Creating Contact Records
Contact records contain name and address information for resource vendors.
To create a new contact record, do the following:
- Choose Contacts from the Function list.
- Choose File | New Record | Contact Record.
Sierra defaults to the record template selected in Admin | Settings | New Records | New Record Templates. If the setting is "Prompt for Template," you are prompted to select one of the templates from the list.
Preferred Templates
You can create a customized list of preferred templates in Admin | Settings | Templates. If you use this setting, the list of templates that displays when you create a new record will be limited to those you have specified.
- Highlight the row of the template you want to use and choose the Select button. Depending on the settings enabled for your login, the system does one of the following:
- Displays a blank record template.
- Offers a "wizard" (a series of dialogs). For each field that appears in the selected template, the system prompts you to enter a value for that field.
- Enter data for the variable-length fields required by the record template you chose.
Note the following:
- To separate lines in variable-length field values, use the $ symbol or semicolons.
- Do not use vertical bars (|) to separate lines in variable-length field values in contact records.
- There are no fixed-length fields in the contact record.
- The CONTACT CODE field enables you to associate a resource record with the contact record.
- When you finish entering contact information, choose Save.
- (Optional) Associate the contact record with a resource record:
- Retrieve or create a resource record.
- Enter the CONTACT CODE value from the contact record in the following fixed-length fields:
- ACCESS PROVIDER
- PUBLISHER
- COPYRIGHT HOLDER
- DATA PROVIDER
- CONSORTIUM
When you associate contact information with a resource, the contact information displays in the Contacts tab for the resource record. The resource record fixed-length field appears as the "Role" in the contacts display.