What should you do when a patron requests a title that is not yet in your catalog?
If the title is in Voyager or on BARD, you
could download the MARC record from NLS and load it into your catalog. However, are you sure you will remember the right character format every time? There are several parts of the process, including the Source you select when loading a MARC record, that can have undesirable results if you get them wrong.
Because of this, while it is not difficult to pull and load the MARC record, it isn't our first recommendation. In fact, there's an even easier way.
If you just need to put a Reserve on a title, or make sure you get the eDoc and can duplicate a title ASAP: add a basic record directly in your catalog.
In the Catalog module, on the Main tab:
- Use the Add New Record button (Ctrl-n).
- Enter the book number as the KLAS ID. Make sure it's formatted the usual way: no spaces, just the prefix and the six-digit number.
- Enter the title.
- Select the Medium.
- Save the record (Ctrl-s).
That's all you need!
Don't worry about the status, the language, subjects, annotation, or anything else. Just the KLAS ID will let the eDoc load if the file is available (which will set the Title Status to Active). When the MARC record is included in one of the regular batch files, all the newly available information will be added.
If you want to keep the record off your OPAC until it's filled in, you can mark the OPAC Suppress checkbox. However, if you do this, make a note for yourself to come back and remove it later when the rest of the MARC record loads; nothing will remove it automatically.
One final note: your library may have policies or preferences about who can add catalog records. While this process is very easy and won't introduce problems elsewhere, make check with your head cataloger or KLAS admin to see if they are ok with you adding titles for reserves, or if they would prefer requests go to them for them to add.
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