Difference between revisions of "Step 6.0"

Latest revision as of 15:44, 4 February 2026

Step 6.0: Ongoing Services

Notification service

The MARS 2.0 Authority Notification Service keeps your authority files up to date by notifying you when authority records are updated, replaced, or deleted, and supplying the updated records to your library. This service is very flexible, with options that make it easy to customize in order to meet local requirements.

With the exception of new records that replaced deleted records and unmatched headings (briefs), you do not receive new authority records through this service. The Current Cataloging Service provides new authority records.

No downtime is required for your catalog while this service is running.

This service works great in conjunction with an ILS that can globally update Bib Headings based on the new/changed authority records that are provided. If your ILS cannot do this, please talk to us about the Bibliographic Update Service (see below).

Current Cataloging service

The focus of the Current Cataloging Service is to incorporate Authority Control for your new bibliographic records into your regular cataloging workflow. There are two components to this service:

• Delivery of bibliographic records upgraded by MARS 2.0 Authority Control processing. All the same settings that you put into place with your Basefile Profile(s) are transferred to this process. This helps keep your catalog consistent!
• Delivery of new authority records not previously distributed to you that match headings in the bibliographic records. Also included are changed authorities that were previously distributed but also appear again in the current batch of bib records you provided.

All Ongoing Service plans intend to include Current Cataloging plus EITHER Authority Notification OR Bibliographic Update. However, there are some institutions that receive updated authority records from another source so Current Cataloging alone may be appropriate.

Bibliographic Update service

Some ILS don't have the ability to update Bibliographic Headings when Updated Authority Records are issued as part of the Authority Notification Service. This is where the Bibliographic Update Service comes in (Comprehensive Notification in Marcive parlance).

As part of this service, we store all Bibliographic Records you have sent for processing in a Master Bibliographic Database. This includes all Bib records from your Basefile plus all records from your Current Cataloging (New Bib) service. On an agreed frequency we will "re-authorize" the Bib Headings within the Master Bib Database to identify 1) New or Updated Authorities and 2) Bib headings to update. We will deliver back to you all new/updated authorities in addition to the Bib records that had headings updated.

However, the you must submit any updated or deleted bibliographic records prior to the scheduled run. Why? Because we don't want to change headings in Bibs that you either don't have any longer OR that you have edited in some other way. It helps us keep things sync'd so we don't "undo" edits you've painstakingly made.

The Bib Update Service does also require downtime within your catalog so that you are not making changes to records that could potentially be overlaid, thus having those changes lost. However, we have fine-tuned our process so instead of being down up to a week, we can usually complete the process within a day or two.

So, let's just reiterate that workflow:

1. Backstage creates a database of Bibs based on your Basefile + all subsequent Current Cataloging batches
2. Right before you're scheduled to process, YOU will send us your Changed and Deleted bib records
3. We will import and overlay the older versions of those Changed/Deleted Bibs
4. We will re-authorize all headings within the latest Master Bib Database. In this process we track which headings have changed as well as which authorities have changed
5. We deliver changed Bibs plus any new/changed/deleted authorities back to you
6. You load all files back into your system

You may be asking, "How is this different than the Current Cataloging service that I'm also subscribed to?" Great question! The Current Cataloging process involved MUCH MORE work on the Bibs. You may remember that in your basefile you had various clean-up routines happening that include MARC validation, stripping fields, RDA Enrichment, etc. in addition to authority matching. These other routines happen in the Current Cataloging service and NOT the Bibliographic Update Service aside for some punctuation fixes in the headings that were updated. The Current Cataloging and the Bibliographic Update are complementary services and provide you with a well rounded Authority Maintenance service.

MARS 2.0 Master Authority File

MARS 2.0 maintains a Master Authority File for your institution that has been supported by any of the MARS 2.0 Authority Control services. Your MARS 2.0 Master Authority File can actually consist of a number of separate authority files, based on the profile options selected by you and your staff:

• National-level authority records (separate files for LC, MeSH, NLC, etc.)
• Locally generated records that conflict with LC practices, but are required for your catalog
• Locally generated records to be replaced by national-level records
• National-level authority records with local tags & subfields to be merged with updates in national records
• MARS 2.0 unmatched heading records for all bibliographic headings that did not fully match a national-level authority record during the MARS 2.0 Authority Control processing of your bibliographic records

National-level authority files

The first step in your Notification Service is to compare each authority record previously distributed to you with the current version of the appropriate national-level authority files.

This service is available on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis.

An update has occurred when a national-level authority record’s 005 date and time of latest transaction field is later than the date and time in the 005 field in the record previously distributed to your library.

Deleted records

If one of the authority records (based on its control number) no longer exists in the national-level file, a delete has occurred (i.e., the national library has removed the record from the master copy of their authority file).

If you choose to receive updated records electronically, the deleted authority records will have the Record Status (Leader byte 05) set to d.

Replaced records

For each deleted authority record, MARS 2.0 programs search the entire appropriate national-level authority file to see if the deleted record has been replaced.

If the record’s control number is found in the appropriate field in the nationallevel file (for example, 010 $z for LC authority records) the deleted record has been replaced by a different authority record.

MARS 2.0 includes replacement records as new records in authority update files, and/or displays them in Authority Delete Reports.

MARS 2.0 unmatched heading records

Your MARS 2.0 Master Authority File includes a brief record generated for each unmatched heading during the MARS 2.0 Authority Control processing of bibliographic records.

During every subsequent Notification Service, MARS 2.0 programs search for a national-level authority record corresponding to these unmatched headings.

When searching the national files, MARS 2.0 programs always check both the Established Heading (1XX) and See From xrefs (4XX) for potential matches. If one is found, the new authority record will be included in the authority distribution files.

The new national-level authority record will replace the MARS 2.0 unmatched heading record in your Master Authority File.

Authority record status

MARS 2.0 automatically sets the Record Status (Leader byte 05):

• New (n) - these authorities are new to your catalog
• Changed (c) - these records already exist in your catalog and are changed
• Deleted (d) - these authorities need to be removed from your catalog

Note: Authority records issued by LC with a record status of a (increase in encoding level) are distributed by MARS 2.0 with a record status of c (changed), since it is a change to a record in your local authority file.

Similarly, authority records issued by LC with a record status of s or x are distributed by MARS 2.0 with a record status of d, since they need to be deleted from your local authority file.

Upgrading damaged authority records

If authority records have been modified during previous cleanup projects by other vendors, records could be missing a necessary field (e.g., 005) or have damaged or missing LC Authority Record Numbers. Let your MARS 2.0 project manager know if your authority file needs extra attention.

Topics

Notification

• Step 6.1 - Authority Update Frequency
• Step 6.2 - New & Changed Authorities
• Step 6.3 - Deleted Authorities
• Step 6.4 - Older Forms of Headings
• Step 6.5 - Library Adds & Deletes

Current Cataloging

• Step 6.6 - New Bibliographic Update Frequency
• Step 6.7 - New & Changed Authorities

Bibliographic Update

• Step 6.9 - Authority Update Frequency
• Step 6.10 - New & Changed Authorities
• Step 6.11 - Deleted Authorities
• Step 6.12 - Older Forms of Headings
• Step 6.13 - Bibliographic Changes & Deletes

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