Creative Create Lists

Elizabeth B. Thomsen

Member Services Manager

North of Boston Library Exchange

et@noblenet.org

Create Lists: What is it?

• Program that brings together a file of records that have something in common

• Searches data stored in the records• Creates a file of record numbers• Records met the search conditions at the time the

search was run• Viewing, listing, etc., shows you current info

Create Lists: Why?

• Statistics– how many?

• Delete or update records as a batch

• Work on a group of records individually

• Produce a list: Print, e-mail, send to script to make web page, export to Access or Excel, etc.

Starting a Search

• Select a review file

• Name the file

• Choose the type of record

• Choose the range for the search

Searching: Type of Records

• What records do you want in your file?

• For statements, you need patrons; for global update, you need the records you’re updating; for item call numbers, you need items, etc.

Record Links

Range for Searching

• Which records does the system have to examine?

• This is one of the most important decisions you make when you set up your search

• The fewer the records that have to be examined; the faster the search!

• Upstairs/Downstairs : Different logic

Range of Record NumbersBy default, the system wants to search every record in the

database. If your logins are scoped, you have the option to search a scoped range. (For NOBLE, logins are scoped to the library.)

Using a Review File as a Range

Call Number Index

The call number index is handy for shelflist reports.

Call Number Index

The call number index can also be used to get books on a specific topic.

Author Index

The author index is fast and easy to use. Note that the author index may include added author fields.

Subject Index

The subject index is handy – just remember to dedupe!

Advanced• Sounds difficult, actually easy

• Advanced keyword indexes

• Use all the tricks here: contexts, truncation, Boolean operators, etc.

Advanced Keyword Index

Search Conditions

• Many Create Lists problems are the result of not understanding the data

• Plan for Create Lists by using data in consistent formats

• Consider adding new variable fields to records

Search Condition: Equals, Does Not Equal

• Data must match exactly

• Good with fixed fields to match codes

• Also useful to search for the absence or presence of variable fields

Absence of a Field

Enter the field name, choose equals, and leave the field blank.

Presence of a Field

Enter the field name, choose does not equal, and leave the field blank.

Search Condition: Has

• HAS searches for a string of characters anywhere in a field.

• Punctuation must be included

• MARC subfield delimiters need to be included in search if they fall within the string to be searched.

Search Condition HAS Example:

Note the subfield delimiters.

Search Condition: Greater Than; Less Than

• Mostly used for money and dates

• Watch out for blanks and zeroes

Matches: Unix Regular Expressions

• Pattern matching; much more flexible than searching for a specific string

• Can be incredibly complicated

• Learning just a few simple tricks can be useful

• Richard Jackson’s handout is invaluable!

Matching a Single Character

• The period matches any single character

• Two or more characters within brackets matches any of those characters [aeiou]

• You can use ranges of digits or letters within brackets [1-4]

• The carat within brackets means NOT these characters [^0-9]

Matching a Single Character

Matches location codes that begin with BE and end with A, no matter what’s in the third position.

.* The Wildcard Gone Wild .*

• Wildcard: the period matches any single character

• The asterisk after any character means it may be repeated 0 or more times.

• Put them together and you have .* which means “maybe some stuff in between.”

The Wildcard Gone Wild Example

Matches any of the following:

• African American actors|vBiography

• African American inventors

|zMassachusetts|zLynn|vBiography.

• African Americans|xBiography

Working with Bibs, Items and Orders

• You can do just about anything you have authorization to do

• Add, edit or delete records

• View summary and edit attached records

• Add holds

• View the public display

Removing Records from a Review File

Sorting

• Sort different ways, look at the top and bottom of the list

• Check the middle record for the median

• If sorting by a repeatable field, sorting can increase the number of records in the file by adding duplicates

• Consider exporting or listing a single field, with the numbering turned on

Appending Records to a Review File

• Appending lets you do another search, putting the new records into an existing review file.

• Good for taking a “layered” approach to searching

• Even more useful now that we have deduping• Use Append to merge two review file:

Merging files

Adding Records to a Review File

• Instead of letting you do a new Boolean search, the Add option lets you do regular Millennium searching to select records to your review file.

• You have to start with a review file with at least one item in it.

The Label Queue Trick

• You can bypass Create Lists and create a review file by selecting individual items and saving them to the label queue.

• Go into Create Lists, select an empty file, and click on Copy. Scroll down to the bottom of the list to find your review file.

• One label queue per login

Label Queue Trick

Label Queue Trick

Listing Records

• Can list fields from any linked records• Can list by field group tag or MARC tag (245|ab is often a better way to list titles)• Turn on the numbering option if you want

to go back to the file– but remember to remove records from the bottom up!

Exporting Records

• Choose fields as you would for listing

• Choose field delimiters

• Exports to a file on your own PC; import into Word, Excel, etc.

Sample Searches

Sample Searches

Beyond Millennium• Telnet version works well for scripting, and

has two important features lacking in Millennium: Limit to a subset, and Printing full records

• Telnet staff catalog can also be used to produce review files: Spellmaster

Automate Your Systems• Just schedule it

• Function Keys : Sample Macros

• Saved searches

• Scripts : telnet, Expect, etc., using the telnet version of Create Lists

• AutoIt : Using Auto It

Working with Output• Reportster : Automating the process of

getting data into Microsoft Access to produce standard reports

• Booklist Scripts : We use Perl scripts with an e-mail gateway to create booklists linked to the catalog

Elizabeth B. ThomsenMember Services Manager

NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange

et@noblenet.org

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http://www.noblenet.org/swapshop/