Posts Tagged ‘New Product’

Bowker TOC Enrichment

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Since we acquired the MARS Authority Control service from OCLC back in 2004, the Backstage crew has focused on bringing choice to our customers. Whether expanding search capabilities with updates like the heading tracker, simplifying our planning guide, or providing regular updates in an easily digestible format on our blog, our intent has been to give you, our clients, more options for getting things done.

Recently, we partnered with Bowker’s Syndetic Solutions to provide our customers with another choice when it comes to table of contents (TOC) enrichment. The Bowker service is designed to complement and serve as an alternative to our existing TOC service through Blackwell.

Our clients who use the Bowker service will see immediate benefits in:

1. Lower cost
2. Faster turnaround

For the new service, we host the entire Bowker database on our servers and integrate regular weekly updates. Because the database resides locally, we are able to repurpose some of our highly efficient MARS routines, fully automating the enrichment process and keeping costs on our end to a minimum. Then we pass those savings on to you.

In addition to Table of Contents field (505), we also provide Summaries (520) and Fiction Profiles (69X). And we only charge you for the enrichments your records actually receive, regardless of how many options you may have selected.

Housing the database locally allows us to track how many and what type of enrichments a record receives, so we can bill at a lower price for records that are only enriched on one or two elements.

Besides lowering the cost of enrichment, hosting the Bowker data at Backstage dramatically reduces the time your records spend out of your system for processing. Your records will be processed and returned to you with the same quick turnaround you’ve come to expect on your authority control.

With the database in-house, we can integrate the entire TOC enrichment workflow into your Current Cataloging process, or you can select groups of records for stand-alone enrichment.

Because each library’s ILS configuration is unique, we allow you to choose where you prefer to place the Bowker data. For example, you can place the 505 data from the Bowker record in a 970 field on your record.

You may prefer that existing data in your records be retained over potential Bowker matches in the same field. If you like, we can keep your content and not enrich on that particular element

The point is that you have more choices.

Since we acquired the MARS Authority Control service from OCLC back in 2004, the Backstage crew has focused on bringing choice to our customers. Whether expanding search capabilities with updates like the heading tracker, simplifying our planning guide, or providing regular updates in an easily digestible format on our blog, our intent has been to give you, our clients, more options for getting things done.

Recently, we partnered with Bowker’s Syndetic Solutions to provide our customers with another choice when it comes to table of contents (TOC) enrichment. The Bowker service is designed to complement and serve as an alternative to our existing TOC service through Blackwell.

Our clients who use the Bowker service will see immediate benefits in:

1. Lower cost
2. Faster turnaround

For the new service, we host the entire Bowker database on our servers and integrate regular weekly updates. Because the database resides locally, we are able to repurpose some of our highly efficient MARS routines, fully automating the enrichment process and keeping costs on our end to a minimum. Then we pass those savings on to you.

In addition to Table of Contents field (505), we also provide Summaries (520) and Fiction Profiles (69X). And we only charge you for the enrichments your records actually receive, regardless of how many options you may have selected.

Housing the database locally allows us to track how many and what type of enrichments a record receives, so we can bill at a lower price for records that are only enriched on one or two elements.

Besides lowering the cost of enrichment, hosting the Bowker data at Backstage dramatically reduces the time your records spend out of your system for processing. Your records will be processed and returned to you with the same quick turnaround you’ve come to expect on your authority control.

With the database in-house, we can integrate the entire TOC enrichment workflow into your Current Cataloging process, or you can select groups of records for stand-alone enrichment.

Because each library’s ILS configuration is unique, we allow you to choose where you prefer to place the Bowker data. For example, you can place the 505 data from the Bowker record in a 970 field on your record.

You may prefer that existing data in your records be retained over potential Bowker matches in the same field. If you like, we can keep your content and not enrich on that particular element

The point is that you have more choices.

