Searching for MARC Records Using SmartMARC v5
By Wally Johnson
Created on 5/15/2002
Technical Note Summary:
This document is designed to assist librarians in searching for MARC records using SmartMARC. In addition, this document will cover all the functions of the SmartMARC program. It is presumed that you have already set all your preferences and are ready to begin using SmartMARC. For more information on setting preferences, please refer to Technical Note T0011.
The Purpose of SmartMARC:
SmartMARC was designed to find MARC records to complete your library’s database, using multiple source databases to compare records. SmartMARC is able to search the following source databases: Precision One CD’s from Brodart, Z39.50 servers and Alexandria Databases. SmartMARC can copy Precision One CD’s to your computer’s hard drive to speed up searches and to allow for searching more than one Precision One CD at a time.
SmartMARC has many automated functions that can update records based on the best match found in the source databases. SmartMARC also allows the user to select which records are saved from the source databases, thereby adding more control over what is updated in your database.
SmartMARC provides a template that can be used to manually catalog a record should the user not find an acceptable record in the source databases.
SmartMARC also has file converters that can be used to change files from MARC to MicroLIF format or from MicroLIF to MARC.
Like Alexandria, SmartMARC has a built in email program that can be used to send questions or problems to Technical Support.
Looking Up Records Using Single Search
The SmartMARC v5 Search window is used to enter information about the item you wish to find records for. The more information you provide SmartMARC, the better chance of finding a match.
The fields available to search by are: ISBN, Title, Author, LCCN, Publisher, Publication Year and Keyword. Please refer to Image 1
Image 1
ISBN is the abbreviation for International Standard Book Number. Every edition of each book should have a unique ISBN assigned to it. This makes the ISBN search very specific, since no other edition will match. You can scan or key the ISBN into this field. If you are keying in the ISBN, you need not key in dashes or spaces. Scanning the ISBN will cause SmartMARC to search only by the ISBN. The ISBN can be found on the back of most books, and may also be found on the copyright page inside the book. ISBN is found in the 020 field in the MARC record.
Title searches are the most general type of search, and therefore, in most cases, provide the greatest number of results. The Stop Word setting, found in the Local Info Preference window, determines which words will be dropped from a title during a search. AN and THE are the two stop words provided by default, more can be added to enhance searches. The title can be found in the 245_a field in the MARC record.
Including the Author when searching by title helps SmartMARC find records that most closely match your book. In most cases, you will want to include at least title and author. Authors should be entered last name first. The primary author can be found in the 100_a field.
LCCN is the abbreviation for Library of Congress Control Number. This number is a unique identifier used by the Library of Congress to catalog items. The LCCN is found in the 010_a field in the MARC record.
The Publisher field used to enter the publishing company’s name. The publisher field corresponds to the 260_b field in the MARC record.
The Publication Year is the year the material was copyrighted. Publication year is found in the MARC record under the 260_c field.
Both publisher and publication year can be helpful in weeding out records that do not match your exact edition. Records that contain matching publication year and publisher will be scored higher on the Results window.
Anyword is used to search for a particular word in the MARC record.
To the right of the ISBN Search you will see the Max Results setting. This setting limits how many records will be displayed when there are multiple results. The setting applies to the current search only, and will be reset on the next search to whatever the Default Maximum Search Hits is set to in Single Search Preferences in SmartMARC.
Just above the SmartMARC log pane, there are two settings: Search for Books and Search for Non-books. Both settings are based on the information provided in the 245_h field of the MARC record, which is the medium or GMD. You can limit the results based on medium by marking or unmarking these boxes.
The SmartMARC Results Window
Unless you have chosen to have SmartMARC automatically use the best match, your search results will be displayed on the SmartMARC Results window, under Matching Title List. By default results are sorted by Score. Score is determined by how closely the result matches your search criteria. The more information provided on the Search window, the more information SmartMARC will have to determine a score and filter those results which most closely match your item to the top of the Matching Title List. It is possible to re-sort the Matching Title List by clicking on the Title bar or the Source bar. Clicking on the Title bar will cause the Matching Title List to be sorted alphabetically by title. Clicking on the Source bar will cause SmartMARC to resort the results by the source database that each record comes from. All lists are sorted in descending order. Please refer to Image 2.
Image 2
The bottom portion of the screen is used to view the individual MARC record that is selected from the Matching Title List. All records are displayed in MicroLIF for readability. If you find a record that you wish to save, click on the Save button and the SmartMARC Local Information window will open allowing you to add your local holdings information. If you do not find an acceptable record, you can close the SmartMARC Results window and search again or you can click on the Add Other button to catalog the record yourself. When you click on the Add Other button the Add Record window will appear allowing you to catalog the item. The purpose in providing the Add Record window is to allow you to catalog a complete record from SmartMARC, eliminating the need to enter it into Alexandria manually.
Both the Add Record window and the SmartMARC Local Information have similar functions and fields. Please refer to Image 3.
Once you have finished entering in the information and clicking on Save, the record is saved and you will be returned to the SmartMARC Search window.
