Re: [IUG] Creating holdings list for Serials Solutions

[Bob Duncan <duncanr at lafayette dot edu>]

At 01:53 PM 02/13/2008, Sara wrote:
> I am trying to create a list of our print holdings to update our
> Serials Solutions A-Z list. I need the following information to send
> them: title, ISSN, coverage date start, coverage date end, and the url
> for the catalog record. I can create a list of titles and ISSNs easily,
> but I can't figure out if there's a way of exporting the start and end
> dates separately, nor can I figure out how to pull up the url. Does
> anyone have any experience coming up with this kind of data, especially
> for Serials Solutions?


The biggest problem is getting the coverage dates since (a) the 
starting and ending data are not stored in separate fields; (b) we 
tend to clutter up holdings fields with more information than dates; 
and (c) a title available in multiple formats and/or with gaps may 
have multiple holdings statements.  We're in the midst of converting 
all of our holdings to MARC21 format and it's still not easy to get 
coverage data out in a useable format.  YMMV.

That said, armed with some time and a fairly high comfort level with 
Excel, you can get there eventually.  If your coverage information is 
fairly consistently formatted, Excel's "Text to columns" feature can 
make quick work of splitting the data into separate columns.  And if 
you export the record number, the catalog URLs can be created using a 
pretty simple formula that concatenates your server's address and the 
record link syntax with the first 8 characters of the record number 
(since the record number with the check digit won't work in a URL).

Bob Duncan


~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Robert E. Duncan
Systems Librarian
Editor of IT Communications
Lafayette College
Easton, PA  18042
duncanr at lafayette dot edu
http://www.library.lafayette.edu/