Importing bibliographic records with Inventory

The following Import Profile reflect longtime cataloging import workflows of import bibliographic records along item records from an OCLC Connexion. In Alma, however, along with items, inventory now also has to be created as part of the import process as well.

For information on importing records without inventory or items, view How do I import bibliographic records without import via Import Profile?

Creating Inventory and items

Alma determines whether a bibliographic record's Inventory Type is physical or electronic based what is entered in the Resource type field, which NOAA as designated as 901 a. 

A bibliographic record can only have one type of inventory. If you have a record with two types of inventory (physical and electronic), two separate records will have to be created.

To create Inventory in a bibliographic record:

1. While cataloging a record in OCLC Connexion, create a new field and enter the following information:
   • Enter 901, subfield a
   • If item if physical enter P
   • If item is electronic enter E

To create items in a bibliographic records:

• More than one physical item or electronic portfolio can be created for a bibliographic record. However, only catalog physical or electronic portfolios together. Do not catalog a mixture of physical or electronic portfolios on a single bibliographic record. 

1. For physical items, while cataloging in OCLC Connexion, create a new field and enter the following information:
   • For each item enter 949, then,
     • subfield a for item call number (required)
     • subfield c for item copy number (required)
     • subfield i for item barcode (Alma will auto-generate one if not supplied)
     • subfield l for location (STACKS is the default physical location in all Import Profiles) (required for holdings records)
       • View Alma's other physical location codes here. 
     • subfield v for volume information  
2. For electronic portfolios, while cataloging in OCLC Connexion, create a new field and enter the following information:
   • For each electronic portfolio enter 856, then,
     • subfield u for Uniform Resource Locator (required)
     • subfield z for Public Note. (Available online is the default)
       • If cataloging S3 library.oarcloud.noaa.gov bucket, follow the the standardized link format for files and directories: 
         • Directories: https://library.oarcloud.noaa.gov/#path/to/directory/
         • Files: https://library.oarcloud.noaa.gov/path/to/file.txt
           • For more information look at the S3 documentation Google Doc (available only to NOAA Central catalogers).

Import Profile Process

To import bibliographic records from OCLC Connexion into Alma via the Import Profile:

1. On the Import Profiles menu (Resources > Import > Import), select the import profile specific to your library.
2. Once selected, click the Run option in the ellipsis, located on the right side of the Import Profile.
   • Clicking on Run will open the Start New Import Menu.
3. In the Start New Import menu, click on the Select New File Link. 
4. In the prompt, enter:
   1. File: select the path to OCLC import file. 
   2. Label: enter basic metadata referring to your imported file, such as import filename.
   3. Notes: information you may find helpful about file you imported. 
5. Click on Add once file is upload and fields have been completed. This will close the prompt.
6. Click on Submit button.
   • Submitting the import file will begin the import process, opening the Monitor and View Imports menu where you can view the progress of the import file. The amount of time this process will take depends on how many files have been imported.
7. Once the import process is complete, click on the ellipsis and select Report. 
   • This will open the Job Report menu, providing information whether the import was successful or not.
8. This will open the All Titles menu and display all bib record(s) that were imported successfully.