Image 3
Once on the SmartMARC Search window, you can clear all the information on the screen by pressing Control and N on the PC version, or Command (Apple) and N on the Macintosh version.
The SmartMARC Menu
The SmartMARC menu contains all the utilities available in SmartMARC. Please refer to Image 4.
Image 4
The Match Import File utility allows you to run an auto match against any file in MARC or MicroLIF format. The file will be compared against the source databases selected in the Set Database preferences of SmartMARC, and will create an unmatched file and a matched file that can be found in the SmartMARC folder. Once the auto match is complete, you can then change databases and run the unmatched file through the utility again. Once you have completed checking the unmatched file against different source databases, you can then import the matched file.
NOTE: PLEASE BE AWARE THAT RECORDS FOUND BY SMARTMARC MAY NOT BE CATALOGED CORRECTLY OR MAY NOT MATCH WITH THE RECORD PROVIDED. SMARTMARC SELECTS THE CLOSEST MATCH THAT IT CAN, HOWEVER THOSE RECORDS MAY NOT BE ACCURATE. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT IF YOU USE THE AUTO MATCH FEATURE, YOU CHECK THROUGH EACH RECORD IN THE FILE AND VERIFY THAT IT IS ACCEPTABLE PRIOR TO IMPORT.
COMPANION CORPORATION WILL NOT BE HELD RESPOSIBLE FOR BAD RECORDS THAT YOU IMPORT INTO YOUR DATABASE. AS WITH ANY UTILITY OR UPDATE, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU BACKUP YOUR DATABASE PRIOR TO RUNNING THIS IMPORT.
The Update Alexandria Data utility works in the same manner as Match Import File, but instead of creating files, it makes live updates to your Alexandria data. Since all changes made are final, it is strongly recommended you create a backup of your Alexandria data and that you use this utility with caution. This utility is to help librarians gather basic records when starting a new library where the Alexandria database contains only ISBN, LCCN, author, title and publisher information, and consequently not for use with most libraries.
In the SmartMARC menu there are two conversion utilities: Convert to MicroLIF and Convert to MARC. Because MARC is so difficult to read, it is advantageous to have a utility that will convert a file to MicroLIF format for editing and preview records. Conversely, because some library software is limited to MARC only imports, there is a conversion utility available to switch records into MARC format. As with any conversion, some data may be lost in the process.
When you run either conversion utility you will be asked to locate the file that you wish converted and then you will be asked what file name to use and where to place the converted file. Both windows are shown below. Please refer to Image 5.
Image 5
The next two items on the SmartMARC menu are related: Start Queue Search Mode and Queue Search Mode. Selecting Start Queue Search Mode will place SmartMARC in a special mode where search queries are saved to a file and searched for later rather than being processed immediately. When Search the Queue is selected, the saved queries are searched for. This can be handy if you do not have a permanent Internet connection and must connect periodically, or if you must wait until later to run searches due to network traffic. Searches that are performed in this mode will be saved to a file. Results will contain no local holding information.
As previously mentioned, New Search clears the SmartMARC Search window in preparation for the next search.
Check for Updates queries the COMPanion update server, checking to see if a newer edition of the SmartMARC software is available.
If you are saving to a file, the Delete Saved Records will clear that file.
If you forgot to insert your Precision One CD when you started SmartMARC, you can use the Check for P1 CD’s utility to have SmartMARC recheck for the disk.
The Copy P1 CD to Hard Disk utility will copy your Precision One CD to your hard drive. There are two advantages to having a Precision One CD copied on the hard drive; first, it dramatically increases the speed of your searches; the second reason is that having one CD copied to your drive allows you to place another CD in the CD-ROM drive. Because Brodart places all data prior to 1991 on the Retro Print CD and all information after 1991 on their Update CDs, the entire Precision One database can be made available to SmartMARC by copying the Retro Print CD to the hard drive and placing the Update CD in the CR-ROM drive.
To copy a CD to the hard drive, place the CD in the drive, and then start SmartMARC. If you are already in SmartMARC, but forgot to place the CD in the drive, you can use the Check for P1 CD’s as mentioned above. Once SmartMARC identifies the CD, go to the SmartMARC menu and choose Copy P1 CD to Hard Disk. The Copy P1 CD window should open. Please refer to Image 6.
Select the drive you wish to copy the CD to under Copy To, then click on the Copy button. The CD will then be copied to the hard drive you have chosen. You may close this window when the operation is complete.
Image 6
Technical Support
Under the Apple menu on the Macintosh platform, or under the Help menu on Windows machines, there is a Tech Support option. There are two tabs: Send Email and System Configuration. Please refer to Image 7.
Image 7
Once you have entered your email address into the Library Info Preferences in SmartMARC, you can send messages to Technical Support through this window. Replies from Technical Support will be sent to the email address you specified in the Library Info Preferences.
Each message you send will also contain all the information found on your System Configuration tab to assist Technical Support in answering your questions.
NOTE: IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE REFER TO THE SMARTMARC MANUAL, OR CONTACT TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT 1-800-347-4942
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