RLIN Holdings Screen Examples

The accompanying RLIN holdings screen examples are designed to demonstrate local Rutgers practices. They were prepared in response to general questions received from various cataloging staff or at the specific request of individual staff members.

If you are looking for an example of a practice that is not included here yet, please submit a request to Bob Warwick (warwick@rci.rutgers.edu) and your new example will be added to these files.

Also, please report any errors that you may notice in any of the examples so that they can be corrected.

Contents

Background Information

• Selected definitions
• Use of parentheses in RLIN MDES

Examples

• CAT/SET/A -- Multiple volumes
  • Same series number for all volumes
  • Separate numbering -- consecutive -- no subcollection
  • Separate numbering -- consecutive -- with subcollection
  • Separate numbering -- non-consecutive
• Multiple copies
  • Different subcollections -- different call numbers
• Revue des lettres modernes
  • Single item listed in holdings
  • Multiple items listed in holdings
• 300 + ‡e
  • ‡a single volume / ‡e single volume -- separate piece -- same subcollection
  • ‡a single volume / ‡e single volume -- separate piece -- different subcollections

Selected definitions

This list contains selected definitions of terms or phrases used in the following RLIN holdings screen examples.

Base call number

The base call number is the longest portion of the call number that does not change for all volumes cataloged on that record. It will contain a higher level volume designator when that higher level stays the same for all volumes and only a lower level changes.

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Use of parentheses in RLIN MDES

The RLIN system expects an MDES to have two parts:

• a label
• and a value following the label

Most items have both a label and a value (e.g., "v.10," "pt.A," "no.43," etc.) and pass the RLIN error checking routines without a problem. Some items, however, have only a label and lack a value (e.g, "index," "plates," etc.). These items generate an RLIN error during data entry and are not accepted by the system in this form. RLIN does allow us to override its MDES error checking procedure by enclosing such constructions in parentheses (e.g., "(index)," "(plates)," etc.).

However, labels within parentheses were rejected by our original Geac system since such constructions did not appear in the valid List of Approved Volume Designators used by the Geac conversion programs to validate incoming items. With later upgrades to our Geac system, items with parentheses were no longer rejected but the parentheses were not removed from an MDES. This has caused problems in the volume matching process where one item includes parentheses and another does not, creating some mismatches and other item errors in our local system. Some of these errors do not show up for many months.

Therefore, DO NOT use parentheses in an RLIN MDES whenever possible.

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