Importing vendor preliminary data records

The rules on this page have been approved in concept by the SCRAP committee, but the exact wording is still being adjusted. Please use these rules. Please send any feedback to SCRAP.

MARC records acquired from vendors may be used as Preliminary Data records. They may not be used as final records, even if they contain an OCLC number; they must be overlaid with a record acquired from OCLC.

• Make every effort not to create a duplicate Preliminary Data record. However, duplicate records are allowed if acquired from a vendor and it is not feasible to check for duplicates. Duplicates must be merged when discovered.
• Include an 099 field with PRELIMINARY DATA or VENDOR PRELIMINARY DATA RECORD.
• If possible, capitalize all letters in the 245 field.
• If possible, include 007/008/347/etc. for digital AV.
• For combo packs or separated parts of combo packs, make sure that's indicated in the record.
• If using 949/970/etc. to create items/POs/etc., make sure those fields are in the records.

• In Polaris:

1. Utilities > Importing > Express Import (or Full Import to change any settings)
2. Select an import profile for loading PDRs.
3. Add the file and Import.
4. Check the import report. Correct any Provisional records, either by merging with a duplicate record or by saving as Final.

Pre-order titles

Midwest Tape lists titles for purchase that are still running in the theaters and/or are a long way away from being ready for library use. For these, include the following:

037 product ID #‡bMidwest Tape
500  This is a Coming Soon Title from Midwest Tape.  As such, this preliminary record does not have any identifying numbers such as OCLC number, UPC, or ISBN.

If you know whether it will be a "rental" edition, indicate that in a 250 field.

Note this means you may have to individually edit these "Coming Soon" records after you have loaded them.