Inserting Variable-length Fields

Choose Insert variable-length field from the Choose Command Type dialog box to open the Insert Variable-length Field dialog box.

Global Update uses the data you enter to insert a variable-length field into each of the selected records.

To insert variable-length fields:

  1. To insert a MARC field, select (check) the MARC Field check box. To insert a non-MARC field, clear (uncheck) MARC Field, disabling the MARC Tag, Ind1, and Ind2 text boxes.
  2. Enter the field group tag, MARC tag, indicators, and data you want to insert into the selected records. If you leave the default value of <auto select> in the Field Group Tag text box, Global Update automatically assigns a field group tag based on the MARC tag you enter.
Required Data for Inserting Variable-length Fields

To insert variable-length fields, you must include the following data:

  • MARC Tag if the field is MARC or Field Group Tag if the field is non-MARC
    and
  • Data
  1. After specifying the data to insert, choose OK to close the dialog box and return to the Command input tab. The command you created appears as a single line, for example:

The command row includes a Command column and an Action column. The Command column indicates the type of command you specified. (Insert = Insert variable-length field.) The Action column indicates the data for insertion. MARC tags appear in parentheses and indicators appear in brackets. A wild card character or word, such as a period ('.'), an equal sign ('='), or <any>, may represent some data fields with unspecified (default) content.

In the example above, Global Update adds a MARC 590 field with two blank indicators to the records and inserts the data "Keep on holiday shelf until 12/31/00." The 'n' at the beginning of the command reflects the specified field group tag 'n'.

  1. To create more change commands, see Creating Commands for Changing Records. Choose the Preview tab to view the effects of your commands. Choose Process in the Preview tab to apply the changes.