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ALA Mid-Winter Recap

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Nate Cothran, our head of Authority Control recently returned from the Mid-Winter session of ALA. This is what he had to report:

Backstage kicked off the year right by attending the ALA MidWinter conference held at Boston, MA.  Even the weather cooperated.

On Saturday, January 16 at 7:30am EST, the Authority Control dept hosted a Users Breakfast at the Seaport Hotel, which was just a hop, skip & a jump away from the new conference center itself.  The breakfast was quite good and we had many clients and Backstage personnel co-mingling.  It was also a great opportunity for me, Nate Cothran, to finally meet with a lot of you at last.  Though I have attended ALA in the past, this was my first chance to attend the breakfast.

John Merrill, our CEO out at Bethlehem, PA said a few words about our recent acquisition of the “PresRes” from OCLC, which handles Microfilm duplication, Storage and other Digitization services.

I was also able to give a brief introduction to a couple new services we have to offer immediately:

  • MAX – Mars Authority eXpress
  • Bowkers TOC – Table of Contents enrichment

MAX can return your processed Current Cataloging bibs typically in less than an hour (our system can process about 20,000 recs/hr).  This service costs a bit more, and it is especially useful for libraries that need their records processed & returned immediately.  The great thing about MAX is that there is no minimum fee or schedules that need to be fussed over; simply send in your records through our website any time of the day in whatever size file works for you and we will get the results back to you fast.

Backstage Authority Control has also incorporated the Bowkers/Syndetics TOC database.  What this means is that we now have a direct means of providing you with enriched (TOC, Summaries, Fiction profiles) content as part of your normal bib processing.  Since we maintain the database in-house, this reduces the cost on our end and we pass those savings onto you by also lowering the cost of what you may have been paying elsewhere.  We also thinks it makes sense to charge you only for the enrichments you actually receive.

Both MAX & Bowkers TOC are in place today.  If you’re not sure whether either of these makes sense to your library, please ask us to setup a sample run for your records.  At Backstage, we love to run samples for our customers as it helps us refine the process for them and also gives our clients the assurance they need for these exciting new services.  For more information on these services, please feel free to contact me, nate@bslw.com, or your Sales Representatives from Backstage.

You’ve made it this far in the blog post, only a little further!  I had the opportunity to attend some great presentations at ALA regarding cataloging and so I would like to pass the links to our forum that contain my notes:

Karen Anderson was scheduled to attend the all-day training session for RDA (Resource Description and Access) at ALA, but unfortunately slipped on a patch of ice at her house and broke her arm.  So Maritta Coppieters, our Bibliographic Services Product Manager, attended in her stead.  Maritta also had to catch a plane to England on Sunday, January 17, but I was lucky enough to glean some of her notes regarding the latest updates on RDA.

While we still plan on sending out regular updates on RDA (of which Backstage is one of the vendors training on it), I have posted my notes from Maritta in our forum:

There has been a lot of chatter (AUTOCAT) regarding the pricing for the RDA subscription and we will continue to follow this closely.

My thanks to all of you that I was able to meet at ALA!  I look forward to meeting many more of you in Washington, DC for Annual this June.

Nate Cothran,

Product Manager, Authority Control Services

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Mid-Winter ALA 2010

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Hello and Welcome to the New Year! If 2010 is anything like 2009, it will be an exciting time to be a part of the authority control process. In the Automation Services Dept we are eagerly putting together some fantastic new services that will save you in time, convenience, and cost for this new year. We are anxious to let you all know about the exciting new services coming your way.

To whet your appetite, here is a brief taste of the two services we are ready to roll out:

· MAX – MARS Authority eXpress. A service with no minimum record requirements that also promises you your records within an hour of receipt?

· Bowker TOC Enrichment – Backstage has partnered back up with the Bowker service, which provides TOC & Summary enrichment at a reduced price.

