Working with Bibliographic Records

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

Cataloger
Cataloger Extended
Catalog Administrator
Catalog Manager
Content Manager
Content Administrator
Content Operator

The Alma repository contains bibliographic records that represent physical, electronic, and digital resources. Using the Alma Metadata Editor, you can manually create bibliographic records for these resources (see Creating Bibliographic Records for more information).

To merge duplicate bibliographic records, see Merging Bibliographic Records. For additional management tools, see Managing Bibliographic Records.

You can create bibliographic records automatically by importing bibliographic data from other sources in files. For more information, see Importing Records Using Profiles. Additional information related to working with bibliographic records from external resources can be found in Resource Management.

The Community Zone can be used to identify resources and link them to your local repository.

For more information about the Community Zone, see the Alma Community Zone Intro and Task List video (14:10 mins).

If your Alma system is part of a collaborative network, you can centrally manage bibliographic records; see Network-Managed Records in a Collaborative Network.

Creating Bibliographic Records

Alma provides the Metadata Editor for creating individual bibliographic records. To customize the process of entering bibliographic records, you can use a template that you tailor to your needs (see Working with Record Templates for more information).

Creating a MARC 21 Bibliographic Record

To create a MARC 21 bibliographic record:

Open the Metadata Editor (Resources > Cataloging > Open Metadata Editor).
Select New > MARC 21 Bibliographic and select the default template for entering a bibliographic record.
The Metadata Editor opens this template.
Enter the data for your bibliographic record. See the Metadata Editor Menu and Toolbar Options section for additional information regarding working with the Metadata Editor.
For information regarding entering record content in Hebrew, see Show Directional Characters and Insert Directional Characters.
For additional information on cataloging in Hebrew, see Special Issues in Hebrew Cataloging.

When you catalog the 010 or 035 fields, enter a hash sign (#) for each space that you want saved for this field. The content is saved to the Alma database as spaces (for each hash sign entered), but appears in the Metadata Editor as the hash sign, to more clearly identify the exact number of spaces in the field.

In the following fields, the system provides pop-up assistance after you type the first three characters (see the illustration below):
- 260 $$a, b, e, f
- 264 $$a, b
- 505 $$r, t
- 561 $a
Pop-Up Assistance Example (Not Suggested Headings)

When entering special characters, the pop-up assistance was implemented in the following manner with a customer parameter setting:
- When entering record content and the Metadata Editor provides suggestions (after typing the first few characters) and using the Eszett character or ss in place of the Eszett , the suggestions provided are specific to what you type. That is, typing values with ß, such as Großbritannien, displays only results that contain ß, and typing values with ss, such as Grossbritannien, displays only results that contain ss.
- When entering record content and the Metadata Editor provides suggestions (after typing the first few characters) and using the umlaut character or the letter without the umlaut, the suggestions provided are specific to what you type. So, if you type Müller, you get suggestions with the ü; and if you type Muller, you get suggestions without the ü.
- When entering record content and the Metadata Editor provides suggestions (after typing the first few characters) and you type a hyphen, only results appear that contain a hyphen, such as Baden-Baden. If, for example, you type Baden Baden without the hyphen, only results that do not contain a hyphen appear.
Contact Support to set the customer parameter for subfield suggestions to handle Metadata Editor suggestions in the manner that you prefer.

The pop-up assistance provided for these fields is not suggested for authority or bibliographic headings. This pop-up assistance is determined by the descriptions that you create and save in the Controlled Vocabulary Registry (see Configuring Controlled Vocabulary Registry) and then, subsequently, identify in your metadata configuration using Choose Controlled Vocabulary (see Editing Fields) to select the Controlled Vocabulary Registry list of descriptions that you previously created.

Choose Controlled Vocabulary

To access suggested authority and bibliographic headings, press F3 from the field that you are entering/checking. The system opens a list of options from which to choose (note that the subfields are extracted according to their original cataloging order). If no headings suggestions are available, Alma displays No matching headings found. See Using F3 for more information.

F3 Example - Suggested Authority and Bibliographic Headings

If you are working in IE and press F3, make sure that you press Enter while the focus is on the text. Otherwise, the headings list may not display properly.

When priorities have been defined for multiple authority vocabularies, the system checks for matches in priority order and displays the results on separate tabs (such as GND and LCSH) in priority order from left to right when F3 is used. See Authority Priorities for more information.
- Local authorities are identified with the word (Local) in parentheses.
- Preferred terms are identified with a star. Non-preferred terms are blank at the left (the absence of a star).
- Select View to display the entire authority record.
- Select Select to insert the content into the record on which you are working.
- Select the Headings from bibliographic records tab to view the suggested bibliographic headings.
- For additional information, refer to Working with Authority Records.
Select the Save icon. For additional information regarding saving records, refer to Saving Records in the Metadata Editor.

