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Fixing a Record in Drupal Step by Step

Logging In and Selecting Records to Edit

  • Login at https://nnels.ca using your account information
  • Once you login, you should see a link called Shortcuts at the top of the page
  • Click on Summary/Subjects Editor in the drop-down menu. This will take you to a list of all our repository items (book records).
  • *Select a Record Set* to work on. Refer to the Completed Records Set page.
  • Click on the edit link (in the far right column) for a particular book in order to edit it.

Editing Records

These fields are all mandatory. This is the order I do things in.

Select a Record Set to work on. Refer to the Completed Records Set page.

1 Basic Details

1.1 Title

This is the only entry that needs to be looked at.

  • Leave articles (the, a, an) at the front of the title. Ex: The two towers; not Two towers, the
  • Only capitalize the first word of the title and proper names.
  • Use a colon to separate any subtitle from the title (space, colon, space). Ex: The hobbit : there and back again

2 Creators / Contributors

This information should already be in the record, but it needs to be looked at quickly to make sure it is actually there, and is in the right format. If the information needs to be added or if it looks wrong, some sources to find the right information are: OCLC Classify (first place to look, as it should have the name authority) Google, Goodreads, Worldcat, publisher's website.

2.1 Creator

This is the author, authors, or entity that created the item.

  • Each author should have his or her own field, not all in the same box.
  • The format is Last name, First name. Ex: Tolkien, J.R.R.
  • If the author uses a single name, use that. Ex: Madonna
  • If the author is a pseudonym use that. Ex: Galbraith, Robert
  • If the item is a collection of short stories, it is sufficient to put in the editor's name. Again, one line per editor.
  • Some items are created by non-human entities, like corporations. This may come up with academic printing presses or conference proceedings. Use the corporate name. Ex. University of Alberta Press
  • The OCLC website (discussed below) includes authorship - so this might clear up any confusion if there is any.

2.2 DC Contributor

This is a contributor who is not the author. If there is one, it will be included with the record. It is usually a translator.

  • The same rules that applied to Creator apply here.

3 Subjects / Descriptors

3.1 Subject

These are subject headings that will be applied to the item. Currently we use FAST subject headings and copy catalogue them from OCLC. The website is: http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/

Remove Subject Heading Blacks from any title. We no longer use the Subject Heading Blacks as it is a culturally outdated term. We do accept more precise Subject Headings including Black race, Author, Black, Women, Black etc. Check OCLC or LC for the appropriate Subject Heading to use for each title.
  • Search by title. If it is a pretty generic title you may get a lot of hits (hundreds), in which case include the author's last name in your search.
  • When searching OCLC, the item may not appear if the title we have includes series information. Ex: The two towers : the lord of the rings book 2. Just search for The two towers.
  • Sometimes the subtitle won't be in OCLC, so you won't get any results. Ex: The hobbit : there and back again. If it doesn't show up, just search for The hobbit.
  • Some special characters will interfere with your OCLC search. Ex: Hit & run. If the item doesn't show up, search for Hit and run. Even when replacing the "&" with "and", the result in OCLC may actually show up as Hit & run.
  • After you find the title, click on it and scroll down to FAST Subject Headings.
  • Copy and paste each Heading into the Subject field - separate each one with a comma. Ex: Assassins, Fugitives from justice, United States
  • If the Heading contains a comma, then it must be enclosed in quotation marks. Ex: "Keller, John (Fictitious character)"
  • The Usage Count tells you how many libraries use each particular heading. Sometimes there will be a list of headings that have a Usage Count of 1 (while the others have hundreds or thousands) - if there are a lot of these 1s then they can be omitted if there are a bunch of more used ones.
  • If you can't find any Subject headings to copy and paste, try to find something similar and take one or two that fit. If the item is part of a series, you can probably take one from one of the other books.
  • If a record set comes with BISAC terms those should be kept
  • LCSH terms can be used if FAST terms are difficult to find, or at cataloguer's discretion if it would speed up the process significantly (for example if a large record set comes with robust LCSH terms already attached) - A lot of FAST terms are deconstructed LCSH terms

Indigenous Subject Headings

Replace outdated subject headings with more up-to-date terminology pulled from one of the following sources:

Refer to the Greater Victoria Public Library's (GVPL) list first.

Use the following guidelines when working with Indigenous subject headings:

  • Use "Indigenous" for original peoples in all areas.
  • In Canada, Indigenous refers to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit collectively. Use First Nations, Métis, or Inuit for materials about those groups specifically and individually.
  • First Nations and Métis do not require a geographic qualifier for Canada, as those terms are only in use for people within Canada, but may have a geographic qualifier for provinces or cities.
  • Inuit requires a geographic qualifier for Canada, as the term can also apply to peoples in Greenland and Alaska.
  • "Indigenous peoples" should be followed by a geographic qualifier
  • If materials identify people specifically as "Métis" or "Michif," use the subject heading "Métis." Otherwise, use "Indigenous peoples – Mixed descent."
  • Use the LCSH "Indian(s)" headings as pattern examples and examples of geographic subdivision
  • Whenever possible, add a geographic subdivision, broad (North America) or narrow (British Columbia – Victoria). Add even if not in original heading (if one can be determined).

