Using Cataloging Templates

Using templates to create bibliographic, authority, and item records greatly reduces the time it takes to do original cataloging because much of the information is already present in the template. In addition, templates ensure consistency in your records and facilitate acquisitions and serials processing workflows. You can create a template by renaming an existing template or by saving an item, bibliographic, or authority record as a template.

Note:
If you have a contract with an eContent vendor that integrates with Polaris, eContent item records are created automatically using an ebook item template.

In addition, you can create several templates for the same type of record. For example, you can have separate bibliographic templates for books, music, videos, and other types of items. The more standard information you can enter in the template, the less you need to enter when you create a new record. To set up templates for specific material types, see Type of Material Codes (TOMs).

If you are creating new cataloging records and you want to use the same template for all the records, you can choose a template as the template default; it is used to create subsequent records of the same type for the duration of the time you are logged in.

The following types of templates are used outside of Cataloging:

On-order bibliographic templates - Available from a purchase order line item to create brief bibliographic records from title information added to a purchase order line item.
On-order item templates - Automatically create on-order item records when purchase orders are released.
On-the-fly item templates - Used for circulating uncataloged materials.
Reserve item templates - Used for circulating uncataloged materials and instructor-supplied course reserve materials.
INN-Reach ILL item templates - Used for circulating items requested through INN-Reach if your library has a license to use INN-Reach. See Set Up INN-Reach ILL Item Templates.