VOYAGER CATALOGING INFORMATION IN THE ONLINE CATALOG TRAINING
Ruth Horie (http://www2.hawaii.edu/~ruthh)
August 1-2, 2000

SUMMARY OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

NOTE: This is a summary of questions attendees posed and the responses that I either gave during the sessions or made later, based on consulting with appropriate individuals and experimentation in the training database. If there are any errors or omissions, please let me know so the summary can be corrected. -- Mahalo, Ruth Horie ruthh@hawaii.edu

"Will the public be able to access the online catalog?"

Yes, just as the public can now access our CARL online catalog via the Library's homepage or directly through the URL, the Voyager catalog will be accessible 24 hours a day. At some point, the CARL catalog will be retired and the Voyager catalog will take its place.

"Why is there no call no. in the WebVoyage full record display?"

What displays there is based on the OPAC configuration. At present, the location, call no. and copy no. are in the "Holdings/Location" display. Kris Anderson's WEBPAC committee is working very hard to determine what displays and how elements from the bib records are labelled in the OPAC display.

"What's the difference between the OPAC and Staff searches in the Cataloging module?"

Staff searches will retrieve everything in the database. OPAC searches will not retrieve records that have been suppressed from public display. (Sample title: Test OPAC suppressed record)

What kinds of records might be suppressed from public display?"

Cataloging workforms (templates) might be suppressed. Acquisitions order records might also be suppressed. The departments are still working on policies and procedures.

"Will IN PROCESS records be suppressed from public display?"

No, those records will be displayed, just as they are now in CARL.

"Will we be able to place non-public notes in item records?"

Yes, take a look at the title "Test note in item record."

"Can specific tags in a record be suppressed from public display?"

Yes, at present, the 541 immediate source of acquisition and the 971 local note do not display in the WebVoyage full record view but they both do display in the MARC format view. The fact that the OPAC is currently configured to display the 971 tag in the MARC format view may be an issue for libraries that have a policy not to display certain donor information. (Sample title: Test OPAC display 541)

"What tags do we see in the cataloging module?"

We see all the tags, indicators, and subfields present in the record in the cataloging module.

"Where can we find the acquisitions information?"

The holdings display in the associated records hierarchy in the Cataloging Module will show "order status." (Sample title: Test for JAPPUM) Complete acquisitions information (funds, allocations, P.O.s, vendors, statuses) will be in the Acquisitions Module itself. It may be possible for selectors at some point in the future to have access to that module.

"Can the item record statistical category for Hawaiian/Pacific Book" be divided into separate Hawaiian and Pacific categories?"

Yes, there is a committee working on formulating the categories. I will route that suggestion to Sophia McMillen.

"Can there be more than one statistical category for a given item?"

Yes, there can be as many categories as are logical assigned to a given item. Example: Pacific Book and Literature.

"Who is going to assign the statistical categories to the items?"

The categories can be assigned at the point of cataloging, but that workflow is still to be determined.

"Will we be able to use the statistical categories to find out, for example, how many items of a certain category are in the collection?"

Not really. Only newly cataloged items that have categories assigned to them will be retrievable by those categories. There is already MARC coding in our existing records that has information on certain categories, such as language and format. The Reporter Module would be able to extract that type of information. Unlike the bibliographic and holdings records, the Voyager item records are not in the MARC format. The Reporter Module might be able to extract the categories but unless all the records in our database have categories assigned, a report based on them would not give a true picture of the collection.

"Will we have to use the 'incoming data' option to print a full MARC record that is more than one screen long?"

No, that is a CARL feature that Voyager does not have. In the WebVoyage, the complete MARC format display can be printed directly from the browser, no matter how long it is. In the Cataloging module, the "file-print record" command will also print the full record, even if it is too long to display on one screen. Some diacritics will not display on WebVoyage, but will display and print correctly in the Cataloging module.

"How will we have to fill in the various 8xx tags in the MFHD to correctly display serials holdings, and how much will be automated or need to be manually typed?"

There are various ways to display holdings. We will be receiving some training in September from Alice Permenter, on the Z39.71 standard for holdings data. After that training we will have a better idea of what to do. For creating monographic holdings records, the module is largely automated. The system will pull the call no. from the bib record.

Additional questions: Aug. 3, 2000

"Why is the non-keyword staff subject headings search the default search in the cataloging module? Can this be changed?"

Yes, this might be changed in configuration of the cataloging module, which hasn't been done yet. We were told by the Endeavor trainer that with use, the most common searches done by those using the module will float to the top of the list, and the other searches will be listed below in alphabetical order by name of search.

"Why are some of the letters on the right margin cut off on the sample printout of a bib record from the cataloging module on p. 10 of the handout?"

There is a printer configuration problem that hasn't been solved yet. It doesn't matter what font you set in the cataloging module. We think it has something to do with the individual printer. If your printer cuts off a few letters at the end of a line at the right margin, please let DNS know about it.

Go to My Computer, Printers, highlight printer icon (ours is an HP LaserJet 4000 PCL 5e), click file, click properties, click print quality, click text mode, click truetype as bitmaps. (Aug. 8, 2000)

Additional questions: Aug. 10, 2000

Will the read-only access for cataloging be automatically set up or will public services staff need to request passwords?

The read-only password for cataloging will be set up by the Cataloging Dept. and Systems. Most likely the password will be the same as the one disseminated during the Cat-OPAC sessions (cat read). Any public service or library staff who wish to view the catalog module could use that generic password. For public service people who will do cataloging or bib maintenance, we will issue individual passwords that are tied to specific levels of cataloging functions. For now, feel free to explore in the read-only mode.