you to select the new location. The toolkit will use your new location in 852 $b of the holdings record, and as the permanent location in all of the associated item records. When you assign a new location to the holdings record, you can also ask the toolkit to clear out any temporary location codes present in the item records.
• Change the temporary location code in item records: Highlight one or more lines for item records, then click the 'LOC' button. The toolkit asks you to select the new location; if any of the highlighted items has a temporary location already, you can also ask the toolkit to remove the temporary location, instead of changing it.
• For item records attached to a new holdings record, you can highlight an item line and click the 'MOVE UP' and 'MOVE DOWN' buttons to change the relative position of the line within the item record. The BatchCat interface doesn't provide a way to reset the sequence number of item records already linked to a holdings record, but because the toolkit will add item records to a new holdings record in the order they are shown in the display, you can at least control the order of items on a new holdings record.

As a simple example, assume that in the illustration above you wish to move the item lines for volumes 29-45 from the first holdings record to the second. First, highlight the item records of interest:

Click the red 'down' arrow to copy the selected items to a temporary staging area:

Select the holdings record to which the items should be linked, and click the 'up' red arrow:

If you need to move information from one bibliographic record to another, call up the second bibliographic record in the Vger cataloging client, and select 'Pick up second Voyager record' from the menu at the top of the re-linking panel. The toolkit will collect information about the second record, and display it to the right of information from the first record. The following illustration shows a typical two-record display.

You can do the same things with the record on the right that you can do with the record on the left; but you can also move holdings and item records from the record on the left to the record on the right, or from the record on the right to the record on the left.

• To move a holdings record from one bibliographic record to the other, highlight the line for the holdings record, and click the appropriate left or right arrow button. The toolkit will move the holdings record and all of its associated item records to the other side of the display.
• To move one or more item records from a holdings record on one bibliographic record to a holdings record on another record, highlight the items to move on one side, highlight the holdings record to which the items should be moved on the other side, and click the appropriate left or right arrow button. The toolkit will move the item records to the indicated holdings record.

After you have made all of the changes you think are necessary, you can select 'Preview' from the panel's menu. The toolkit shows you a detailed description of every action it will take when you tell it to go ahead and commit the changes. The toolkit's preview panel will also clearly show you when it will not make a change to a record. Make additional changes, and inspect the preview again, until the records are all as you wish them to be. (You don't have to preview changes if you don't want to, but when you're just getting started, or when changes are more complex than usual, it's a good idea.)

When you are satisfied that the holdings and item records are distributed correctly, select 'Save' from the panel's menu. The toolkit makes exactly the changes it showed you in its preview panel.

7.1. E-mail Vger records

Use the E-MAIL button to send the record displayed by the Vger cataloging client as an e-mail message. The button allows you to perform various transformations on the record as it is sent.

Configuration points to consider

The E-mail tab on the tookit’s Options panel controls the behavior of this button.

Your e-mail client must be configured to accept requests to send messages that arrive from Windows via the MAPI interface. If you e-mail client cannot process MAPI requests, you will not be able to use the toolkit to send e-mail messages.⁸⁶ Windows treats Microsoft Outlook™ as its default handler for MAPI messages. If you have not properly configured your workstation to process MAPI messages, you may see a curious message relating to Outlook when you try to send an e-mail message via the toolkit.

What happens

When you click the E-MAIL button, the toolkit shows you its e-mail form. This form allows you to control the appearance of the finished e-mail message.

• To: Select the person or persons to whom the message should be sent. Use the ‘Add’, ‘Change’ and ‘Delete’ buttons to modify the list of potential recipients. The number in parenthese to the left of the list of participants shows the number of highlighted addressees. (You can select an option that prevents a message from going to more than one addressee.) The toolkit shares this list of addressees with the e-mail ‘Notify’ option available during the formulation of a batch heading change request.
• Subject: The subject line for your message. The default message is set on the Options panel, but you should adjust the subject line as appropriate to suit individual messages.
• Accompanying message: The toolkit will give the current Vger record in the body of the message. You can precede this record display with a message of any length. If your message contains multiple paragraphs, separate each paragraph from its neighbors with two slashes.
• Continue with another record: Check this box if you wish to include more than one Vger record in your message. (For example, you might wish to include a bibliographic record and one or more authority records.) When you check this box, the caption on the ‘Send’ button changes to ‘Continue’. When the rest of the information on this form is current for the current record, you should click the ‘Continue’ button, call up another record in the Vger cataloging client, and click the E-MAIL button again. Continue in this manner to include additional records. When the current Vger record is the last record in the message, do not check this box, so that you can click the ‘Send’ button. You can include any number of Vger records in a single message. Each record in a continued message can be preceded by its own accompanying text, but the message can have only one subject line.
• Send Vger record as MARC attachment: The toolkit includes the Vger record in the body of the e-mail message. If you wish, you can also send the record in MARC format as an attachment by checking this box. The remaining choices are only relevant if you send an authority record as a MARC attachment to the message.⁸⁷ These choices only affect the content of the attachment; they do not affect the Vger record.
  • Change authority SRC=d to SRC=c: Change the value of 008/39 in the attached recordfrom ‘d’ to ‘c’.
  • Convert into SACO proposal: The toolkit changes the value of 008/31 (record update in progress) to the undefined value ‘n’, removes all 035 fields, adjusts the value of the 040 field, and adds the text ‘[Proposed]’ to the 1XX field.
  • Strip 001/003: The toolkit removes any 001 and 003 fields.

