Working with Record Templates

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To work with templates, you must have one of the following roles:

Cataloger
Cataloger extended
Catalog Manager
Catalog Administrator

In the MD Editor you can create templates in which you pre-define the fields you want to be included in original cataloging records. The templates can include data in all fields and subfields, and include both control and non-control fields. This allows you to increase your productivity by working more efficiently.

Private, Shared, and Community Zone Templates

Templates may be private or shared among catalogers:

Private templates are only available to the user who is logged in.
Shared templates can be used and edited by any user who has permission to work with templates.
Both private and shared templates can be contributed to the Community Zone, where templates can be shared between institutions. For information on contributing templates to the Community Zone, see Contributing to the Community Zone - Normalization, Merge, and Indication Rules.

The blue icon next to the template identifies editable templates. Users with a Cataloger role can edit the templates they created. Users with the Cataloger Extended role can edit any templates, except the out-of-the-box templates (these template have the indication '(Default)' by their name).

Icons Next to the Templates

Icons in the Templates List:

Icon	Description
	Private institution template. Only the user currently logged in can use and edit this template.
	Shared institution template. Any user who has permission to work with templates can use and edit this template.
	Network template. Network templates are always shared. Any network user who has permission to work with templates can use and edit this template.
	Community Zone template. CZ templates are always shared. Any CZ user who has permission to work with templates can use and edit this template.

Out-of-the-box (Default) Templates

Out-of-the-box templates (also called 'system' templates) are the templates that were provided by Ex Libris. These templates have the indication '(Default)' by their name. When an out-of-the-box template does not meet your requirements, use the "Duplicate" option to make a copy and modify the copy to match your requirements.

In addition to the MD Editor usage, the default template is applied to records added by automated processes such as records added using an API or through purchase requests.

Out-of-the-box templates are identified as "Default" in its template properties (see below). Note that such templates must contain default values for any mandatory fields/subfields (see Editing Fields) to ensure that automatically-created records have the minimum required information.

Template identified as default in Template Properties dialog

For holdings records, the Default holdings template can be used outside of the MD Editor, such as when placing orders through Acquisitions or doing a repository import of holdings records, if the use_marc_record_holdings_template customer parameter is set to true; see Configuring Other Settings for more information.

The Default template is applied to records before normalization processes are applied to these records. See Working with Normalization Processes

Using the Form Editor When Creating Templates

The form editor for the 006 and 008 fields presents only the relevant options for the current type of record as identified by Type of record (position 6) and Bibliographic level (position 7) in the LDR field. You may need to change the LDR for these positions to be able to view the options that you want to incorporate into your template for the 006 and 008 fields.

Working with Existing, Locally Created Templates

Use the procedure below to work with existing, locally created templates.

To access and work with existing templates:

On the MD Editor page (Resources > Cataloging > Open Metadata Editor), select the Templates tab in the left panel.
Enter the template name in the search box.

Template Search Box
Select the template and choose one of the following options or select an option in the Template Actions menu.

Option	Available for	Description
New Record from Template	Institution templates Network Zone templates	Select to create a new bibliographic record from the template. If you select a Network Zone template, by default the record is created in the Network Zone. To create the record locally, select File > Options New > Placement of new records and templates options and select Local within this dialog box.
Edit	Institution templates	Select to edit the template (available only for local templates.
View	All templates	Select to view the template in cases when you cannot edit it.
Duplicate	All templates	Select to duplicate the template, so you can modify the copy and create another template based on this template.
Set as Default	Shared institution templates	Select if you want the template to serve as the default template for newly created records. The Default option is not available when Private is selected.
Contribute to CZ	Institution templates Network Zone templates	Select to contribute this template to Community Zone (if you have this capability). The contributed template appears both in the Shared folder and in the Community Zone folder.
Make Private	Shared institution templates	Select to make the template private. Only the template creator can change template access from Shared to Private. Alma moves the template made private from the Shared folder to the Private folder.
Share Template	Private Institution templates	Select to share template with other users in your institution (available only for local templates).
Properties	All templates	Select to view and modify the template properties, such as its name.
Delete	Institution templates	Select to delete the template (available only for local templates).

Editing Template Properties

Use the procedure below to edit template properties for an existing template:

To edit template properties for an existing template:

On the MD Editor page (Resources > Cataloging > Open Metadata Editor), select the Templates tab.
Enter the template name in the search box.
Select the template whose properties you want to modify and select the Properties option. The Template Properties dialog box appears

Template Properties Dialog Box
Modify the following template properties to match your requirements:
- Name – You may rename the template. This is a required field.
- Description – Enter or modify the description to more specifically identify the template. This is especially useful when contributing templates. See Contributing to the Community Zone - Rules and Templates for more information.
- Private – Select this option to restrict access to the template. Only the template creator can change template access from Shared to Private. The Default option is not available when Private is selected.
- Shared – Select this option to make the template available to other users.
- Default – Select this option if you want the template to serve as the default template for newly created records. The Default option is not available if you have selected the Private access option.
Select Save.

Creating a New Template

New templates can be created from existing records or from existing templates. To create a template from an existing template, use the "Duplicate" option.

To create a template from an existing record:

Open an existing record in the MD Editor (under the Records tab).
Select File New > Save as Template. The Save as Template dialog box opens.
Enter/select the following:
1. Name (required)
2. Description
3. Private or Shared template
4. Default if you want this to be the default template that opens when creating a new record.
Select Save. The new template is saved under the Templates tab and appears with the local institution icon.