Viewing a list of all libraries with holdings set on a particular record requires opening an additional screen found through menu options in the single record view. While the holding status of an item in the user’s library is included in the results list display, the number of libraries that hold the item is only displayed upon opening an individual record. “Held” if library holds blank if not held When the record was added to the local save file Fields displayed in Connexion client local save file record list Field For bibliographic records, these fields include title, creator/contributor, OCLC number, format, and holding status. The Connexion client displays the contents of the local save file as a list of records with columns for various attributes (Table). Records can also be added to the local save file individually, without employing a batch search. Connexion’s batch searching function processes a list of search strings, saving the records resulting from each search into the local file. This article focuses on the bibliographic local save file, but the same method can be used with the authority local save file. There are separate save files for bibliographic and authority records. The Local Save File DatabaseĪs its name implies, the local save file is stored on the individual user’s local disk, differentiating it from the online save file, whose contents are available to all users on the network. Direct database access to Connexion’s local save file offers an underutilized solution to many of these challenges while highlighting a need for simple, flexible, and scalable methods and tools for working with both existing and future metadata systems. Although these functions meet the needs of most day-to-day cataloging work, Connexion’s interface makes it difficult or impossible to work with certain data in meaningful or efficient ways for larger projects. OCLC’s Connexion desktop client allows catalogers to search for, create, edit, and export bibliographic and authority records both individually and in batch through Connexion’s OML programming language. A number of limitations are also discussed, and their implications for metadata access and use are explored. Other benefits include the ability to import external data and to use SQL for more advanced querying. With the option to rely only on common, off-the-shelf software, this method of directly accessing the local save file database offers a way to expand Connexion’s functionality for those unable or unwilling to work with OCLC APIs. Descriptions of three projects illustrate how this functionality has been applied to efficiently catalog a gift collection, find OCLC numbers for e-books, and create bibliographic records for Early English Books Online/Text Creation Partnership titles using data from multiple sources.
This article provides an overview of the metadata made available through this method, including fields that cannot be accessed through the regular Connexion interface, and discusses factors to be considered when deciding whether to migrate the data to another database system instead of continuing to work with Access. A feature of OCLC’s Connexion cataloging client unknown to most librarians is the ability to directly work with the Microsoft Access database underlying the local save file.
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