Matching Records on the ISBN Field

The INN-Reach Central Server must be running the appropriate release to use 13-digit ISBN values in record matching. For more information, ask your Central System Administrator to contact Innovative.

If your INN-Reach System has enabled matching on Secondary Match Fields, the system searches the 'i' index on the INN-Reach Central Server for the value contained in the incoming record's ISBN field. To identify this initial match, the system compares the value stored in the incoming ISBN field to all values in the 'i' index.

The system proceeds depending on the results of the index search:

Incoming Records with Multiple ISBN Fields

If the incoming record contains more than one ISBN field, the system performs a separate test for the value in each ISBN field until it finds a match in the index or determines there is no match.

System Finds an Index Match

If the system finds a match for the ISBN value in the 'i' index, it performs the following actions:

  1. (Optional) Compares the titles of the incoming and existing records.
    • If the titles match, the system proceeds to the next step.
    • If the titles do not match, the system does one of the following:
      • Continues by searching for a match on the ISSN (if the related feature is enabled).
      • Stops searching because the records do not match.
  2. Verifies the ISBN match. Because the 'i' index could contain a value that matches the incoming ISBN value, but is not associated with an ISBN field, the system verifies the match by normalizing the data in the MARC 020 fields in the incoming and existing records, and comparing this data directly.

    The system normalizes the data in the ISBN fields according to the index rules file; for example, it removes the '-' character. The system then searches the fields for the first character that is not a space, digit, or 'x' (uppercase or lowercase). To perform the comparison, the system uses the first 10 significant characters, that is, digits or 'x' characters, that appear before the first invalid character. The system also performs additional checks to distinguish between 10-digit and 13-digit ISBNs.

    The system continues depending on the results of the comparison:
    • If the ISBN fields in the incoming and existing records match, the record is a match.
    • If the ISBN fields in the incoming and existing records do not match, the system does one of the following:
      • Continues by searching for a match on the ISSN (if the related feature is enabled).
      • Stops searching because the records do not match.
    • (Optional) Verifies whether the values in the Primary Match Fields for both the incoming and existing record are valid. Note that matchkeys are always valid, and if both values are valid and the same, the system would have already matched the records.
      • If both values are valid and the Primary Match Fields contain different values, the system does one of the following:
        • Continues by searching for a match on the ISSN (if the related feature is enabled).
        • Stops searching because the records do not match.
      • If either value is invalid, the records match. The system was unable to match the records earlier because of the invalid Primary Match Field values.

System Does Not Find an Index Match

If the system does not find a match for the ISBN value in the 'i' index, the system does one of the following: