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Background

This document describes the current configuration and default Brief Record Level rule being used in the CSU NZ account.

see also: Policy: Do not use Brief record level functionality

see also: Policy: Overlaying Brief Bibliographic Records in the Network Zone

Associated Alma online help page:  "Working with Brief Record Levels"

Policy Statement

Best practice recommendations

Setting the Default Brief Level Rule

In the Alliance NZ account, go to: ALMA > Resource Management > Resource Configuration > Configuration Menu > Cataloging > Metadata Configuration, and click on the profile "MARC21 Bibliographic". Then go to the Other Settings tab where the default Brief Level Rule can be selected from the dropdown list of brief level rules present in the NZ account:

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Note: An assumption is being made that import profiles created and used in an institution's account (the account each library uses for normal day-to-day work) will be able to use the Brief Level Rule created in the NZ account ("OCA Brief 2016a"). However, this assumption needs to be tested/confirmed after the inclusion of the brief level functionality in import profiles, scheduled for August 2016.

Alliance Default Brief Level Rule

The initial Alliance default brief level rule was given the name "OCA Brief 2016a" with the expectation that it would be modified in the future, so the use of the year of the rule plus a letter qualifier will allow multiple iterations of the rule in a given year while allowing old versions of the rule to be retained.

The rule "OCA Brief 2016a" is written to implement the following hierarchical logic based on value in the Leader byte 17 "Encoding Level":

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Using the Alliance Brief Level Rule in the IZ

An assumption is being made that import profiles created and used in an institution's account (the account each library uses for normal day-to-day work) will be able to use the Brief Level Rule created in the NZ account ("OCA Brief 2016a"). However, this assumption needs to be tested/confirmed after the inclusion of the brief level functionality in import profiles, scheduled for August 2016.

• Update after testing: This is true. When Milly Williams loaded PCC records to the NZ, the OCA brief 2016a brief level rule was used and assigned a brief level to the NZ bibliographic record view, and a different brief level view was assigned to the IZ bibliographic record view. This was tested while PCC had a different brief level rule in place to determine NZ/IZ brief rule use upon import.

An additional assumption is that import profiles that load records into an institution's IZ (i.e., have "Use Network Zone = No") will use the default Brief Level Rule set as the default within that institution's IZ configuration. 

• Update after testing: Yes, this is true. 
• If a library loads records to the IZ, it will assign a level based on the institution's brief rule.
• If a library links an IZ bib to an NZ bib, the NZ bib view will use the brief rule level per NZ settings, and the IZ bib view will maintain its brief level per IZ rules.
• If a library shares an IZ only bib with NZ, the NZ brief level rules were applied to the NZ record, but the IZ brief level was retained.
• If a library uses the Copy to Catalog from the NZ, the IZ brief level is retained and the NZ brief level is retained.
• If you search in Alma Sets in the IZ and NZ, you can successfully search for the records by the corresponding brief level.

As of July 2016, in my institution's Resource Management Configuration, the default Brief Level Rule was blank, i.e., there was no default Brief Level Rule; and the NZ Brief Level Rule "OCA Brief 2016a" was not available as an option in the dropdown list of rules available as the default Brief Level Rule. 

• Update after testing: Still true. The OCA brief rule is not available in the IZ. Libraries would still need to copy the OCA brief rule. 

However, the NZ Brief Level Rule "OCA Brief 2016a" was present in the Metadata Editor (in the "Brief level rules" list). I was able to duplicate the NZ rule (I named the copy "Copy Of OCA Brief 2016a") and that copy the rule was available in the dropdown list of options for the default Brief Level Rule (see the "Setting the Default Brief Level Rule" paragraph above. I set my institution's default Brief Level Rule to use the copy of the NZ rule and the assumption is that Alma will use that rule when records are loaded into the IZ (assumption needs to be confirmed in August 2016).

