As with all Pergamon Plugins, the UKMARC Importer exists as a separate application located in the Pergamon application directory but should NOT be executed separately. Instead, start the application from within the Pergamon managerial toolbar menu. In order to work correctly and communicate with the correct database, ensure that the [Connection] toolbar icon is GREEN.

The UKMARC Import Plugin is designed to import catalogue item files from a range of UK Distributors who use the UKMARC format, or a variant of it. At this time, the UKMARC Importer has been confirmed for use with:

• Peters

A number of additional suppliers have been tested, but further work is being undertaken before final confirmation is made.

The first step in using the importer is to select the [Add] toolbar icon to select an import file. On selection the file will be displayed in the left hand list.

While it is possible to select multiple files and build a stock of files for import in the list, it is recommended to import only one file at a time to reduce the chances of visually missing erroneous or problematic data. Files can be removed from the list by selecting a file followed by the [Remove] toolbar icon.

Once at least one file is in the list, select the [Load] toolbar icon to open the file(s) and load the data into the importer. At this point, the data is NOT written to the database and will not change any active reader records.

Before loading, you may wish to alter one of the three options available:

• Automatically Connect Existing Properties - This option allows the importer to try and match imported fields with fields that already exist in the database.
• Remove existing import records before import - This option removes all previous UKMarc import data from the import buffer before processing.
• Always create a new core record - Do not try to connect the record to an existing core record, and instead create a new unique and core record combination.

It is recommended that all three of these options remain ON.

UKMarc data requires no intermediate processing by the user.

Once the records have been loaded into the UKMarc import buffer, they can be written into the live database.

Select the [Write] toolbar icon to write the records to the database.

At the point of import, new UKMarc record are not accessioned and therefore have no local HID (Accession or Barcode Number).

In order to uniquely identify records that have been imported into the database, HID numbers are created in the format:

• imported_rcn###########

Where the suffix is created from the unique RCN (record control number) imported from the UKMarc data file.

In order to assist in identifying the new items and replacing this temporary HID with a true accession number, a pre-defined List called [Recently Imported] is provided with all Pergamon databases which displays only those items with this HID pattern. As items in the list are updated with new Accession numbers, the list will diminish.

Pergamon Import Plugins
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