If you edit a field in an existing record that is related to another field in another record, the link between the records is broken when you save the edited record. Alma must run the MMS - Build Record Relations job (see Viewing All Scheduled Jobs) in order for the link to be recreated. If you edit a field that is not related to a field in another record, the link between the records remains intact.

Working with Uniform Title Headings for GND Records

For GND authority records, headings are created from the 1XX and 4XX fields. In addition, for uniform title authority records, headings are also created from the 5XX fields when the GND authority record contains:

075 $b u
130 field and a 500, 510, or 511 with $9 that contains one of the following:
- 4:auta
- 4:koma
- 4:regi
- 4:kuen

As a result, when editing records in the Metadata Editor and using F3, suggested headings may provide results based on headings created from the 5XX fields. See Linking an Authority Record to a Bibliographic Record for more information about working with F3.

Starting with the May 2017 release, the capability for utilizing 5XX data is being implemented gradually. Initially, this capability is available for new uniform title authority records and, ultimately, will be available for all GND records.

Generating Uniform Title Authority Headings that Begin with $t

When uniform title GND authority records (identified by 075 $b u) are contributed to the Community Zone, additional authority headings are created that begin with $t. These headings are created in addition to the headings that are created from the 1XX and 4XX fields in the authority record. When bibliographic records are edited and F3 is used to link to authority headings, the additional headings beginning with $t provide more access points for F3 authority headings verification. This is also the case for 1xx and 4xx fields except for the 130 and 430 fields.

See below for an example authority record and the authority headings created.

Authority Record:

035 ## $a (DE-588) 9999999-9

075 ## ... $b u ... $c 1 ... $q s

100 1# $a Williams, Tennessee $d 1911-1983 $t <<A>> streetcar named desire

400 1# $a Williams, Tennessee $d 1911-1983 $t Endstation Sehnsucht $9 v:$: ÖB-Alternative

Headings Created:

Endstation Sehnsucht | Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983 | (DE-588) 9999999-9 | us | 1

<<A>> streetcar named desire | Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983 | (DE-588) 9999999-9 | us | 1

Williams, Tennessee 1911-1983 Endstation Sehnsucht | (DE-588) 9999999-9 | us | 1

Williams, Tennessee 1911-1983 <<A>> streetcar named desire | (DE-588) 9999999-9 | us | 1

Working with the 240 Field and Uniform Title Bibliographic Headings

To use this capability, Ex Libris Support needs to configure this feature to create uniform title bibliographic headings for the 240 fields for your institution. Contact Ex Libris Support if this has not been enabled for your institution.

Uniform title bibliographic headings support includes support for the MARC 21 240 field. With this feature, you can link the 240 headings to uniform title authority headings, created from the 130 or 430 fields of the authority, or from GND authorities with entity type u. With the 240 field configured as an access point for uniform titles, pressing F3 from the bibliographic 240 field does a uniform title headings lookup that presents a cataloger with the available uniform title authority headings from the 130 or 430 fields.

After Ex Libris Support has configured the 240 field as an F3 access point, in addition to being able to use F3 in the Metadata Editor for the 240 field, you will also notice that the 240 $a is no longer a configurable subfield consistent with metadata configuration options. See Editing Fields for more information.

240 $a When Configured as an F3 Access Point

Bibliographic Ranking in Metadata Editor

Alma evaluates the completeness and richness of MARC 21 bibliographic records based on information that includes identifiers, names, subjects, informative LDR and 008 fields, publication details, etc. This is reflected in the Bibliographic Rank, meant to provide a helpful tool for libraries to identify records that may need attention. The new bibliographic rank is displayed in the record view and in the Metadata Editor.

For more information on the bibliographic ranking, see Bibliographic Rank Algorithm.

Bibliographic Ranking in Metadata Editor

Generating Author Numbers Automatically

With Alma cataloging, you can automatically generate the author number in MARC 21 bibliographic records. For example, you can automatically generate the Chinese author call number for the 905 local call number field in a MARC 21 bibliographic record. The 905 local call number field consists of the following:

905 $d - Created by copying the 093 $a using an Alma normalization rule
905 $e - Created based on the content in $a of the 100, 110, 111, or 245 fields, the mapping table configured in the Author Number Lists mapping table, and the Generate Author Number menu option in the Metadata Editor (see the procedure below)
905 $s - Created using an Alma normalization rule to concatenate the content of 905 $d, 905 $e, 905 $v (not mandatory), and 905 $y (not mandatory) with a forward slash (/) used to separate each subfield's content.