FAQ on Brief Level Rule in IZ

Milly Williams provided answers to the following questions on the tech services discussion list on 8/12/2016:

Do we need to run the Identifying Brief Level job after we change the default to the NZ's brief level rules in our IZ?

Yes, you will need to run the Brief level job if you change your local brief level rules. When you change the rule in Alma, you will see that pop-up confirmation box you mentioned that indicates you'll need to run the Brief Level Job. You will just have to create a set of all the records, and then you can run the job.

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Just for a little background (in case it's useful), as part of the July Release implementation, ExLibris calculated the brief level of our catalogs based on the rule that we had set as the default. If we did not choose a brief level rule locally, a default one was chosen for us that simulates the two-level (brief/not brief) approach (see drools/OldBriefRule.dslr or drools/OldBriefRule_Unimarc.dslr).

Will running the Identifying Brief Level job have any unforeseen pitfalls?

The pitfalls that come to mind for me are: did all the records receive the new Brief level rule, are my logical sets based on Brief level rule affected adversely (I can't imagine they would be, but???)? Other folks might have ideas about more things to consider based on their IZ brief level work.

I ran the Brief level job in our IZ sandbox, and I am checking to make sure levels have been assigned appropriately. I have also been checking the NZ brief level rules to make sure they're all set and correctly set based on our rule, and I'll have more information about that when I'm done. It might inform our IZ brief level work/questions.

Will it impact Alma publishing to primo in any way?

A very good question, and I don't know if running this job will trigger records to load to Primo. My feeling is that it shouldn't because I don't think the Brief Level is information that is sent to Primo, but I will definitely have to clarify that. I don't want to assume! Someone else with way more Primo brains should chime in here!!!!

Procedures in Alma

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See Also: Brief Record Level Configuration (Acquisitions Task Force)

Policy Justification: Interim Policy on use of the “Do not override/merge a non-brief record with a brief version” flag in Alma import profiles

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In the December 2014 release Ex Libris has added a flag to the import profile (found in the Match Profile tab) which when checked, will prevent a “brief” record from overlaying a “full” record. However, it has been determined that the existing algorithms for determining what is a brief record is not adequate for Alliance purposes. Therefore, it is Alliance policy for the time being that you should not check this flag.

With the Alma August 2016 release Ex Libris updated the algorithms used for determining the brief level record utilizing the brief level rules established. (see: Alma Brief Level Record Configuration) While testing did show that some of the functionality works as expected, it can be confusing to figure out when to use the setting and when using the setting could cause problems.

TSWG continues to recommend that you should not check this flag until Ex Libris can resolve the issues.

Our testing results have been shared with Ex Libris and the Alliance will work with Ex Libris through the COE Initiative.

Testing results are shared below, including when using the setting may work as expected.

Testing results:

Scenarios where functionality works as expected post August 2016 release:

• Using the setting in Repository import profiles that have a Merge setting in the Match tab and if the import isn't creating or changing inventory. 

Problems:

• Testing has revealed that using this setting when importing records to create or change inventory (physical or electronic) causes errors in POL creation and with the portfolio creation/update process. 

How this setting works (see Alliance documentation for more information):

• When importing records to the NZ, this setting prevents an incoming record with a lower brief level (as assigned by the NZ rules) from overlaying a matching existing NZ record that has a higher brief level.
• The NZ brief level can be different than the IZ brief level. Only the brief level in the NZ is considered when the import loads to the NZ. 

History:

The 3-month implementation of Brief level rule in Alma has completed with the August release. You can read more about the history and settings of the Brief level rule in the NZ in the Alliance documentation. The brief level rule has been set in the NZ as detailed in the documentation. Brief levels were assigned to existing NZ records and all incoming records from Connexion or imports are assigned brief levels.

Further configuration and testing may result in changes to this policy.

Policy Statement

TSWG continues to recommend that you should not check this flag until Ex Libris can resolve the issues.

Best practice recommendations

Procedures in Alma

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