To find out more information about this as well as the ongoing updates with RDA, we would like to invite you to our MARS Breakfast Meeting, to be held on Saturday, January 16th from 7:30 am to 8:30 am. This meeting will take place at the Seaport Hotel (directions inline), near the conference center and we will have an RSVP link up very soon on our website. We are hoping that this timeframe allows you to come meet with us, listen to a brief update on these services and the status of RDA and still give you enough time to make your way for the 9:00 am sessions at the conference.

Nate Cothran and Karen Anderson will be attending as well as a few others from Backstage. We can’t wait to see you all there!

ALA_Boston_Hotelmap_FINAL-1

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Adding New Services

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Hello and welcome to our friends in the Library world. We hope that this week sees you with much happiness and joyous thanksgiving!

You may have noticed a few subtle changes occuring over the last few days and weeks. Slowly this site is changing from the Authority Control blog to the Automation Services blog. Why are we making these changes? Because we’re making a concentrated effort to make your lives easier by offering more solutions for a greater variety of needs.

We’ve already talked about one of these services, Marcadia, here. Nate Cothran, the Vice President in charge of Automation Services explains a little bit about some of the other new services and how they can help you.

Machine-Upgrade

Have bib records with a brief amount of information?  Are they good enough to keep but not bad enough to discard?

Backstage Library Works can upgrade your brief bib records against full MARC records from Library of Congress.  The matched records will replace your brief records, bringing them in line with current MARC21 standards and AACR2 formatting.

We have many different options for you to consider when upgrading your brief records.  What’s important is returning matches that enhance your collection.  Try our FREE Records Test today and see if the Machine-Upgrade service is right for you and your bibs.

Deduplication

Have a set of records that need to be consolidated?  Just acquired new records to add to your existing database?

Backstage Library Works combines your records into one manageable database.  Deduplication merges your duplicate records into one match.  Have holdings fields you want to also merge with the matched record?  We can retain any field you specify and even move data around based on your instructions.  Backstage Library Works lets you decide how strict or lenient the match criteria should be.

You receive a cleaner database, with all of your data intact and the peace of mind that comes from knowing another project can be crossed off of your list.

Custom Services

Need to rearrange the data within your records?  Have a subset of records that could benefit from a quick fix?

Backstage Library Works offers the ability to work within your expectations.  The way you want to modify your records is the right way and we can make that happen for you.  With our expertise in your corner, you no longer have to worry about when you will have the time to change your records.  We make the time for you and return it when you need it.

At Backstage Library Works, we don’t ask, “Why do you want to do that?”  We ask, “When can we make this happen for you?”

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Juvenile Subfield Additions

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Adding a Juvenile Subfield $v to your Library of Congress Heading

Children’s subject headings are a separate file within the LC subject file. They are designated by a second indicator of 1 in the 650 tag. The adult representation found under Library of Congress Subject headings uses a $Juvenile qualifier. The LC Children’s authority file contains just over 950 authority records.

In the automated authority control world many of our libraries are interested in changing all of their children’s subject headings to their Library of Congress equivalent.  We have always had the ability to search these children’s headings against their adult equivalent.  Recently, our clients requested that we add a juvenile subfield $v at the end of a heading that we flipped from Juvenile to Adult.  That was easy enough to do we simply added a $vJuvenile at the end of the tag once the heading was flipped to an adult heading.  However, this still did not adequately define the type of juvenile subdivision we wanted to represent the heading.

We knew that there were fixed fields within the bibliographic record that more precisely defined the type of Juvenile book we were looking at.  What we decided to do is base the juvenile designation on these specific codes.  If the bibliographic record is a book format (leader/06 = ‘a’or ‘t’) then we check byte 33 of the fixed field to determine what type of juvenile heading this is.  There are fourteen different characters that define the Juvenile book from Comic Strips to Speeches.  However, there is not a valid subfield $vJuvenile …. for each representation.  What we decided to do was translate the ones that did have a valid representation to that heading.  For instance if byte 33 was a ‘d’ we created the juvenile heading $vJuvenile drama.   The following charts indicate what heading are assigned to what code in byte 33.

