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Adding the Bain Graffy Film Collection to Explore

By Thomas P Meehan, on 12 December 2023

We have just completed a project to convert the Bain Graffy Film Collection metadata from a set of HTML pages on the SSEES website to MARC records on Alma and Explore. This means that the collection can now be searched alongside the other library materials and handled in much the same way as other video records.

What is the Bain Graffy Film Collection?

The Bain Graffy Film Collection consists of approximately 14,500 films on around 11,000 DVDs, Blu-ray discs, recorded discs, and VHS videos at SSEES Library. The collection was created, added to, described, and indexed for many years by Professor Julian Graffy and Cameron Bain, after whom the collection is named. Cameron Bain sadly died in 2014 but Julian Graffy still submits detailed records to the project.

Converting the Metadata

Professor Graffy submits records in Word format. For many years these were converted by Library staff, largely by Vladimir Smith Mesa, to static HTML pages, one for each physical item. While consistent, easily readable, and well indexed by separate index pages, these did not conform to a formal metadata schema or file format.

With the old server needing to be replaced it was decided to try to move the many web pages to some kind of database. We tried several methods including a web form, conversion to an Excel spreadsheet using python, and lastly conversion to MARC records using Marcedit software. Marcedit is commonly used in libraries- including UCL- for editing large numbers of records in bulk, especially ebook records, but is also capable of converting non-MARC data to MARC and performing powerful textual transformations.

The eventual process involved obtaining HTML and Word documents from Gill Long; each HTML file contained data for one physical item with one or more films on it. I then combined these files in Word so there were one hundred per file and passed these Vlad. Vlad did two important things to the Word documents: firstly, he made sure that every film- rather than each video or DVD- could have its own record on Alma; second, he marked up each element by prefixing the necessary line with a label, such as “Director: “. By explicitly marking up data, this made it much easier for any script to “read” the file and what each part of it meant. For example, it is much clearer in the second example what the title is without having to rely on it being formatted a certain way.

Example original HTML file Example Word file edited by Vlad

Call number: DVD-2000


STOLPER, Aleksandr
Dni i nochi [Days and Nights]

Mosfil´m, 1944; released 28 August 1945
Screenplay: Konstantin Simonov, from his story of the same name
Photography: Evgenii Andrikanis
Production design: Morits Umanskii, Sergei Voronkov
Music: Nikolai Kriukov

 

Call number: DVD-2000

Director: STOLPER, Aleksandr
Title: Dni i nochi [Days and Nights]

Production: Mosfil´m, 1944; released 28 August 1945
Date: 1945

Screenplay: Konstantin Simonov, from his story of the same name
Photography: Evgenii Andrikanis
Production design: Morits Umanskii, Sergei Voronkov
Music: Nikolai Kriukov

 

I then converted the word documents to a basic format Marcedit could read (.mrk) then used a number of transformations (essentially, fancy cut-and-pastes) to change the labels to MARC fields. In other cases, I could just use the formatting where it was consistent (e.g. a number followed by “ minutes” is obviously a running time which can be fed into a 300 field, and anything in square brackets in the title form a translated title that can be moved into a 246 field).

The initial MARC file in Marcedit The record imported into Alma.
=LDR  01604ngm a2200445 i 4500
=008  010121s1945####||#|||############vlxx##d
=035  \\$aDVD-2000
=245  00$aDni i nochi
=246  33$aDays and Nights
=264  \1$c1945
=300  \\$a1 videodisc (87 min.) ; $c 4 3/4 in.
=500  \\$aFrom his story of the same name.
=500  \\$aOriginally released in 1945.
=546  \\$a
=546  \\$aIn Russian without subtitles
=590  \\$auclbaingraffy uclbaingraffydvd20002099 mrcbaingraffy20221130l
=700  1\$aAndrikanis, Evgenii,$edirector of photography.
=700  1\$aSimonov, Konstantin,$escreenwriter.
=700  1\$aStolper, Aleksandr,$efilm director
Screenshot of Alma showing the record converted to MARC format

The records were converted to proper MARC format (.mrc) so they could be imported into Alma, which created holdings and item data at the same time. Importing them into Alma automatically makes them available in Explore:

Screenshot of the record in Explore

The Get It section invites students and staff to contact SSEES Library where they will be able to view materials on-site. They are not currently borrowable.