To enable this capability, you need to:

Configure the author number list in the Author Number Lists mapping table.
Note that the standardized list of Chinese author call numbers (obtained from the Cutter Sanborn Three-Figure Author Table) is maintained in Alma and can be configured with the Author Number Lists mapping table. See Configuring Author Number Lists for more information regarding how to configure this table.
Create the normalization rules for generating the 905 $d and 905 $s.

To automatically generate a Chinese author call number for the 905 $e:

In the Metadata Editor, open a bibliographic record to which you want to add the 905 author number.
Make the 100, 110, 111, or 245 field the active field. The field that you select as the active field must have content in $a.
Select Editing Actions > Generate Author Number (or press F4). The 905 $e is automatically generated with the author number.
Save your record.

To add $d and $s to the 905 field, create normalization rules and use the Editing Actions >Enhance the Record option (with your cursor positioned in the 905 field) to copy the 093 $a and generate the concatenated 905 $s. See Working with Normalization Rules for more information about creating normalization rules. In particular, note the suffixSubField and prefixSubField normalization syntax needed for concatenating the fields for the 905 $s.

Creating a UNIMARC Bibliographic Record

To create a UNIMARC bibliographic record:

Contact Ex Libris to set the Active Registry mapping in your system for UNIMARC Bibliographic support. By default, MARC 21 Bibliographic is set as the Activated and Preferred registry.

Open the Metadata Editor (Resources > Cataloging > Open Metadata Editor).
Open the default bibliographic template (New > UNIMARC Bibliographic).

Enter your bibliographic content.

Similar to MARC 21 bibliographic records, the Metadata Editor for UNIMARC bibliographic records provides validation support specific to UNIMARC using the Alerts tab.

Similar to the pop-up assistance capability in Alma’s Metadata Editor for several MARC 21 fields, this same autocomplete functionality is provided to assist catalogers by providing content suggestions for certain UNIMARC fields.

There is a known issue related to UNIMARC 327 $a and 327 $b. These subfields are based on the same functionality. As a result, the pop-up suggests the values of both subfields when entering content in either the 327 $a or the 327 $b

Refer to the table below for a list of the equivalent UNIMARC fields that are being provided with the autocomplete feature. After typing the first three characters, the system attempts to provide a suggestion for the field/subfield being entered.

Equivalent UNIMARC Fields Provided for Autocomplete
MARC 21 Bibliographic Fields	UNIMARC Fields
260 $a	210 $a
260 $b	210 $c
260 $e	210 $e
260 $f	210 $g
505 $r	327 $z
505 $t	327 $a
505 $t	327 $b
561 $a	317 $a

User assistance is not provided for the 4XX UNIMARC fields.

Before saving your changes, open the Record Actions and Editing Actions menus to view all the active options for working with the UNIMARC record. Similar to working with MARC 21 records, you can create templates, enhance the record (using normalization), expand from a template, and so forth.
Select Save to save your UNIMARC bibliographic record.

Implemented Punctuation for Displayed UNIMARC Records

As part of UNIMARC support in Alma, the correct punctuation displays with fields in UNIMARC records. Where the contents of UNIMARC records are displayed in Alma as in the repository search results, Alma formats the displayed text with the appropriate punctuation. For example, the rows below show a bibliographic record’s content and its display format.

Bibliographic format:

710 $$a Cardiff Roundtable in Language and Communication $$d 2nd $$e Cardiff University $$f 1997

Display format:

Cardiff Roundtable in Language and Communication (2nd ; Cardiff University ; 1997).

