This Document Consists of Three Parts

Viewing Call Number Labels with ALEPH

Introduction

The label printing software developed in Systems has two purposes. The first is obvious; it is used to print call number labels for physical processing. The second purpose is also important in that it gives catalogers a tool with which to verify that the call number they have placed on the holding and the information written in the Description Field of the item will come together in a logical, printable call number. With this software installed, anyone working with an item record can view the call number exactly as it will print before sending it for physical processing. Effectively, the label printing software provides a replacement for the F9 command in NOTIS that displayed the call number as it would print.

This documentation is specifically for catalogers and anyone who edits records and may be sending material to Physical Processing. It is also a good method for error checking as well. In order to view call number labels, you will need to have the latest version of the Spine Label Printing program on your computer.

This document presents the information currently known about how call numbers format, and how to view them from the Items tab in the Cataloging module. There are three parts. The first part explains how to see exactly the way a call number will format based on information on the Holdings and in the Description Field of the Item Record.

The second part provides some information about how the program determines what and how to print characters on the label and when to create line breaks in the call number. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with the information in the second part. Many times if a call number is not printing correctly, the way in which it is written in the Description Field of the item record is the cause of the problem and can easily be corrected if one knows how the label program interprets the characters in the Description Field.

The third part provides several concrete examples of the formatting “rules” that are covered in Part 2. It is difficult to read a list of rules and try to visualize how they will be applied in a given situation. Please read through the examples; they should help to clarify some of the formatting rules.

Part 1 – How to View a Call Number in the Items tab of the Cataloging Module

Viewing a Formatted Call Number in ALEPH:

1 1) Go to the Item List window in the Items tab of the Cataloging module [upper right pane of the Items tab] 2) Highlight the item whose call number you want to view 3) Click the Label button on the right about mid-way down 4) The spine label program will open 5) Getting around in the Spine Label Printer window: a. On the right side of the window you will see the barcode followed by the title of the previously selected item. b. Click the line with the barcode and title. The call number should appear in the box to the left. 6) If the call number does not appear as you want it to: a. close the label program b. make the corrections c. click the Label button to view the call number again.

Part 2 – Understanding Call Number Formatting

This section is intended to help catalogers understand how the information and formatting of the Description Field in the item record can affect the information and formatting of the call number label.

The most important thing to remember: the Description Field in the item record controls everything appearing on a label after the base call number. The Holdings record controls how the base call number itself displays.

Example: QK 492.02 This is the base call number derived from the Holdings. .S94 The base call number consists of class number and 2004 any cuttering plus the year. (for serials the year is often not part of the base call number).

QK 492.02 v.1, pt.2 is the additional information added .S94 to the base call number. This part of the call number is 2004 derived from the Description Field. v.1 pt.2

The ABCs of Label Formatting

1) The following characters in the Description Field will generate a line break in the call number but will not print on the call number label.

a. Parentheses

2 b. & c. colon d. semi-colon

2) The following characters in the Description Field will generate a line break in the call number and will print on the call number label. a. Blank Space b. Brackets (for example < > and [ ])

3) Information placed inside parentheses

a. If information inside parentheses contain s any num b er s, then a new line will be created at the first parenthesis and the parentheses will be deleted. All characters within the parentheses will print on the label.

b. If the information in parentheses does not contain any num b er s , the information and the parentheses will not print on the label.

c. If there are any line break characters inside the parentheses (see the preceding list), a new line will be created at each line break character and the line break character s will be delet ed (colon, &, etc.) as well as the parentheses.

4) There is a limit of 10 characters per line (including blank spaces). If there are more than 10 characters on one line, an error message is generated in the label window. These labels will have to be done manually in Processing. Sometimes the line with more than 10 characters will simply be omitted from the call number and not generate an error message. This problem should be corrected in the future, but be aware this could occur.

5) There is a limit of 8 lines per label. If more than 8 lines are required, an error message will appear in the label window.

6) The location specific lettering or symbols placed at the top of some call number labels for certain owning locations are set by FCLA. They are not a function of any parameters set in the spine label program itself. The parameters can be changed by FCLA relatively easily, however. Examples include: REF, +, ** for Reference, LAC and Judaica respectively. If you notice a problem with one of these location specific prefixes, please contact Doug Smith ( mailto:[email protected]) who will relay the information to the appropriate person at FCLA.