The following are generalized workflow guidelines:

  • Remove the most culturally inappropriate headings from the catalogue; term "Indians" is a common one encountered in LCSH; "Indigenous" is the more current and appropriate term
  • Remove "Indian" from the names of Indigenous groups (example: use Dene Tha' not Dene Tha' Indians)
  • If a name of an Indigenous group is not on any of the 3 lists above, the general guideline would be to search for the preferred form of the name as identified by the groups themselves or Indigenous reference sources (example would be to use Haudenosaunee, not Iroquois)
  • This also means if the preferred form of the name as identified by the group includes the term "Indian," we can keep it in place. This may be more common with US Indigenous groups, as "American Indian" is typically viewed as acceptable by many Indigenous nations.
  • In some cases, in order to use more appropriate terminology, you may have to replace a subdivision with a first level heading (example might be the use of "Residential schools" as a subdivision)
  • Follow established rules in LC for geographic subdivisions ; example would be Indigenous peoples – Civil Rights – Canada or Indigenous peoples – Canada – Claims
  • Be mindful when cataloguing items which use "folklore," "mythology," or "legends" ; the content found within these items may have spiritual and religious roots and should get a "Religion" subject heading instead.

3.2 Audience

Select the age group that the item is for - it is a drop-down menu.

  • Only use Juvenile, Adolescent, or Adult.
  • Juvenile - for children's material (about 12 and under).
  • Adolescent - for young adult material (teenagers).
  • Adult - for adult material.
  • Sometimes it isn't entirely clear which one to use - there is crossover, especially in Juvenile and Adolescent.
  • The abstract should give you an idea of who the audience is.
  • If you know authors, then they should give you an idea as well (especially children and teen authors).
  • At the bottom of the OCLC page for the item, there are links to WorldCat pages for them - these will often have useful information about audience.
  • Other sources are: Google and Goodreads. If you are desperate try the publisher's site.

3.3 Abstract

This is the item summary.

  • If the abstract is empty or isn't right, find a summary and copy and paste it in. Amazon, WorldCat, Goodreads, and the publisher's site are good places to find them.
  • Delete characters that aren't displaying properly - sometimes there will be squares or other special characters that aren't correct.
  • Fix any spacing errors or missing punctuation or "&tbsp"s that appear.
  • After pasting in the summary, or if there is one already present, highlight the whole thing and click the Remove Format button (the icon is a white eraser between the quotation marks and the Omega symbol). This gets rid of any formatting like italics, bold, etc.

3.4 Language (Item)

This is generally fine. Items that aren't in English may have to have their language properly selected. When working with a non-English record set, if the first handful of items have the language correctly set, you can assume that the rest are ok.

4 Genre / Formats

Both of these fields needs to be set.

4.1 Literary Format

Only one category can be picked.

  • Only use Non-fiction, Fiction, Comic strip, Drama, Short story, Poetry.
  • Don't use the other formats.
  • Non-fiction and Fiction should be obvious.
  • Comic strip is for comics and graphic novels. Not for children's picture books.
  • Drama is for plays.
  • Short story is for a single short story or a collection of short stories.
  • Poetry is for poetry collections.

4.2 Genre

This field only needs one entry, but can have as many as necessary separated by a comma.

  • Here is a list of Genre terms with descriptions: NNELS Genre Taxonomy
  • It is important to ONLY use those terms. The field will auto-populate in Drupal. If an incorrect genre terms is used, then Drupal will include that term in the list that it auto-populates from - it is time consuming to get rid of those incorrect terms periodically.
  • There are terms specifically for Non-fiction, and terms specifically for Fiction.
  • Most times a single genre is fine, sometimes multiple genres are better. Ex: Science fiction, Apocalyptic fiction might be better than just Science fiction. The same applies to nonfiction. Ex: I would use History, Medicine, Health and Fitness for a history of medicine and medical procedures (in fact I did!). Just use the least necessary to accurately describe the item.
  • There are genre terms that should be added to describe the form or type of the item in addition to what it's about. Ex: Fantasy fiction, Comics (Graphic works) would be a fantasy graphic novel; Music, Nonfiction comics, Biographies and autobiographies would be a biography about a musician or musical group told in a graphic, comic book style format.
  • There are genre terms that signify special content that should be added as needed. These are Canadian fiction, Canadian nonfiction, Canadian drama, Canadian poetry, French language materials, Indigenous materials, Juvenile fiction, Juvenile nonfiction, Young adult fiction, Young adult nonfiction.
  • Canadian genre terms are for books by Canadian authors or about Canadian subjects. Same with Indigenous materials.

Genre tips

  • Literary arts is used for books about books, criticism, libraries, etc. It is also for books about authors. Ex: Literary arts, Biographies and autobiographies would be a biography about an author.
  • Biographies and autobiographies covers memoirs as well as biographies.
  • Juvenile fiction can be tough because it's usually a big combination of Humorous fiction, Magical realist fiction, Science fiction, Fantasy fiction, Detective and mystery fiction, etc. So instead of trying to pin it down, just use Juvenile fiction. This also prevents juvenile results from showing up when patrons looks for adult genre books like mystery or science fiction. Genres that should be added to Juvenile fiction should be things like Comics (Graphic works), Picture books, Choose-your-own stories, and Canadian fiction and Indigenous materials.
  • Young adult items should be treated like adult books, in that they should get full genre treatment. This is because young adult material tends to be more focused in its content, and also adults read them.
  • Picture books are specifically for children's picture books.
  • If unsure, picture books can be identified in the WorldCat description - they are often around 30 pages long, the pages are unnumbered, are illustrated, and often over-sized. Ex from WorldCat Description field: 36 unnumbered pages : colour illustrations ; 24 cm.
  • If you can't figure out the genre, or it doesn't fit any of the categories, use Literature - only for fiction.

General tips

  • Sometimes the record won't save properly when you click on Save. Click on View changes first, then hit Save.
public/nnels/cataloguing/metadata-cleanup.1618544444.txt.gz · Last modified: 2021/04/15 20:40 by jillian.metchooyeah