UNIMARC Display Punctuation
UNIMARC Mapping	Punctuation	Explanations
700ab, 701ab, 710a,b,c,d,f,e, 711a,b,c,d,f,e if $7=ba or does not exist	70X a, b Example: Vian, Boris 71X a. b. c (d ; e ; f) Example: Canadian andrology society. Meeting (4th ; 1976 ; Toronto)	70X b is prefixed with ,^ (where ^ is a space) 71X b is prefixed with .^ c is prefixed with .^ e is prefixed with ^;^ f is prefixed with ^;^ Subfield group def is prefixed with ( and suffixed with ) - Note that the 3 subfields are not always present and could be (d) or (d ; f) or (d ; e ; f) etc.
700a-z, 701a-z, 710a-z, 711a-z if $7=ba or does not exist	All subfields a to z are displayed	70X subfields bc are prefixed with ,^ Subfields fg are prefixed with ( and suffixed with ) All other subfields are prefixed with ^ 71X c is prefixed with .^ e is prefixed with ^;^ f is prefixed with ^;^ Subfield group def is prefixed with ( and suffixed with ) - Note that the 3 subfields are not always present and could be (d) or (d ; f) or (d ; e ; f) etc. All other subfields are prefixed with ^
500a-z (first indicator = 1) if $7=ba or does not exist	all subfields a to z are displayed	m is prefixed with ( and suffixed with ) i is prefixed with , if behind h. If not, i is prefixed with .^ All other subfields (but subfield a) are prefixed with .^
200a,e if $7=ba or does not exist	200 a : e	e is prefixed with ^:^ (where ^is a space)
200a,e	200 a : e	e is prefixed with ^:^ (where ^is a space)
200a,b,c,e,d,h,i,f,g if $7=ba or does not exist	200 a [b] . c : e d .h, i /f ; g	b is prefixed with [ and suffixed with ] c is prefixed with .^ d is not prefixed, the punctuation is cataloged in the record e is prefixed with ^:^ f is prefixed with ^/^ g is prefixed with ^;^ h is prefixed with .^ i is prefixed with , if behind h. If not, i is prefixed with .^
200a,b,e,h,i,f,g if $7=ba or does not exist	200 a [b] : e .h, i /f ; g	b is prefixed with [ and suffixed with ] e is prefixed with ^:^ f is prefixed with ^/^ g is prefixed with ^;^ h is prefixed with .^ i is prefixed with , if behind h. If not, i is prefixed with .^
205a if $7=ba or does not exist
205a,b,f,g if $7=ba or does not exist	205 a b / f ; g	f is prefixed with ^/^ g is prefixed with ^;^
206a-z, 208a,b, 230a
210a if $7=ba or does not exist
210c if $7=ba or does not exist
210d
328a-z, 210c if $7=ba or does not exist	each subfield is prefixed with ^	All subfields are prefixed with ^
210d (1),h (2), 100/09-16 (3), 207a (4)	100/09-12 - 13-16	100/09-16 has a hyphen added between position 12 and 13
Example: 1981-2003
326a
326b
3XX -3X9 -39X,327,330	each subfield is prefixed with ^
3X9, 39X	each subfield is prefixed with ^
225a,e,i	225 a : e . i	e is prefixed with ^:^ (where ^is a space) i is prefixed by .^ 225 field is prefixed with ( and suffixed with )
225v
60Xa-z -23, 616a-z -23, 617a-z -23, 610a	each subfield is prefixed with ^
69X and 6X9	each subfield is prefixed with ^
010a
019 (Sudoc)
011a,f
011f if LDR/06 is not l
/001
200b
327a-z, 330a	each subfield is prefixed with ^
LDR
101a
700a-z, 701a-z, 710a-z, 711a-z if $7 exists and is not equal to ba	All subfields a to z are displayed	70X subfields bc are prefixed with ,^ Subfields fg are prefixed with ( and suffixed with ) All other subfields are prefixed with ^ 71X b is prefixed with .^ c is prefixed with .^ e is prefixed with ^;^ f is prefixed with ^;^ Subfield group def is prefixed with ( and suffixed with ) - Note that the 3 subfields are not always present and could be (d) or (d ; f) or (d ; e ; f) etc. All other subfields are prefixed with ^
500a-z if $7 exists and is not equal to ba		m is prefixed with ( and suffixed with ) i is prefixed with , if behind h. If not, i is prefixed with .^ All other subfields (but subfield a) are prefixed with .^
200a,e if $7 exists and is not equal to ba	200 a : e	e is prefixed with ^:^ (where ^is a space)
200a,b,c,d,e,h,i,f,g if $7 exists and is not equal to ba	200 a [b] . c : e d .h, i /f ; g	b is prefixed with [ and suffixed with ] c is prefixed with .^ d is not prefixed; the punctuation is cataloged in the record e is prefixed with ^:^ f is prefixed with ^/^ g is prefixed with ^;^ h is prefixed with .^ i is prefixed with , if behind h. If not, i is prefixed with .^
205a if $7 exists and is not equal to ba
205a,b,f,g if $7 exists and is not equal to ba	205 a b / f ; g	f is prefixed with ^/^ g is prefixed with ^;^
LDR/06
LDR/07
200 $b
100a/08
100a/09-12
100a/13-16
102a,c
010a,z
200a,b,c,d,e,h,i,f,g	200 a [b] . c : e d .h, i /f ; g	b is prefixed with [ and suffixed with ] c is prefixed with .^ d is not prefixed; the punctuation is cataloged in the record e is prefixed with ^:^ f is prefixed with ^/^ g is prefixed with ^;^ h is prefixed with .^ i is prefixed with , if behind h. If not, i is prefixed with .^
020a
035a(1),z (2)
700a-z, 701a-z, 710a-z, 711a-z	All subfields a to z are displayed	70X subfields bc are prefixed with ,^ Subfields fg are prefixed with ( and suffixed with ) All other subfields are prefixed with ^ 71X b is prefixed with .^ c is prefixed with .^ e is prefixed with ^;^ f is prefixed with ^;^ Subfield group def is prefixed with ( and suffixed with ) - Note that the 3 subfields are not always present and could be (d) or (d ; f) or (d ; e ; f) etc. All other subfields are prefixed with ^
410 a,t,o,h,i,x	400 a t : o. h, i	h is prefixed with .^ i is prefixed with , if behind h. If not, i is prefixed with .^ o is prefixed with ^:^
203a,b
203c
No match
126a,b
125a,b
115a,b
135a, 230a
No match
145a-i,146a-i