The indexes created by Julian Graffy and Cameron Bain have been continued and are still really useful for finding films by country of origin and by genre. These web pages have been converted by Chris Carrington on Drupal and now point at the Alma record instead of the individual web entries. They will be maintained by Gill Long using data supplied by Julian Graffy.

Searching for Bain Graffy Items

Bain Graffy items can be found in several ways. In Explore, include the tag “uclbaingraffy” in the initial search to only search items from the collection. This is the search offered from the collection’s home page. You can also use the Collection facet to narrow down to the Bain Graffy Film Collection.

Screenshot of a search in Explore with the Bain Graffy collection selected as a facet

The home page also contains the indexes created by Professor Graffy where users can browse lists of films by genre, country of origin, and date of production. The results link to the records on Explore.

Next Steps

The collection is still being added to and making sure the flow of data is maintained to Explore and the indexes is the most important activity. Due to the quick and partly automated way the data was imported, there is some tidying work to be done, which Vlad has already made a good start on. We hope also to make some improvements to take advantage of the more standardised data format, such as implementing authority control, adding coded language information, or genre headings.

Changing “Pers” in Journals Call Numbers

By Thomas P Meehan, on 14 December 2022

A lot of journals at UCL have typically been classified in the library alongside their respective book collections using the abbreviation “Pers” for “Periodicals”, e.g. HISTORY Pers or GEOSCIENCE Pers. Although convenient and short, it has not always been clear to either students or even library staff what “Pers” meant. There has long been a wish to change this to something like “Periodicals” and the Explore Advisory Group gave the go-ahead to this being done. I have now run a job on Alma to change call numbers so that they read as, e.g. HISTORY Periodicals or GEOSCIENCE Periodicals. I hope this is clearer for everyone who encounters journal call numbers.

Screenshot of Explore showing three call numbers ending in "Periodicals"

Screenshot of Explore showing three call numbers ending in “Periodicals” for the journal Nature

While this job was being run, I took the chance to change UNASSIGNED Alma Locations to match the appropriate Library and alter the type of call number to “Other” to match most other local classification schemes in Alma. Call numbers with “PERIODICALS” in all-capitals have also been changed to “Periodicals”.

I know that there are still a number of anomalies to sort out, including journal holdings records where some minor coding errors caused them to be excluded, UNASSIGNED holdings where the call number does not include “Pers” or “Periodicals”, as well as a number of books- especially in the Main Library- which lack items and are also UNASSIGNED.

Thank you to Laura Sapsford in particular for help, advice, and a large amount of groundwork that was needed to sort out the UNASSIGNEDs in particular.

Customer Online Payments Now Live

By Bethan Smith, on 24 August 2022

We would like to inform colleagues that the ability for customers to pay fines and fees online has now been made live. Customers can now pay their outstanding fines and fees by navigating to the payment portal from their library accounts in Explore.

As a reminder, a training guide has been created to act as a refresher for colleagues involved in online payments. It contains a detailed breakdown of the online payment process, as well as the procedures associated with our new way of paying fines and fees.

We would also like to remind all colleagues that, from now on, all testing and training which involves online payments (including any training for new starters) should be completed on the Alma Sandbox rather than the live production version of Alma, in order to ensure that all future financial reporting is accurate.

If you have any questions about the online payment process, please contact Bethan Smith or Jonathan Fowles.

Customer Online Payments – Upcoming Training Sessions

By Bethan Smith, on 13 July 2022

Following on from the recent blog post reminding staff of the existence of the Explore Upgrade SharePoint in relation to online payments, we would like to now advertise the online payments training sessions which will be commencing in the next few weeks.

