The next phase of my project!
Jeeya S -
Hello fellow classmates! I have some exciting updates, but first I would like to take a moment to discuss the difference between Integrated library systems (ILS) and library services platforms (LSP) (because many people have asked me about the difference between Polaris and OCLC).
I work with ILS (Polaris), which manages collections and operations specific to the Glendale Public Library. Meaning that, the Phoenix Public Library or the Peoria Public Library (who may be using Polaris as well) could not look at the collections in Glendale Public Library. OCLC, on the other hand, is a searchable engine that contains all the books available in whichever library uses it. This is very useful in the inter-loan process (where if a patron requests a book that the library does not have, that library can search up the book on OCLC and request to borrow it from another library). I do not work with OCLC or inter-library loans, but it seems like an intriguing process of it’s own.
Now for my exciting updates: As you know, I have been spending a lot of time learning the background knowledge such as: what is the cataloging process, how it all connects, etc…I had also been spending a lot of time learning on the Polaris and Leap training databases and doing some initial editing of MARC records on MARC edit and on Polaris itself.
Now, I have officially started the experimenting part of my project! I have begun to try to find ways to better filter, manage and edit mass data in MARC records using OpenRefine! Initially I thought that OpenRefine and MARC edit could be used interchangeably. But now I realize they need to work in tandem because MARC edit is specific to MARC records while OpenRefine is a open-source data cleanup tool that is not specific to library use. While it is true that OpenRefine has much more extensive capabilities than MARC edit, MARC edit is required to turn that MARC file into a format OpenRefine could support, read, and filter. Furthermore, there are some jobs (such as spellcheck) that OpenRefine is still not able to complete, so I might need a third application (perhaps Excel?). Furthermore, if I were to use Excel, I would need OpenRefine to turn the data into an Excel sheet. So I would need to use all three (MARC edit, OpenRefine, and Excel) in tandem. While it seems like a lot, one file (usually a record set in Polaris) tends to contain upwards of 200 individual MARC records, and OpenRefine allows for easy use of filters and facets to deal with the data in bulk.
I will go into more details next week
Wish me luck!
(Here is a picture of what a MARC record looks like on MARC edit if you were curious, though the fields are the same it looks different on Polaris, Leap, or OpenRefine):
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