Working with Multiscript UNIMARC Bibliographic Records

Latin Display

For UNIMARC bibliographic records that contain multiple scripts (like Cyrillic and Latin) and have $7 ba in certain fields, Alma displays only the Latin script version wherever records appear such as in the search results and so forth. This applies to the following fields:

200, 205, 206, 207, 208, 210
327
All 4XX fields: 410, 411, 412, 413, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 461, 463, 464, 470, 481, 482, 488
All 5XX fields: 500, 501, 503, 510, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518, 520, 530, 431, 532, 540, 541, 545
600, 601, 602, 605
All 7XX fields: 700, 701, 702, 710, 711, 712, 716, 720, 721, 722

Authority Control

UNIMARC bibliographic fields with a script indication in $7 is controlled by the same script in the authority record. The system manages this by locating the script identified in the first two positions of $7 in the bibliographic record and by locating the script identified in positions five and six of $7 in the authority record. The authority control functionality that exists for MARC 21 is also provided for UNIMARC. This includes:

Authorities - Link BIB Headings
Authorities - Preferred Term Correction
F3

For publishing to Primo, the preferred, non-preferred, and see also information is published in all languages; and the language indication/code is published in $7 according to the UNIMARC standard (not $L as in MARC 21).

Using Multiple Access Points for UNIMARC

Alma supports a single UNIMARC 6XX field to be split into several sections in the Metadata Editor where each section is an access point for F3 and authority control. Alma provides a configuration option where you can customize the 6XX fields that have multiple access points. See Configuring Multiple Access Points for UNIMARC for more information.

After you have customized and enabled the 6XX fields in the UNIMARC Multiple Authority ID configuration (see Configuring Multiple Access Points for UNIMARC), the 6XX headings control fields are formatted in multiple rows (sections) in the Metadata Editor. The rows of the 6XX fields are determined by $3 that contains the record ID for the linked authority record. Authority control is applied separately to each $3 section. $3 is used as the delimiter that identifies where new sections (rows) begin for the 6XX fields in the Metadata Editor.

In the simple Record View (see Viewing Metadata Read-Only in the Simple Record View Page), the 6XX headings control fields continue to appear in a single row.

For each row (section), the indicators are repeated, and the vocabulary in $2 is copied from the original field and placed at the end.

For each row (section) of the 6XX field, you can press F3 to check for authority headings and link bibliographic record sections. See Creating a MARC 21 Bibliographic Record and Linking an Authority Record to a Bibliographic Record for more information about using F3.

New sections (rows) can be added by using Editing Actions > Add Multi Headings Sections in the Metadata Editor. For new sections that you add, pressing F3 for the new section will open a list of headings that match the text in that section. Selecting an authority record links the bibliographic record to the bibliographic headings in that section and adds $3 with the ID of the authority record.

When you use Browse Bibliographic Headings, the browse results reflect multiple, separate headings for records that contain multiple $3 sections in the bibliographic record.

Creating a KORMARC Bibliographic Record

To create a KORMARC bibliographic record:

Contact Ex Libris to set the Active Registry mapping in your system for KORMARC Bibliographic support. By default, MARC 21 Bibliographic is set as the Activated and Preferred registry.

