Copy and paste multiple MARC fields into the metadata editor
We would like to be able to copy multiple lines from MARC records and paste them into the metadata editor so that multiple MARC fields are pasted into the record in one action. This would help us enormously with our workflow of importing MARC authority records from LibrariesAustralia into Alma.
For us, this is necessary because the LibrariesAustralia headings are not in the community zone and are unlikely to ever be included there and Alma does not allow for Z39.50 import of authority headings.
We have this functionality of copying and pasting multiple fields in the LibrariesAustralia Cataloguing Client and other library systems allow it. At the moment we need to paste each line one by one into Alma and it is slow and repetitive. This process is a step backward from previous functionality.
Lynne Billington
shared this idea
Dear all,
I believe we now understand the requirement better: To be able to paste a block of text in MARC 21 format, and have Alma parse it and populate the MARC tags, indicators and subfields accordingly.
This is a larger development, but we hope to be able to add a solution for it to our future roadmap.
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Lynne Billington
commented
Thanks Karen.
Yes I'm sure a lot of people have used MARC EDIT software? It has the ability to copy and paste multiple lines as a plain text editor, which is what I am asking for. -
Karen Benko commented
Both management responses miss the point. People need to paste fields into a record open in edit mode in the MDE. See Lynne Billington's comment from July 11, 2018.
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Karen Abel
commented
In response to Itai...
Though this is the case when working solely on existing internal MARC records within Alma, it is not currently possible to copy multiple MARC fields from external MARC records that have been found using 'search resources' (i.e. searching for external MARC records from WorldCat and Jisc Library Hub Cataloguing etc.). This is when the ability to copy multiple MARC fields from external MARC records is often essential to quickly enhance internal MARC records.
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Lynne Billington
commented
This is possible in Millennium and Sierra. Now that we have a shared view forward between ExLibris and III, perhaps we need a separate section of ideas for the functionality that could now be incorporated into Alma? I have a list.
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Ingeborg Helene Malkenes
commented
Time saving!
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Bjørge Vestli
commented
This would be a great improvement for catalogers working with documents that have many contributors. For example this song book:
The New Broadway Fake Book : 645 songs from 285 shows - ISBN: 9781495004285
Our patrons often require sheet music for individual songs. If we are going to include song books in our catalogue we have to analyze them properly. The above example requires close to a thousand added entries in MARC. A list of contents is usually available online and converting it into added entries for example in Excel takes a minute or two. It's much better than typing every single entry manually and better than creating and importing a MARCXML file using an import profile. (Importing Excel or CSV files is also possible, but for some reason fields cannot be repeated using this method.)
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Lynne Billington
commented
Thanks Itai. While this would be fine if I was only to copy from Alma, I want to COPY multiple fields from systems such as the LibrariesAustralia Cataloguing Client or MARCEdit (or Notepad), which are plain text MARC editors, and then PASTE those multiple fields into Alma, which is not currently possible. They all end up in the one field with the tags inside the field.
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Today it is possible to copy multiple fields in the Alma Metadata Editor.
All possible actions can be found in the online help:"Copy (Ctrl+C) Copies the selected text - To copy multiple fields simultaneously, press Ctrl and select all the fields to be copied."