Overview of using Voyager Global Data Change to add a new MARC field and subfield

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Product: Voyager
Relevant for Installation Type: Multi-Tenant Direct, Dedicated-Direct, Local, TotalCare

Question

Overview of adding a new MARC field and subfield using Global Data Change (GDC).

Answer

See Chapter 3, "Add MARC Subfield" of the Global Data Change User's Guide for important details related to this procedure.

To add a Data Change Rule¹:

Conditions can vary but Support recommends using an "always true" condition such as "MARC Control Field Exists" and setting it to "LDR", since every record in Voyager has an LDR (the Leader in a bibliographic record).
Consequences: Use "Add MARC Subfield". Fill in the field, indicators (if non-blank), subfield code and text. Then add a second Consequence: "Record Disposition" and set it to "Changed".
Save the Rule.
Create a new Data Change Rule Set Group and add your new Rule to it.
Use Preview to test either against your record set (previously defined) or a single record.
Test your rule carefully and preview against several records that you intend to change.

If you have not defined site-wide rules for MARC Field Ordering, the new field will be added to the very bottom of the record (for more information on MARC Field Ordering see Chapter 4 of the System Administration User's Guide).

Additional Information

¹Review the information presented in Table 2 ("Data Change Rule Consequence Options") of Chapter 3 carefully so as to understand if when using the above steps a new field is created or the subfield is appended to an existing field:

When a rule fully defines an existing tag, a subfield is appended. If the defined tag does not exist, a field is created and the subfield is added.
If the existing tag has indicators, a create subfield rule will not match the tag unless the rule includes indicators that match the existing tag.

In situations where the rule defines an existing tag, the Consequence is a two-step process: 1) Add (empty) field via the “Add MARC Field” consequence, then 2) add a subfield to it using the "Add MARC Subfield" consequence. Read the User's Guide carefully to make sure you understand this and carefully test your rule.

Article last edited: 19-Nov-2020