Open the Metadata Editor (Resources > Cataloging > Open Metadata Editor).
Open the default bibliographic template (New > KORMARC Bibliographic).
Enter your bibliographic content.
When entering the following fields, the system provides pop-up assistance after you have typed the first three characters:
- 260 $$a, b, e, f
- 264$b
- 505 $$r, t
- 561$a
Similar to MARC 21 bibliographic records, the Metadata Editor for KORMARC bibliographic records provides validation support specific to KORMARC using the Alerts tab.
When you open the form editor (Editing Actions > Open Form Editor) for the KORMARC 008 control field, the following KORMARC field options are provided:
- Korea government agency
- Korea University
KORMARC 008 Control Field Options in the Metadata Editor
Select Save to save your KORMARC bibliographic record.

Generating the Author Numbers Automatically for the 090 Local Call Number Field in a KORMARC Bibliographic Record

With Alma cataloging, you can automatically generate the author number for the 090 local call number field. The 090 local call number field consists of the following:

090 $a - Dewey call number that is copied from the 082 $a
090 $b - Author number that is pulled from a standardized list of author numbers with a prefix consisting of the first initial of the author's last name and a suffix containing the first initial of the title such as G329w
090 $c - Year that is copied from the 260 $c

The standardized list of author numbers is incorporated into Alma's logic for automatically generating author numbers when the appropriate file in the mapping table is enabled. See Configuring Author Number Lists for more information.

To automatically generate an author number in the 090 field:

Open a bibliographic record to which you want to add the 090 author number in the Metadata Editor.
Make a 100 or 700 author field the active field.
Select Editing Actions > Generate Author Number (or press F4).

If you have enabled only one author number list in the Author Number Lists configuration (Configuration Menu > Resources > Cataloging > Author Number Lists), the target field and subfield that you identified in the Author Number Lists configuration is automatically generated with the author number.

If you have enabled more than one author number list configuration in the Author Number Lists configuration, the system prompts you to select the author number list to use.

Select Author Number List

See Configuring Standard Author Number Lists for more information.
Save your record.

To add $a and $c to the 090 field, create a normalization rule and use the Editing Actions > Enhance the Record option (with your cursor positioned in the 090 field) to copy the 082 $a and 260 $c to the respective 090 subfields. See Working with Normalization Rules for more information regarding normalization rules.

Creating a CNMARC Bibliographic Record

In order to create and work with CNMARC bibliographic records, CNMARC Bibliographic needs to be identified as an active registry for your system. If you do not see the CNMARC Bibliographic folder under the Records tab in the Metadata Editor, contact Ex Libris to have CNMARC Bibliographic configured for your system.

Use the procedure below to create a CNMARC bibliographic record.

To create a CNMARC bibliographic record:

Open the Metadata Editor (Resources > Cataloging > Open Metadata Editor).
Open the default bibliographic template (New > CNMARC Bibliographic).
Enter your bibliographic content.
Similar to MARC 21 bibliographic records, the Metadata Editor for CNMARC bibliographic records provides validation support specific to CNMARC using the Alerts tab. Validation criteria can be customized in the CNMARC metadata profile (see Editing Validation Routines).
Use the File menu or select the Save icon to save your CNMARC bibliographic record.

Using Multiple Access Points for CNMARC 6XX Fields

Alma supports a single CNMARC 6XX field to be split into several sections where each section is an access point for F3 and authority control. Alma provides a configuration option where you can define which 6XX fields have multiple access points. See Configuring Multiple Access Points for CNMARC 6XX Fields for more information.

After you have configured the 6XX headings control fields, the 6XX headings control fields are formatted in multiple rows in the Metadata Editor. The rows or sections of the 6XX fields are determined by the a, j, x, y, and z subfields. These subfields are used as delimiters that identify where new segments (rows) begin for the 6XX fields. See an example below.

606 Headings Control Field Example in the Metadata Editor

However, in the simple Record View (see Viewing Metadata Read-Only in the Simple Record View Page), the 6XX headings control fields continue to appear in a single row.

Simple Record View of the 6XX Field as a Single Row

For each row of the 6XX field, you can press F3 to check for authority headings and link bibliographic records. See Creating a MARC 21 Bibliographic Record and Linking an Authority Record to a Bibliographic Record for more information about using F3.

You can also use Browse Bibliographic Headings to browse each section of the 6XX field independently.

