[Evergreen-catalogers] How to explain the display of "empty records"?

[Mary Llewellyn]

I like your explanation " I usually explain it by saying bib records that
belong to noone belong to everyone." That might help me explain it around
here.

Mary


On Tue, Oct 4, 2022 at 2:53 PM Sarah Childs <sarahc at hmmpl.org> wrote:

> I would be interested to know if anyone does find this "feature" useful. I
> usually explain it by saying bib records that belong to noone belong to
> everyone. I would definitely prefer it if these only turned up in searches
> scoped to the entire consortium.
>
> On Tue, Oct 4, 2022 at 2:36 PM Mary Llewellyn via Evergreen-catalogers <
> evergreen-catalogers at list.evergreen-ils.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi Erica,
>>
>> In our case, none of the reported bibs has an 856. These are records we
>> loaded at the request of another library, in which they haven't gotten
>> around to adding their own items.
>>
>> When we first migrated to Evergreen, the empty bibs were colored in gray,
>> and that caused no end of complaints. We were relieved when the coloring
>> was turned off. It drew less attention to the empty bibs and people calmed
>> down.
>>
>> Our public services staff aren't looking to do any cataloging, so seeing
>> the empty bibs, colored in or not, is not helpful to them. Our acq staff
>> members are adding an "on order" copy to the records when they activate
>> their purchase orders, so there's no need from them to place holds on empty
>> bibs. Their display in a library-based search instead of CONS serves no
>> useful purpose to us.
>>
>> I don't know if there's been an influx of new staff first running into
>> these, or if the angular catalog is making them more prominent, displaying
>> them at the top of search results, but I need to write up an FAQ for our
>> librarians that I can point at every time we get another complaint. I'd
>> like to say something more detailed than "it's a feature, not a bug."
>>
>> Mary
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 4, 2022 at 2:17 PM Erica Rohlfs <erica.rohlfs at equinoxoli.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Mary,
>>>
>>> I don't know if I can be of much help. I see that you're already aware
>>> of Wish List - Add color coding when there are no holdings
>>> <https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1966342> so I'm just listing
>>> it here for others who are following the discussion. I agree with Elaine
>>> that having the empty bib records, a.k.a. shadowed records color coded was
>>> once a very helpful feature. I also agree that some mechanism to filter out
>>> the truly empty bibs would be a good feature, too. Some of the confusion
>>> also stems from the fact that, if there is an associated 856 subfield 9 on
>>> the record, it's not considered empty. This is one of the factors that
>>> consortia consider when removing the e-resources from the catalog (only one
>>> factor, I know there are many others). Some libraries do filter on Group
>>> Formats/Editions to consolidate results, where possible. But, this doesn't
>>> answer the question of why the records show up in the results :-) You've
>>> noted that there are catalogers' considerations for retrieving empty bibs.
>>> Really, the only circulation reason that stands out in my mind is that,
>>> with the permission to override HIGH_LEVEL_HOLD_HAS_NO_COPIES, staff
>>> can place holds on empty bibs. I don't know how many use cases there are
>>> for it, maybe Acquisitions and Collections Librarians in the community have
>>> specific use cases. I'd love to learn more about them.
>>>
>>> Thank You,
>>> Erica
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Oct 4, 2022 at 1:27 PM Mary Llewellyn via Evergreen-catalogers <
>>> evergreen-catalogers at list.evergreen-ils.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> I could use some advice.
>>>>
>>>> We have our catalogers use CONS as their search library so they can
>>>> find all records, with and without items, when they need to catalog their
>>>> own items.
>>>>
>>>> However, the public services staff use their own library as a search
>>>> library, and that's where we run into staff confusion.
>>>>
>>>> When they run into a bib record with no items, they report that to us
>>>> as an error.
>>>> When they are searching in their own library, they expect to only
>>>> retrieve records with their items.
>>>>
>>>> I'm trying to come up with a succinct explanation for why they see
>>>> those records. I do assure them that their public does not see the "empty"
>>>> records, that they only appear in the staff catalog. Can someone share with
>>>> me the official reason for why these records display?
>>>>
>>>> I wish there were some way to prevent them from coming up in their
>>>> searches.
>>>> --
>>>> Mary Llewellyn
>>>> Database Manager
>>>> Bibliomation, Inc.
>>>> 24 Wooster Ave.
>>>> Waterbury, CT 06708
>>>> mllewell at biblio.org
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Evergreen-catalogers mailing list
>>>> Evergreen-catalogers at list.evergreen-ils.org
>>>>
>>>> http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-catalogers
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Erica Rohlfs, MLIS, PMP
>>> Senior Implementation Project Manager
>>> Equinox Open Library Initiative
>>> erica.rohlfs at equinoxOLI.org
>>> https://equinoxOLI.org
>>> phone: 877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
>>> direct: 770-709-5572
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Mary Llewellyn
>> Database Manager
>> Bibliomation, Inc.
>> 24 Wooster Ave.
>> Waterbury, CT 06708
>> mllewell at biblio.org
>> _______________________________________________
>> Evergreen-catalogers mailing list
>> Evergreen-catalogers at list.evergreen-ils.org
>>
>> http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-catalogers
>>
>
>
> --
> Sarah Childs (pronouns: she/her)
> Technical Services Department Head
> Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library
> 250 North Fifth Street
> Zionsville, IN 46077
> 317-873-3149 x13330
> sarahc at hmmpl.org
>


-- 
Mary Llewellyn
Database Manager
Bibliomation, Inc.
24 Wooster Ave.
Waterbury, CT 06708
mllewell at biblio.org
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