How Identifiers Are Used in Updating Holdings

When updating holdings statements with a file, the serial to be updated is identified by matching the ISSN in the holdings update file to the ISSN in the bibliographic record. If there is no ISSN for the serial in the file, the serial is identified by matching the title. When matching titles, the title in the file must exactly match the title in the bibliographic record. For more information, see:

• Formatting Text Files for Holdings (LIB HAS) Updates
• Formatting XML Files for Holdings (LIB HAS) Updates
• Formatting Text Files for Simultaneous Holdings (LIB HAS) and Coverage Data Updates
• Formatting XML Files for Simultaneous Holdings (LIB HAS) and Coverage Data Updates

You enter an identifier and the file name to process the file. The identifier determines the appropriate copy to update. The appropriate copy is found when the identifier matches an entry in a LIB HAS field in an attached checkin record. For an h-tagged variable-length field, the identifier must be both:

• the first word in the field
• followed by a space

For a MARC 866 field, subfield a, the identifier must be the first data in the subfield.

When the identifier match is made, the holdings statement of the checkin record is overlaid with the contents of the HOLDINGS field (from a text holdings update file) or the LocalIdentifierZone element (from an XML holdings update file). The identifier is the only entry in the LIB HAS field that is preserved when the holdings statement is overlaid.

If no match is found for the identifier, the contents of the HOLDINGS field (from a text holdings update file) or the LocalIdentifierZone element (from an XML holdings update file) are inserted in the holdings statement of the first attached checkin record.