Creating a Dublin Core Bibliographic Record

To create a Dublin Core bibliographic record:

Open the Metadata Editor (Resources > Cataloging > Open Metadata Editor).
Select New > Dublin Core.
The Metadata Editor opens the default template for entering your Dublin Core record.
Enter the data for your Dublin Core record. See the Metadata Editor Menu and Toolbar Options section for more information.

Contact Ex Libris to set the Active Registry mapping in your system for Dublin Core support. By default, MARC 21 Bibliographic is set as the Activated and Preferred registry.

Creator of a Bibliographic Record

The "Creator" field of a bibliographic record indicates how the record was created:

"import" (lowercase "i") when the record came from migration
"System" when the record came from an import profile
"CKB" when the record came from a Community Zone Update

creator of bib record.jpg

Merging Bibliographic Records

To merge bibliographic records, you must have the following role:

Cataloger Extended

Alma provides the ability to merge two bibliographic records (not linked to the Community Zone) in the Metadata Editor. This is helpful when catalogers identify duplicate bibliographic records in the catalog. The merge is handled by selecting one of the merge rules from a list of predefined merge routines. Merging two bibliographic records into one will move the following entities from the merged (secondary) to the merged (primary) record:

PO line
Electronic collections
Electronic portfolios
Physical items
Digital representations
Loans
Requests
Reading lists
Related record relationship (based on MMS ID)

When the secondary record has a related record with the MMS ID of the secondary record specified in any of the 76X–78X fields, then during the merge process the MMS ID is updated to the MMS ID of the primary record in order to maintain a relationship (and avoid having a related record with no parent relationship, an "orphan record").

Record Related to Secondary Record Prior to Merge / MMS ID in 773$w

Secondary Record with Related Record Prior to Merge

You can merge two bibliographic records only when both records are Institution Zone records, or both are Network Zone records. You cannot merge an Institution Zone bib record with a Network Zone bib record.
For information on placing an identifier from the secondary record in the primary record when merging records, see Configuring BIB Redirection Fields.
When merging bibliographic records in the Network Zone, the process checks if the non-preferred bibliographic record is held by other members. If so, the process moves the inventory of all the members to the preferred bibliographic record. In this case, if a non-preferred record is suppressed, the suppression will be inherited by the preferred record.

Do NOT perform a merge of records by accessing the Metadata Editor from the Portfolio editor, as the editor remains with the deleted MMSID. The two records need to be merged by the Metadata Editor (accessed independently) and only then the Portfolio editor can be edited (after having moved to the preferred BIB).

To merge two bibliographic records using the Metadata Editor:

Locate the two bibliographic records that you want to merge. The primary record will be updated with the information from the secondary record.
Edit both records so that they both appear under the Records tab in the Metadata Editor.

Bibliographic Records under the Records Tab
From the Navigation pane under the Records tab, select the primary record.
Select the Split Editor icon and select the secondary record so that it appears on the right.
Select Record Actions > Merge Records & Combine.
The Merge Records and Combine Inventory dialog box appears.

When doing Merge & Combine, the inventory of the secondary (non preferred) record to be moved is shown in the counter only if it is a local record. This is true in both the below cases:
- If you are logged in to the institution that has a local (cached) version of the NZ record, with inventory.
- When Merge & Combine is performed in a standalone institution, where both records are local in any case.
Review any messages displayed. In particular, note that this operation is not reversible.
Under You are about to move the following, the system lists the changes that will occur after the merge. In addition, holdings requests, loans, and reading lists attached to the secondary record will be updated. Plus, in a record related to the secondary record, the MMS ID specified in any of the 76X–78X fields of the related record will be changed to the MMS ID of the primary record specified in the Merge Records and Combine Inventory process.

If there are any requests, the number of requests appears. Due to a technical limitation, when there are no requests, the dialog box does not display "0 requests"; instead, the line about requests simply does not appear.
Select a merge routine from the drop-down list. The merge routines that appear in the list are pulled from the Merge Rules list under the Rules tab in the Metadata Editor.
To preview the merge results, select Show merge preview. Select OK to close the Merge Preview view.

Merge Preview
Optionally, select Update holdings call number. When you select this option, the system updates the call number information (using the bibliographic call number) for all the holdings associated with the primary record. This change is applied to the holdings associated with the primary record after the bibliographic merge was processed. Note that if one of the call number fields is updated in the bibliographic record, this may affect the call number that eventually appears in the holdings records.
Select how you want to handle the secondary bibliographic record (after the merge) from the following options:
- Delete
- Suppress
- Keep it
When you are ready to merge the two records, select OK.

