Adding New Serial Records A tutorial for librarians who use Agent-Verso by Jennifer Carless

WARNING: The processes described in this tutorial require permissions and access to the AG CatAdmin module.

In addition, the librarian following these instructions must use his/her staff login. These instructions cannot be followed if the librarian is logged in as a user.

Before you add a new bibliographic record for a journal, please search the OPAC to see if another campus has already added the record. The process for appending new issues to an existing record is covered in the separate tutorial: Adding New Issues of a Journal to an Existing Bibliographic Record

The process for adding your campus to the list of locations for an existing bib record is covered in the separate tutorial: Adding a Journal Subscription to the Autographics Database for Your Campus

Adding a new Serial title is accomplished in Two Parts: The first part is creating the new bibliographic / MARC record. The second part is adding the first issue.

The process for creating the bibliographic / MARC record for a journal is by using copycat cataloging. This process is not complete, until you add the first issue, including its real barcode and call number. After the first issue has been added, it’s easy to add additional issues as they arrive in the mail.

Adding the bibliographic record is a complex process that must be done correctly. If not done correctly, it is very easy to create mistakes that become problems. It is recommended that one person in your library be the expert in entering these records. Then, other library personnel may add additional issues to the record, as needed.

Getting Started: To get started, find the EARLIEST issue in your library for the journal you are entering, and log into the Autographics screen on the Library Home Page.

Uncheck the box next to “KES Library Catalog.” Check the box next to “Z39-50.” This action, in turn, automatically checks all of the boxes beneath it.

Return to the top of the page, and enter the ISSN as shown, and choose “ISSN” from the list.

Alternatively, if a search by ISSN proves fruitless, you may search again, using the journal title. Be sure to select “Journal Title” from the list, as shown.

Your results list consists of library records from three providers. Please do not use any records from LC, unless they have the only viable record available.

Scroll down to either National Agency Bibliographic Files and choose an obvious “Print Version” from them, or if they don’t have any viable records, scroll down to A-G Canada.

Just click on the TITLE of the journal to bring up the bibliographic record. From this screen, click “Edit this record” to reach the MARC record screen.

To capture this record, click “HLD” in the bar at the top of the screen.

The popup window initially looks like this.

Simply fill out the information as shown, for the beginning issue that your library owns. Then, click OK.

The system returns you to the MARC record screen. Notice that your library’s name has been added at the top.

You have captured the MARC record! The next step is to add this record to the AG database. To do this, click File in the Menu, and select “Save to Database” from the dropdown menu.

Mission Accomplished! This record has been uploaded. Click OK on the popup window.

Next, close the MARC record (click the X in the upper right corner or click “close”), and go to the Staff Menu. From the Staff Menu, click on the Serials tab.

From the Serials tab, click on “Subscription Setup.”

From Subscription Setup, enter the name of the journal and click Submit.

In this example, there are 3 titles matching the name we typed in. Click on this link.

On the next screen, we see the newest entry on the last row for the title. Since we just entered it, this is to be expected. In addition, the other 2 entries are for books, so we want the journal.

To select the title on that row, scroll to the right, and you will see a link to click.

From this screen, click “Modify Prediction Algorithm.”

This is how the Prediction Algorithm screen looks initially.

Choose the frequency from the drop-down menu. If the issue is marked for a season (Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn) PLEASE DO NOT USE the “seasonal” choices from this drop down menu. Please select “Quarterly.”

Complete other sections as shown, and as needed.

To set the expected receive dates, scroll back up and click the link to the calendar, as shown here.

To set the calendar dates, choose the first day of the month expected. Here are some examples: Monthly: Click the first day of every month. Bimonthly, Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr: Click the first day of Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov. Bimonthly, Feb/Mar, Apr/May: Click the first day of Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct, Dec. Quarterly: Assume these are numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. Seasonal notation is not used on this screen, but will be used in the next step. Click the first day of Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct.

Complete the calendar ONLY for the first year you have issues to add. Generally, you should have the current year, plus the prior year, unless this is new. When finished, click SUBMIT, then click CLOSE.

NOW, you can click the radial next to “Manual Calendar Selection.” Be sure to click this AFTER you have set the calendar. Then, click SUBMIT.

