Record Numbers

Each record is assigned an internal control number, known as a record number. Record numbers are prefixed with a period (.) and a one-character tag that identifies the record type. The record types are assigned the following character tags:

  b   bibliographic
  o   order
  i   item
  c   checkin
  a   authority
  p   patron
  r   course
  n   invoice
  v   vendor
  e   resource
  l   license
  t   contact
  j   volume

Record numbers are seven or eight digits long plus a modulus 11 check digit in the last position. For example, the seven-digit record number .b10243641 is interpreted as follows:

        .b10243641
        |||      |
        |||      `--- Check digit
        ||`--- Record number
        |`--- Record type (bibliographic)
        `--- Record number prefix
Working with Records of Different Lengths

If your library has records of differing lengths, you must prepend the shorter record with a zero while you work in certain interfaces. For example, the Rapid Updating for YTDCIRC option available in Admin Corner requires you to enter a record with the full, maximum length for item record numbers. When you enter shorter record numbers, you must prepend a zero (for example, "i12345678" becomes "i012345678").

Check Digits

Check digits can be any one of 11 possible digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or x).

The check digit is calculated as follows:

  1. Multiply the rightmost digit of the record number by 2, the next digit to the left by 3, the next by 4, etc., and total the products. For example:
        1 0 2 4 3 6 4
        | | | | | | |
        | | | | | | 4 * 2 =  8
        | | | | | 6 * 3   = 18
        | | | | 3 * 4     = 12
        | | | 4 * 5       = 20
        | | 2 * 6         = 12
        | 0 * 7           =  0
        1 * 8             =  8
                            78
  1. Divide the total by 11 and retain the remainder (for example, 78 / 11 is 7, with a remainder of 1). The remainder after the division is the check digit. If the remainder is 10, the letter x is used as the check digit.

When searching for a record number, if you don't know the check digit, you can substitute the character a for the check digit. For example, you could enter the record number above as .b1024364a.