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How To Cataloging

These short how-to pages highlight the most important or tricky elements of various Minerva cataloging-related operations.

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Cataloging
How To... 		Description

General Information

 Please remember you need to open Millennium to perform many of the "How To's".
Item records are local They belong exclusively to a single library, which has sole discretion over such records, subject only to Minerva cataloging standards.
Bibliographic records are shared and must follow established standards New and corrected bibliographic records must conform to the latest revision of Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd ed. (AACR2), and AACR2 rules should be applied according to Library of Congress cataloging practices. Subject headings must conform to Library of Congress Subject Headings(LCSH), the Library of Congress' Annotated Card program (LCAC) for children's subject headings, or Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Genre headings must conform to the Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction, Drama, etc. as described under Genre Usage in655 Field on the Minerva Management Page. Records created according to the above standards must be coded according to MARC 21 rules. Exceptions to the above will be considered by the Cataloging Standards Committee and the Minerva Executive Committee on a case by case basis.
One bib record per edition There should be only one bibliographic record in the Minerva database for each edition of a work, with this exception:  If local practice requires it, a temporary bib record may be created for one-time use in a circulation transaction, for instance to track local loan of an ILL item received outside of Maine Info Net processes.  Such records should be suppressed from view in the OPAC by placing the value "n Suppress" in the INITIALS field of the bib record. (Libraries may request that MSL staff define a new bib template with this value already set.)  This will avoid display of confusing information to OPAC users.  See How to Suppress Bib and Item Records for more information.
Online Manual The Innovative Interfaces online manual at http://minerva.maine.edu/manual is bookmarked on one or more computers readily accessible by the staff, and their general use is understood by appropriate members of the staff.
CSDIRECT At least one staff person knows how to access the CSDIRECT online web site at http://csdirect.iii.com.
Freeing records At least one staff person knows how to Free a Record in Use By the System, menu path A - F from the main menu on the character-based side of the system.

Core Cataloging

 Please remember you need to open Millennium to perform many of the "How To's".
Cataloging Multipart Items Decision making tree on cataloging multipart items
How to Create Item Records (Mil) Basics of searching, selecting a bib record and attaching new item records.
Deal with Cataloging Errors Standard practice for dealing with bib record problems.
Original Cataloging Creating new bibliographic records from scratch is a last resort if an existing record cannot be found. Use Minerva & SOLAR Manual
Enter Input Library And Initials In A Bib Record Minerva has run out of fixed field values, so a new method is needed for new Minerva libraries.
Handle Leading Articles in Foreign Language Titles Handling of titles that start with a foreign language article can raise questions.
Suppress Bib and Item Records Sometimes it is necessary to make records invisible to the OPAC.
Use General Materials Designators(GMD) GMD's serve to identify the medium in which a work is presented.
Make Changes to Records for Random Items Moving items from New to Stacks?  Changing status and price for a stack of materials?  This and much more can be done quickly by scanning a series of barcodes.
Moving Item Records A step by step guide to transferring item records from one bib record to another.
Overlying Records. Remote Z39.50 record to upgrade an existing Minerva record.
Avoid Common Cataloging Mistakes Improve cataloging by following these six steps.

Periodicals

Please remember you need to open Millenniumto perform many of the "How To's".
Periodical/Serial Cataloging A comprehensive guide to cataloging serials.
Quick MARC for Serials This chart is a field-by-field outline to MARC tags used in serial records.

Subject Cataloging

 
Subject Headings Standard practice for working with subject headings.

Lists

  
Create Lists Collecting records into a review file opens a variety of updating and reporting possibilities.
Featured Lists Highlight new books, materials on a theme or for an occasion, etc.

Locations

  
Item locations The Location field in an item record refers to a shelving location within a library. It tells the OPAC user where in the library to find a given item. Item Locations are usually 5 characters long. There may exist from a handful to several dozen item locations for a given library. Additional locations can be defined, and old locations discontinued, upon request.
Bib locations The Location field in a bib record controls whether a library's holdings appear within its local location scope.  Failure to insert a value for the bib location field will render holdings "invisible" to OPAC users.  Each library has just one 3-character bib location.  (While a utility program is run periodically to make sure that each bib record carries the appropriate bib location for all the item records attached to it, the only way to ensure that locations are set right and that location scoping works as expected immediately after editing, is to manually insert the appropriate value in the bib record whenever you create a new one or attach library's item record(s) to an existing bib record).
Tents icon Use the "tents" icon in GUI Cat to enter and edit multiple location values in bibliographic records.   (A location of "zzzzz" indicates that no location, or an undefined location, was entered in a record.)

Millennium Guide

This guide provides step-by-step instruction in use of the Millennium Cataloging client software.

GUI Cat Tips

Please remember you need to open Millennium or GuiCat to perform many of the "How To's".
Eliminate Duplicate Bib Records(GUI) Six basic steps to eliminate duplicate bib records
Drag and Drop in GUI Cat A quick tutorial on picky but powerful techniques for copying MARC  fields and moving item records.
Create and Edit Bib Records  
How to Create Item Records (GUI) Basics of searching, selecting a bib record and attaching new item records.
Perform Basic GUI Cat Skills  
Templates For Use With the GUI Cataloging Client Bibliographic and item templates
Use Z39.50 Through GUI Cat Searching for good quality cataloging information to bring into the Minerva system.

Exporting From Minerva

 
Export Data For Use Outside Minerva Download data for use in a desktop spreadsheet or database management program.

Importing Into Minerva

  
Load Batches of Bib Records Description of process for loading small batches of bibliographic records.
Import From OCLC CatME Into Minerva Setup and use of OCLC Cataloging Micro Enhancer as a source of records for Minerva.
Use OCLC Cat Express with Minerva Specifics of how to enter information into Cat Express in order to get desired results in Minerva.