When you click the ‘Send’ button, the toolkit prepares the message as instructed and hands it to Windows. Windows in turn hands the message to whichever program is identified as capable of handling MAPI messages.

7.2. Print processing slips

Use this button to print ‘processing slips’ you might need to place in items that are not yet cataloged.⁸⁸

Configuration points to consider

The Processing slip tab on the tookit’s Options panel controls the behavior of this button. These options are also available when you are ready to print a processing slip.

What happens

When you click this button, the toolkit shows you a little form. If you’re going to be printing a number of processing slips during a work session, you’ll probably want to keep this window open the whole time.

The principal task (and, normally, only task) involves the identification of the Vger record for which you wish to print a processing slip. The default method is by item barcode; if your workstation has an attached barcode reader, you can just scan the barcode, and the toolkit will print the processing slip for the associated bibliographic record. If you know the Vger item or bibliographic record number, you can type type number into the box and click either the ‘Box has item #’ or ‘Box has bib #’ button, as appropriate. Finally, if the Vger cataloging client currently displays the record if interest, you can just click the ‘Get # from Vger’ button.

When you identify the record of interest with any of these methods, the toolkit will retrieve the associated bibliographic record from the Vger database, apply your design definition to it, and immediately⁸⁹ send the resulting page to the default printer.

Design of the processing slip

The toolkit offers you great latitude in the appearance of the procesing slip. You can decide which record elements should appear on the processing slip either by working from the toolkit’s Options panel, or by clicking the ‘Design’ button on the ‘Print record summary’ panel.

7.3. Review and print item records

You can use this button to view a single item record, all item records linked to a single holdings record, or all of the item records linked to all of the holdings record linked to a single bibliographic record. You can print the display.

If you view all of the items attached to a holdings record, the toolkit gives you a circulation summary for all of the item records; if you view all of the item records attached to a bibliographic record, the toolkit shows you a circulation summary for the entire title, as well as summaries for each holdings record.

There are several problems with the display of item records provided by the Vger cataloging client:

• It is not possible to view all parts of an item record at once (some parts are concealed behind icons, which must be selected individually)
• It is not possible to create a print of the item record (except via third-party screen-capture software)
• Circulation history is not available (you have to use the circulation client to find the number of times an item has circulated)
• Even in the circulation client, aggregate circulation history for a title is not available

This button attempts to remedy all these problems, by allowing you to view all parts of an item record—including circulation information—at one time.

Configuration points to keep in mind

If you request a printout of an item record display, the toolkit sends it to the printer named on the Printer tab of the Options panel. Otherwise, the settings on the Options panel have no effect.

What happens

The display you see depends on the active record displayed by the Vger cataloging client.

• If the active record is an item record, the toolkit shows you information about just this one item record
• If the active record is a holdings record, the toolkit shows you information about all of the item records attached to this holdings record
• If the active record is a bibliographic record, the toolkit shows you information about all of the item records attached to each of the holdings records attached to this bibliographic record.

The following illustration shows a typical display generated by this button. The operator requested this display when the active record displayed by the Vger cataloging client was a bibliographic record, to which 2 holdings records are attached.

The display begins with summary information from the bibliographic record, followed by a summary of circulation information from all of the item records attached to both holdings records. This is followed by summary information for each holdings record (only the first is visible here). Each holdings summary is followed by detail information for its linked item records (only the first two are visible here).

To receive a printout of the entire item summary, click the ‘Print’ button.

7.4. Close all open windows

Each form or dialog panel used by the toolkit contains a button that closes or hides the form. You can use the CLOSE ALL WINDOWS button to hide all of the toolkit’s subsidiary panels. (The toolkit’s main panel of buttons is always visible.)

