Ex Libris MELvyl Tells (EL Mel Tells)!

Volume 2, Number 8, December 2003

In this issue:

• Reporting record errors
• Boolean searching within search boxes

Reporting record errors

Melvyl users not infrequently come across errors in records while using the catalog, and ask the CDL to “fix” them. The CDL does not initially create the records that go into the catalogs, nor can we edit them. This responsibility lies with the campuses.

CDL’s procedure is to respond to end users telling them we will report the error to the campus that created the campus record, for example, to the campus that may have cataloged an identical item with incorrect information in one of the MARC fields. Messages sent to users are copied to the campus library unit in question that handles such issues, e.g., catalog@ucdavis.edu or catmaint@lib.uci.edu. By handling error reporting this way, users receive a timely response and the responsible library unit is simultaneously informed of the problem.

Once the campus receives the problem, its cataloging unit corrects the record and resubmits it to the CDL. Records are loaded on a weekly schedule, at which time the new record would replace the earlier record with an error in it.

Errors may also be discovered when CDL processes records to be loaded into the database. Each time a file is processed, error records (if any) are written to files and statistical reports are e-mailed to the input sources. Errors may include such things as invalid or missing data. Campuses can pick up the error files via FTP or other means. They may then correct and resubmit the records to CDL in future update files.

Boolean searching within search boxes

Catalog users may not know—or have forgotten—that it is possible to do Boolean searching right within a search box. So, for example, you can do the following search for keywords in one box: global warming and sea level rise and California and retrieve 4 items. Or try keywords (global warming and sea level rise) not California and retrieve 28 items. When you know the LC subject heading, you can use that, as in Subject iraq war 2003 and war on terrorism 2001. Or, when searching for primary source materials, try Subject vietnamese conflict and (sources or personal narratives or diaries) to yield 806 items.

You can conduct Boolean searches within the same box as long as you are using the same field. For example, searching Authors (keywords in name) Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley yields 42 items. Searching Authors (keywords in name) Percy Bysshe Shelley or Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley yields 948. You can combine different fields in the other search boxes. For example, in Advanced searching, you can search for Authors (keywords in name) Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in one box, and Title Shelley.

To make your searching go a little faster, be sure to use this feature of Melvyl.