3 Two possible problems with call number formatting:

Problem 1: First two lines of the call number display on the first line. For example, you may see: QK594 instead of QK 594 Solution: This is a common problem right now which will hopefully be less common in the future. The cause of this is most likely the wrong first indicator in the 852 of the holdings record for LC call numbers. The 852 should be “852 0 blank $$a". If the first indicator in the 852 of the holdings is not 0, the call number will not index correctly in the catalog and it will not print correctly. This is correct:

The following are examples of errors:

4 The first indicator 0 is required only for LC call numbers. Other call numbers require different first indicators which can be found by using HELP ON FIELD in the EDIT menu (F2). Please change the indicator to the correct one when you encounter this problem and save the changes to the server. In most cases the item record will update itself automatically, and the call number will then index and format correctly. If this does not happen, the item record may not be linked correctly to the Holdings.

Problem 2: Formatting call numbers for books accompanied by CD-ROMs when books and CD-ROMs are shelved separately for certain owning locations.

Solution: To avoid formatting problems, use dashes (no spaces). For example type pt.2-of-2, not pt. 2 of 2. See Part 3, Section 1, Example 2 for the type of incorrect formatting that results from using pt. 2 of 2 without dashes. Do not place the following information in the description field: (book + CD), (book + 2 CDs), etc. Place this information in the public note field (subfield z) of the Holdings record.

Part 3 – EXAMPLES

Below are some examples of how information in the Description Field will format on a call number label using the procedures described in this document. Formatting of the base call number originates from the Call Number line of the item record which comes from the Holdings. For the moment, we are only interested in information being added to the base call number.

Because of the “diverse” ways in which information migrated into the Description Field, we have had to build a lot of tolerance into the program. It will allow a fair amount of abuse and still provide the correct formatting.

In order to demonstrate how different ways of adding information to the Description Field can result in the same call number formatting, look at the examples below.

SECTION 1. EXAMPLES USING LINE BREAK CHARCTERS.

EXAMPLE 1. Suppose we have the following Description Fields on four different item records:

a) v.1:pt.3:no.5 using colons as separators

5 b) v.1 pt.3 no.5 using spaces as separators

c) v.1; pt.3; no.5 using semi-colons as separators

d) v.1; pt.3:no.5 using a mixture of characters as separators

For each of these methods of entering data, the call number will appear on the label as: v.1 pt.3 no.5

While “a” is correct according to the NISO standard we are now using, the call numbers of all four records will format correctly on the call number label. They will also look correct when you view them from the Item List window.

Important: Please note that if a space is introduced between the caption and the number, say, “v.1”, the call number will format incorrectly as: v. 1 pt.3 no.5

EXAMPLE 2.

Description Field has: pt. 2 of 2 (CD)

Call number will format as: Pt. 2 of 2

This will probably generate a message saying the call number has too many lines. The problem is that the blank spaces are triggering line breaks. The solution is to use dashes as we did in NOTIS.

Description Field has: pt-2-of-2 (CD)

Call number formats as: pt-2-of-2

6 EXAMPLE 3 The Description Field has: no.320:CD-ROM + Index

The call number will format as: no.320 CD-ROM + Index

The actual label prints more neatly than the above example.

If you don’t want “CD-ROM + Index” to print on the call number label, change your description field to: (CD-ROM + Index). In this case only “no.320” will print, but patrons will see the information about the CD and the index displayed with no.320 on the WebOPAC.

SECTION 2. EXAMPLES USING PARENTHESES AND BRACKETS

EXAMPLE 1. The Description Field has: v.3:pt.1-2 (CD & Index)

The call number will format as: v.3 pt.1-2

EXAMPLE 2.

The Description Field has: v.2(2004/2005)

The call number will format as: v.2 2004/2005

EXAMPLE 3. The Description Field has: v.3:pt.1-2 (2 CDs & Index)

The call number will format as:

7 v.3 pt.1-2 2 CDs Index

The first question to ask is: Do I really need 2 CDs & Index on the call number or do I only want to display this information to the patron? If you only want to display the information to the patron, there are other places in the record where this information can be placed.

EXAMPLE 4. Description Field has: v.1 (March 2004)

Call number formats as: v.1 March 2004

Notice that the combination of a blank space and a parenthesis (both line break characters) does not result in two line breaks, only one.

EXAMPLE 5. Desc field has: v.1 (March 2004 accompanied by CD-ROM)

Call number formats as: Error message saying Too Many Lines. The “too many line” error message is generated because the call number is formatting as: v.1 March 2004 accompanied by CD-ROM

Everything in parentheses will print because of the number “2004”. In combination with the base call number, the formatting above will create more than the 8 lines the label program can accommodate. One solution to this problem would be to move “accompanied by CD-ROM” to another place in the record where it will also display to the public.

EXAMPLE 6. Desc field has: <1>;pt.5

8 Call number formats as:

<1> pt.5

Angle and square brackets should print without problem.