7.5. Get online help

The HELP button takes you to the point in this online documentation that describes the current operation. To see online help for any of the toolkit’s buttons, simply pick up this button with the mouse and ‘drop’ it on any other button. (You can even drop the button on itself.)

Many of the toolkit’s subsidiary forms also contain a ‘help’ button of some kind. In some cases, this is a button you can drop on elements in the form to see a description of that specific element; in other cases this button shows a simple question mark, and takes you to a general description of the form as a whole.

7.6. Search Vger

7.7. Review a list of records

From time to time, you may use one tool or another to produce a list of record numbers of Vger records that need review. For example, you may use an SQL statement in Microsoft Access™ or Northwestern’s VgerSele to produce a list of holdings records whose call numbers fall within a given range. You can also use any tool at your disposal to generate a list of bibliographic or authority 010s of interest.

If you have such a list of Vger authority, bibliographic, holdings or item record numbers, or authority or bibliographic 010s, you can hand the list over to the toolkit’s VIEW RECORDS IN A LIST button. The button will call up each record for you, and you can take whatever follow-up action may be appropriate. The button saves you the trouble of typing in the number for each record you need to review, but the button doesn’t actually help you do anything with the record.

You can use this button to review any type of Vger record you can call up via the Vger cataloging client: authority, bibliographic holdings, or item. The only restriction is that all of the records in the source file have to be of the same type—you can’t mix holdings and item record numbers, and you can’t mix authority and bibliographic 010s, for example. In most cases, the file of record numbers will be a plain text file; if you open the file with the Windows Notepad and it looks like a plain list of record numbers, the toolkit will be able to use it. You can also feed the program a file containing extracted Vger records in MARC format. (These records must have the Vger control number in the 001 field.)

To review a set of records (once you’ve generated the file of record numbers), click the VIEW RECORDS IN A LIST button. You should have the Vger cataloging client running, and not minimized, before you click this button. The toolkit shows you a dialog box similar to the following. You need to identify the file, and tell the toolkit about it.

Use the ‘Browse’ button to find the file of record numbers. Click the radio button that corresponds to the information in that file (authority, bibliographic, holdings or item record numbers; MARC records; authority or bibliogrphic 010s).

The choices in the ‘If file contains Vger record numbers, help the toolkit find the Vger record number’ box let you tell the toolkit more about your file of record numbers. In most cases, you will give the toolkit a file that contains nothing but Vger record numbers; in this case, select the radio button labeled ‘First contiguous string of numerals in each line.’ This means that the record number is the first thing in each line of the file. (The line may contain additional text following the record number.) In rare cases, the Vger record number may be embedded within a line, preceded by some constant piece of text. If this is the case, click the ‘Contained within line, preceded by label’ radio button, and give in the box the text that precedes the Vger record number in every line of the file.

The 'Endgame' frame tells the toolkit what to do after it has read one line from the file.

• Choices in the 'Clipboard' box tell the toolkit to use information in the source file to modify the Windows clipboard. The toolkit can copy any remaining text in the line of the source file to the Windows clipboard, or the toolkit can copy the record number to the Windows clipboard without attempting to call up the record in the Vger cataloging client at all. (The toolkit's ability to recall a record within the cataloging client is fragile; you may find it more efficient to have the toolkit copy record numbers to the Windows clipboard and then call up the records in the cataloging client yourself (using Ctrl-V to paste the number into the cataloging client's dialog box), rather than suffer in silence as the toolkit makes several unsuccessful attempts to call up a record.)
• Choices in the 'Button to click' box tell the toolkit one final thing to do after it has extracted a record number from a line in the source file. The toolkit can act as if you had called up a record in the Vger cataloging client and then clicked some other button. At present, the only available choice is the '$l' button; you can pass a list of record numbers directly to the '$l' button and in nearly every case avoid use of the Vger cataloging client at all. The ability to move directly to the handling of a record without first calling up the record in the Vger cataloging client will be extended to other toolkit buttons that use the 'fancy' editing form, as the need presents itself.

If you check the 'Automatically move to next record when current record is closed in the cataloging client' box, the toolkit will monitor the cataloging client as you do your work. If the toolkit has called up a record for you and you have saved and closed the record, the toolkit will automatically advance to the next item in the list. Note that this option involves a significant amount of guesswork and approximation on the toolkit's part: if it doesn't behave correctly according to the way you like to work, don't select this option.

When you click the ‘OK’ button, the toolkit opens your file, finds the first record number, opens the first record in the Vger cataloging client, and opens a little window that allows you to control your work with the records in the file.