Returning to the Subscription Setup screen, click on “Add Subscription.”

This is what the Subscription Add/Edit screen looks like initially.

Here is the top portion of the screen, filled out, with attention drawn to specific values and fields.

Here is the bottom portion of the screen, with attention drawn to specific drop down (or up) menus. Select your campus from the list. Be sure to select the material type as “Serial.”

Here is the other drop down (or up) menu. Select “Serial” from the list.

Review all of your choices on this page, and then click “Submit.”

Return to the Keyword Search screen (or Advanced Search, if that’s your preference), and RE-CHECK the KES Library Catalog box.

In addition, scroll down and click the box next to Z39-50 TWICE. This will uncheck all of the other boxes beneath it.

Enter the journal title in the search box, and select “Journal Title” from the drop down menu.

In the Item Record, click “Serials Checkin.” Note that the barcode is system generated. We will take care of this later.

This is the screen where issues may be checked in. You can access this screen from the Serials menu, but when you are doing Setup, it works more predictably, if you enter it from Searching. Click “Checkin issue.”

This is what the Issue Checkin screen looks like initially.

Here is an example of how this screen may be filled out. Note that this barcode has been assigned by the librarian, and not the System.

An alternative way to fill out this screen is given as an example, below. THIS is where you enter the seasonal issue information for a quarterly journal. This is also where you can specify that you are adding a SUPPLEMENT.

Be ABSOLUTELY SURE that you have clicked the radial field next to “Checkin,” as shown on the previous screen, then click SUBMIT. The screen below will appear. After verifying the information below, you may close this screen.

As a final step, we will search by journal title to find the system generated barcode, and then delete it. At this point, you can either write down the barcode, or copy it to the clipboard.

Go now to CatAdmin and click “Edit Item.”

I favor the “copy and paste” technique of entering the barcode. Click Submit to bring up the Item Record. Note that you MUST include the asterisk.

Once inside the Item Record, click “Delete this Item.” It will never show up again, and deleting this system generated barcode will not affect your Serials.

The reason you want to delete it is, so that the system doesn’t have a lot of system generated barcodes in it. It helps to keep the system “clean.” Technically, that barcode is your first issue of that journal. But, if we enter a REAL barcode, instead of the system generated one, it causes a whole host of problems with duplicate barcodes you have to erase, and then it doesn’t show your checked in issues properly. Doing it this way is a workaround for these issues. So, please DO use the system generated barcode when copying the MARC record (before adding to the database), but after you Checkin your first issue, please also go back and delete this barcode.

Now, let’s verify our Serials are checked in properly, by going to Staff Menu and the Serials tab, and clicking “Checkin.”

Search by full title. If the title begins “Journal of” then you must enter that part, in order to find your journal.

Select your title from the list.

Select the correct link.

Verify your issues!

Now, there are two possibilities for your predicted issues. Here’s the first one: If these dates appear like this, don’t panic!

When you click “Checkin Issue,” simply erase the data that already appears on the Checkin screen and replace it with the correct data. It will be fine.

The second possibility for what appears under issue predictions is this:

Again, there is no real problem. Although it would be helpful to us to be able to look at this screen and depend upon it to tell us when an issue is coming, as long as we enter the real information on the Checkin screen, it will all turn out all right.

For those who will sleep better at night, just knowing that your serials prediction is set up right, you can verify it by clicking on the link to the calendar under Modify Prediction Algorithm. First, go to Serials, click Checkin, search by title, and choose your journal from the list.

Click “Subscription/Prediction Setup.”

Click “Modify Prediction Algorithm.”

Click “Set Predictions.” Don’t click the radial! – Yet.

When the calendar pops up, scroll to the bottom – and there you will find your true predictions. Click “Close” to close this screen.

All finished! Now, when you enter additional issues, all you need to do is go to the Serials tab, select Checkin, find your journal by title, and then click the link “Checkin issue.” (Or, you may use the Search screen and search by Journal Title and click “Checkin issue.”) Then, on the Checkin screen, enter the new issue information, and Submit.

This tutorial was created on June 11, 2009 and revised on July 7, 2009 by Jennifer Carless, Library Director for Keiser University’s Orlando campus.