Alma: Bloomsbury title information and title counts

• Product: Alma, SFX
• Product Version: all
• Relevant for Installation Type: all

Some Bloomsbury title-level records found in the CKB are for individual chapters as opposed to title-information - for example, individual plays from a playwright collected in a volume are cataloged by play (chapter) instead of by volume (title). These records share the same ISBN and other metadata. This can result in multiple "titles" (chapters) merging together in the KBs, since they are seen by the system as being the same title. As such, title counts between Bloomsbury MARC record sets and the KB may differ. This does not necessarily mean that Alma/SFX are missing titles or are out-of-date.

Additionally, since there is a mismatch between the way the data is presented and the representation in the title list, this has caused some titles to be mismatched to completely unrelated titles. 

Bloomsbury intend to fix this issue. This was a legacy practice from Bloomsbury MARC production that has since changed after bringing MARC production in-house. However, it will take time for Bloomsbury to fix MARC files from previous years as they re-catalog these records appropriately. Currently they are targeting to have this work done by the end of 2024. 

This issue can be seen across Bloomsbury platforms/collections, however, it is more common in Drama Online and Screen Studies than in other Bloomsbury products.

We will update this article as we learn more from the Bloomsbury Discovery team on their progress and timelines. 

• Article last edited: 26-Mar-2024