The ‘|<’, ‘<’, ‘>’ and ‘>|’ buttons move you to the beginning of the list of records, to the previous record, to the next record, and to the last record, respectively. The two ‘Skip’ buttons allow you to move backwards and forwards a large number of records. (The default size of the skip interval depends on the number of lines in the file of record numbers.) The ‘Save list from this point to end’ button allows you to re-save the list of records from the current point to the end, so you can pick up tomorrow where you leave off today. The 'Delete' button marks an item in the list for deletion, and advances to the next item. Finally, the Options button allows you to change the arrangement of the buttons on the form.

If a line in the source file contains text other than the record number itself, the toolkit puts the text into the window on this form. For example:

• If a line in the source file contains “123456 check 008/13: should be ‘c’?”, the toolkit will retrieve record 123456 and put the text “check 008/13: should be ‘c’?” into the text box
• If a line in the source file contains ‘Invalid check-digit in ISBN 0123456783 Voyager 234567 should be 012345678X?’ and you’ve told the toolkit that the Vger record number is contained within a line in a line preceded by the text ‘Voyager’, the toolkit will retrieve record 234567 and put the text ‘Invalid check-digit in ISBN 0123456783 should be 012345678X?’ into the text box.

The text box is empty if the only thing in a line from the source file is a number.

The toolkit will tell you when you reach the end of your file. The toolkit does not modify the source file of numbers unless you click the ‘Save list from this point to end’ button.

7.8. Exit the program

Click this button when you’re done working with the cataloger’s toolkit. The toolkit saves its settings to its initialization file, and then disappears.

You can also use the little ‘X’ button in the toolkit’s upper righthand corner to cancel the toolkit.

8.1. Introduction

Text goes here.

8.2. Assign call numbers

These buttons only work for catalogers at Northwestern University Library.

8.3. Search for Cutter numbers and GACs

This button only works for catalogers at Northwestern University Library.

Text goes here.

8.4. Catalog Africana conference papers

This button only works for catalogers at Northwestern University Library.

Text goes here.

8.5. Find series records for standing orders

This button only works for catalogers at Northwestern University Library.

Text goes here.

8.6. Clone records for preservation photocopies and electronic reproductions

This button only works for catalogers at Northwestern University Library.

Text goes here.

9.1. Introduction

You control the behavior of the cataloger’s toolkit by providing appropriate values for a large collection of miscellaneous pieces of information. Some of these pieces of information pertain to your Vger installation, some pertain to the toolkit itself, and some pertain to you, the individual toolkit user. (Some elements of the toolkit's behavior are further controlled by information in a large number of configuration files).

To inspect these pieces of information, or to make changes to them, click the CONTROL PANEL button. The toolkit shows you its options screen. There are too many options to fit on one panel, so the options are arranged on a series of tabs, rather like cards in a file. In fact, there are so many options that there are actually several different sets of these tabs, or piles of cards. There are quite a few tabs on the main options display, and well over twenty secondary displays. Several of the secondary displays have multiple tabs of their own. (This all sounds a bit confusing, but it's much more straightforward to use than it sounds.)

The cataloger's toolkit consists of a large number of discrete compoents all attempting to work together. Many of the properties you set on the options panel are simply passed along to the appropriate component, which deals with the implications of your choices at the appropriate time. Because there are so many options, it is a difficult thing for the toolkit to keep track of which options pertain to which component, and the toolkit will not necessarily pass changed values to the proper component when you change and then save your options.

This means that whenever you make important changes, you should close the toolkit and start it again, to be sure that each component has the current information; in fact, this isn't a bad way of proceeding for even minor changes.

When you click the CONTROL PANEL button, the toolkit presents the primary set of tabs, opened to the tab that leads to the subsidiary tabs for controlling individual buttons. When you first install the toolkit, you’ll need to set values on each of the tabs in this collection of general options before you worry about each button’s details. Once you’ve got the basic toolkit installation settled, you’ll probably only need to adjust the behavior of individual buttons; so most of the time, you’ll go from this opening panel to the displays for a single button.

The following view of the toolkit’s options display is provided for the purposes of illustration only. The options panel is the subject of frequent rearrangement as buttons are added and deleted, and as the need for additional user control over certain tasks becomes evident. However, the descriptions that follow are intended to be complete.

To see a set of options on the main tabbed display, click the tab heading ('General', 'Connections' and so on). To see the options pertaining to an individual button, go to the ‘Button details’ tab and click the button of interest. When you’re done with all of the variables in the options panel, click the ‘OK’ button to preserve your changes, or click the ‘Cancel’ button to tell the toolkit to ignore them.

At any time, you can click the ‘Online help’ button at the lower left. The toolkit will launch a Web browser and point to the page in this documentation that describes the tab you’re viewing.

9.2. General configuration options

9.3. Options for individual buttons