MARC manual links from Tag Information in Cataloguing

Tags: aleph , cataloguing , cataloging , marc21 , manual
Last Updated: Jan 14, 2010 16:44

• Description

  This script modifies the files which appear as the Tag Information in the Aleph Cataloguing client so that links are added to the full MARC 21 manuals on the Library of Congress web-site. This makes it easy for the cataloguer to call up the full manual whenever they are in doubt. The script copes correctly with the 006 and 008 field sub-formats, and provides helpful links to the MARC language and country code lists.

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• Author: Matthew Phillips
• Additional author(s):
• Institution: University of Dundee
• Year: 2009

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• License: GNU Public General License
• Link to terms: Detailed license terms

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• Skill required for using this code:
  basic

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State

Stable

Programming language

Perl

Software requirements

None

Screen captures

Example of the link appearing for the 245 field:

Example of the various links added to the 008 field tag information:

Download

Download files in tar.gz archive

Installation instructions

Download the tar.gz file as above and unpack on your server. General installation instructions can then
be found in a ReadMe file in the archive, and more specific instructions within ReadMe-Add-Tag-Links. It is simply a matter of telling the script the names of your BIB, HOL and AUT libraries, and then running the script to create the links. Once the script has been run, it will tell you which tables packages need to be rebuilt using Util M/7 and you can go and do that. The whole process is reversible as the script keeps backups of the original files.

Always test first on your test server, and always have a recent backup to hand.

Known issues

Only applies to MARC 21 cataloguing. If you have craeted your own documentation for local fields, the script may attempt to add links to those files too, but the links, of course, will not take you anywhere useful on the Library of Congress site.

Prior to installing a service pack with automated installation notes it is advisable to use the script to restore your original help files, in case these are to be modified by the automated installation notes. You can then re-run the script afterwards to reapply the links to the MARC manual.