Record Import Service

File Specifications

Purpose

To ensure that files uploaded by contributing libraries contain sufficient information to permit correct transaction reporting and data conversion processing before upload into the Libraries Australia database.

Format

Only one file is required for each Record Import Service contribution, namely a data file containing the bibliographic data in one of the Libraries Australia Record Import Service formats:

a) Bibliographic upload - Full MARC
b) Holdings update - Abbreviated MARC
c) Holdings update - Full MARC
d) Holdings update - Non MARC
e) Bibliographic upload - Inmagic DB/Textworks

The file must identify the customer contributing the data and the type of process that the data represents. There are four processes that are available:

  1. Bibliographic upload with holdings (B)
  2. Holdings addition or update (H)
  3. Holdings delete (D)
  4. Bibliographic upload with holdings - Inmagic DB/Textworks (B)

Each file must adhere to the following naming format :

NUC symbol Separator Process B, H, or D Separator File type D Unique identifier Compress format suffix Z

eg.

ACR-B.D01 NUC symbol ACR
Process B (Bibliographic upload)
File type D (Data)
Unique identifier 01

Records rejected during loading will be placed on the Libraries Australia FTP server and can be downloaded via the Libraries Australia Administration system website for retrieval, correction and resubmission. They are available in three formats: MARC records without error massages, a brief format with error messages for each record, and a full view with error messages. Contributors receive notification of these reject files via an email message. Rejected record files will be automatically deleted from the Libraries Australia FTP server after 90 days.

A separate email alert is generated and sent to the contributors account when reject files are available and created.

Field definitions

The following table describes the elements of the file name format described above.

Element Type Fixed/
Variable
Mandatory Values Description
NUC symbol alphanumeric no embedded spaces; upper case V M Valid NUC symbol The NUC symbol of the Libraries Australia customer contributing the records. Where an agency is supplying records on behalf of a Libraries Australia customer, the NUC symbol of the Libraries Australia customer is supplied.
Separator alphanumeric F M - Hyphen character
Format alphabetic;
upper case
F M B B–Bibliographic records (with or without holdings)
D D–holdings deletion records only
H H–holdings addition/modification records only
Separator alphanumeric F M . Full stop character
File type alphanumeric upper case F M D D–data file containing bibliographic and/or holdings data. Generated by supplier
E E–error records generated by Libraries Australia after loading. Stored on the Libraries Australia FTP server in the customer's directory
File upload number numeric; leading zeros F M 00–99 Running number of file uploads. This number is generated by the datat supplier to identify each file uploaded to Libraries Australia. This number recycles after reaching upper limit
Separator alphanumeric F O . Full stop character
Compress flag alphabetic F O Z UNIX-compatible compressed format indicator

Table: Libraries Australia RIS File Upload Naming Convention