If there is a constraint that prevents merging the two bibliographic records, such as if the primary record is linked to the Community Zone, or there is a fulfillment issue with the secondary record, the system will not merge the bibliographic records and provide warning messages.

For records related to the secondary record, the Related Records status (after a merge and combine) in the Other Details tab (of search results) is updated to reflect the new relationship to the primary record only after the MMS - Build Record Relations (Repository) job is run. See MMS - Build Record Relations for more information. See Related Record Types for a full list of all of the fields that create relation between records.

Related Record Indication Prior to Overnight Job

Viewing Bibliographic Records

From several locations in Alma you can view records read-only on the simple Record View page. For more information see Viewing Metadata Read-Only in the Simple Record View Page.

Managing Bibliographic Records

You manage bibliographic records using a combination of record sets (see Resource Management Sets) and jobs (see Managing Jobs and Sets).

You may sometimes find it helpful to modify your records with tools external to Alma. Use the Tools feature in your search results that allows you to export records to an Excel spreadsheet. See Working with the Portfolio List for a description of the options Extended Export (to Excel) and Excel (current view).

Deleting Bibliographic Records

To delete bibliographic records, you must have the following role:

Cataloger Extended

To delete an individual bibliographic record:

Records need to be localized before they can be deleted in the Metadata Editor. To do so, see Remove Community Zone Bibliographic Records without Portfolios from the Institution Zone.

Select Delete Bibliographic Record from the Metadata Editor toolbar under Record Actions.

A bibliographic record can be deleted only when there are:

No PO lines
Closed PO lines
Canceled PO lines
No Active Purchase Requests

If you delete a bibliographic record in the Institution Zone, and you're the last library in the consortium to hold it, the record is deleted automatically in the Network Zone. If you do not want it to be deleted automatically in the NZ, but would like to delete it manually from the Network Zone instead, set the delete_nz_bib_without_inventory customer parameter (Configuration > Resources > General > Other Settings) to false (see Configuring Other Settings (Resource Management)).

Deleting Sets of Bibliographic Records

To run a batch delete job on bibliographic records, you must have one of the following roles:

Catalog Administrator
Catalog Manager

You can batch delete bibliographic records that are not connected to active orders or other records in the database (optional), and, for collaborative network-managed records, are not linked to local member institution records.

Sets for the batch delete job can be saved from an All titles repository search.

To delete sets of bibliographic records:

Run the Delete bibliographic records job. Records that cannot be deleted due to one of the conditions described above are identified in the job report.
Select the "Delete all associated inventory resources" option if you would like to delete the inventory associated with these records.

For more information, see Running Manual Jobs on Defined Sets.

Using Linked Data While Working with Bibliographic Records

While working with bibliographic records in the Metadata Editor, the record's linked data information is available by clicking View Related Data > View Linked Data. Linked library data are external resources pertaining to the title, such as a search for the title in an online repository, or authority records related to the title. For more information regarding linked data, see https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/integrations/linked_data.

Linked Data Tab

The Linked Data List panel displays the following information:

Vocabulary field - This is pulled according to context. The default context is https://open-na.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/contexts/bib.
If there is an active Linked Data integration profile (see Linked Data) with a path to a context, this context is used.
You do not need to create a Linked Data integration profile to access linked data from the Alma Repository Search results. However, you are required to expose linked data in the JSON-LD format (see Linked Data for more information).
Linked data URI
Label - For ISBN, ISSN, and OCLC, the field content is displayed. For creator and subject, the value of the heading is displayed.

Select the URI link of interest to access the linked data.

For more information, see the Linked Data Services video (1:50 min.).

See Linked Data from the Repository Search Results for more information regarding linked data in Repository Search.

Handling UTF Composed/Decomposed Unicode Representations (UTF-8 and Characters with Diacritics)

Alma supports normalizing decomposed characters to their composed form when saving a bibliographic or authority record.

For example, the word Amélie can have two canonically equivalent Unicode forms:
UTF Composed_Decomposed Unicode Representation.png

With this functionality, when records containing these characters are saved, the decomposed form (0065+0301) will be normalized to the composed form (00e9).

When you set Alma to handle UTF composed/decomposed representations, you also avoid heading updates in the preferred term correction job. In cases where the bibliographic record's heading and authority heading have the same equivalent UTF representation (composed vs. decomposed), the PTC skips the correction. This filters out the redundant headings update from the Authority Task Control List and publishing.

Note that this can be defined for all Alma records, or for specific local vocabularies.

This feature is disabled by default. Contact Ex Libris staff to activate it in coordination with your institution.