Soft Linking Records in ERM

To attach new records or to add related records, you must be assigned permission 217 (Link external files) as well as the functions associated with editing the relevant record type. See Permissions Used by Sierra for more information.

In the bibliographic record's Summary tab, you can choose to view Related Resources.

In the resource record's Summary tab, you can choose to view Related Orders and Related Holdings.

Sorting Holdings and Orders

When you view related holdings or orders for a resource, you cannot sort the holdings or orders. For related holdings, titles are normalized and displayed alphabetically.

These "related" records are "soft linked." A soft link is created through advanced search-indexed variable-length fields. When you choose a related record type from the View drop-down menu on the Summary tab, the system searches the advanced search index to determine which records are "soft linked" and must be displayed. Soft linking allows resources to remain within maximum database limits for record linking while maintaining connections with multiple order and holdings records.

Order records are soft linked to resource records by means of the ERM LINK variable-length field, which contains the value "SLK<resource record number>".

Holdings and resource records are soft linked through their RESOURCE ID fields.

Resource records are connected to bibliographic records through holdings records: the RESOURCE ID field forms a soft link between the resource and holdings record, and the holdings record is attached to the bibliographic record. When you choose Related Resources on the bibliographic record's Summary tab, the system finds and displays all resource records whose RESOURCE ID field matches a RESOURCE ID field in a holdings record that is attached to the bibliographic record.

See this diagram of resource record linking for more information.

Resource records:

always soft link to holdings records.
link or soft link to order records.
link to other record types (i.e., contact and license records).

Exporting Fields from the Coverage Database

Create Lists allows you to export 8XX fields from the coverage database. To enable this:

Set Store Record Type for your original review file to holdings records.
Enable the Include coverage database information setting in Create Lists.

Create Lists mode does not support exporting non-8XX fields from the coverage database.

See also:: Transferring Attached Records; Linking Items to Additional Bibliographic Records