= “1” : add “$vJuvenile fiction”
= “d” : add “$vJuvenile drama”
= “h” : add “$vJuvenile humor”
= “p” : add “$vJuvenile poetry”

All headings that did not have a valid subfield $vJuvenile representation in byte 33 were defaulted to Juvenile literature.

We also looked at leader byte six to determine if the bibliographic record was something other then a book and assign an appropriate juvenile designator to the headings.  For example, if leader byte 6 is ‘e’ or ‘f’ for maps we add $vMaps for children or if byte 6 is a ‘g’ and byte 7 ‘m’ or ‘v’ we add $vJuvenile films to the adult heading.  The following example illustrates what this change will look like once your juvenile headings have been converted to Library of Congress.

Examples
        Child heading:
        650   1 $aRain forests.
        650   1 $aCollies$vFiction.


        Matched LC adult with "Juvenile" description added:


        650   0 $aRain forests$vJuvenile literature.


        650   0 $aCollies$vJuvenile fiction.


For a more detailed account of subfield $vJuvenile assignments please review section 3.8 of our planning guide: http://ac.bslw.com/community/wiki/index.php5/Profile_Guide_Step_3.8

				


				
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Announcing a new Product

				Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

				

					
Bibliographic Record Update Service


 


Due to popular demand, Backstage Library Works is now offering a third ongoing service product that we call Bibliographic Record Update Service.  This service updates your bibliographic records during our Notification Service.


Over the years Backstage has offered two ongoing products for automated authority control.  For all of your new bibliographic records we provide a product called Current Cataloging.  Current Cataloging is designed to pick up where you left off with the original automated authority process.  We take all of your new bibliographic records and process them exactly like we processed your original bibliographic database.  With this process we return to you newly validated bibliographic records with updated authority headings that match the new and updated authority records we return to you.  We retain in your master authority file all new and updated authority records.


To complement our Current Catalog product Backstage offers Notification Services.  Notification Services matches your library’s master authority file against the National Databases on pre determined intervals to give you updated and new authority records that replace the old authority records on your database.


Both of these products together are a very efficient and cost beneficial way to maintain your authority database.  For most libraries this is sufficient.  However, with the Notification product it is left to the Library’s ILS system to reconcile new authorities delivered by Backstage with existing authority headings in their bibliographic records.  The process of importing and updating the Library’s authority records is straightforward.  Control numbers are matched up and the newly imported record overlay the old authority record.  However, for some ILS systems the updating of the authority heading is done by a string match on the 1XX or the 4XX of the authority record.  If neither are the same as the old bibliographic authority heading the record will not automatically reconcile.  Typically, this is done through reports but the effort to reconcile or to populate the authorized heading in the bibliographic record can be partially manual and can be time consuming depending on the ILS and the library.


How big of a job is this?  It really depends.  Up until the advent of the closed death date Backstage did not receive a call involving the amount of time you spent on reconciling new authority records to existing authority headings but that has changed.  Recently, we have noticed an interest in having this part of the ongoing authority process further automated.  As a result we have developed a complimentary service we call Bibliographic Record Update Service.


What we will do during our Bibliographic Record Update Service is maintain your bibliographic records along with your authority records.  With this service, Backstage will have a master bibliographic file as well as a master authority file for your library which we will maintain for you.  When Notification Services run on your database, our Bibliographic Record Update Service will also run.  Backstage will update or reconcile your bibliographic database as well as your authority file before we send records back to you.  We will deliver to you updated bibliographic records along with your updated and new authority files.


How does this help you?  The time spent reconciling your new and updated authority records to their associated bibliographic records will disappear.  Your library will simply need to upload updated bibliographic records along with new and updated authority records.  The process will be identical to what you do for Current Cataloging.


To maintain your bib file we will need any changed bibliographic records sent to Backstage prior to your Bibliographic Update service.


If you are interested in this new service please contact your sales representative or the MARS authority control team for more information.


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