These training sessions will allow staff to become familiar with the online payment portal, so that they can assist our customers in navigating the platform and answer customer queries where needed.

Training will take place from 26th July through to 18th August. The first few sessions outlined below will have an Issue Desk Heads focus, so if you identify as a member of this group, we would particularly encourage you to sign up to one of these sessions.

The training sessions will include the following:

  • A demo of the online payment process
  • An opportunity for staff to try out the payment platform using test payments
  • Troubleshooting, process outlines and FAQs (including refunds and the new lost item procedure)

We would recommend that all interested staff sign up to one live session. Colleagues can sign up to training sessions via the Eventbrite links below:

Additional training documentation which can be used for reference will be provided and made available on the Explore Upgrade SharePoint once live training sessions are underway.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about Online Payments, please email bethan.smith@ucl.ac.uk.

Customer Online Payments Update 

By Bethan Smith, on 7 July 2022

As we are now well into the summer period, we would like to take the opportunity to update you on the progress on the Online Payments strand of the Explore Upgrade Project, which addresses the online payment of fines and fees by library customers. 

Having set up the testing environment, User Acceptance Testing is now underway to test the basic functionalities of the online payment portal. This period of testing will last the next few weeks; following on a successful period of testing, we will aim to launch the online payments platform for customers in time for the start of the next academic year, by the end of August 2022.

In preparation for go-live, we would like to remind you of the existence of the Explore Upgrade SharePoint, which will continue to be updated with new information regarding online payments in the coming days and weeks. The updates will include training documentation and an outline of processes associated with online payments. Colleagues are advised to periodically check the SharePoint for any updates and information. 

We are also aware that colleagues will want to familiarise themselves with the workings of the platform well in advance of the go-live date. To facilitate this, online payments training sessions for staff will shortly be advertised. Colleagues will be asked to sign up to live, virtual training sessions via an Eventbrite link. Training will cover the following elements: 

  • A demo of the online payment process 
  • An opportunity for staff to try out the payment platform using test payments

  • Troubleshooting and FAQs 

Please do keep an eye out for the training sessions, which will be advertised on the blog next week. In the meantime, if you have any questions about Online Payments, please email bethan.smith@ucl.ac.uk 

Explore Upgrade: 8th March Go-Live and Exam Papers

By Bethan Smith, on 3 March 2022

Following on from our previous blogpost regarding the first phase of the Explore upgrade, and the launch of our staff SharePoint, we would like to remind staff that the upgrade to Explore will be happening next week on Tuesday 8th March. We have recently been updating our customers with social media, OneLan messaging and other communications, and will continue to advertise the upgrade in the run up to launch.

In today’s blogpost, we would also like to provide some clarification on how exam papers and will be accessed post go-live, as we know that our customers (and colleagues!) will be particularly interested in ensuring that access to this feature is uninterrupted by the changes.

8th March go-live

As a reminder, we will be going live with the upgrade to the new version of Primo on Tuesday 8th March. This will encompass the upgrade to the way we view digital collections, as well as the Explore interface update.  You can find out more about these elements on their respective pages on the staff SharePoint 

Please note that online payments will be released at a later date, with more information on the timeline for implementing this feature to be provided soon.  

Exam papers

Once the upgrade is live, Explore will become the default method for accessing exam papers.  To search for exam papers in the new version of Explore, users can type in the relevant search term, using the exam papers search scope to filter results as shown below: 

Alternatively, customers can browse through the UCL Exam Papers collection, and its associated sub collections, via Digital Collections:

Although the upgrade will mean that exam papers are more easily discoverable, we appreciate that it may take some time for our customers to get used to this new way of finding information. We have therefore made the decision to retain a link from our web pages to exam papers in DigiTool for a time, though we will retire this feature after the current exam period. 

Differences between classic Primo and Primo VE

As a reminder, for colleagues who support Explore users as part of their role, there is a dedicated page on the SharePoint which lists the differences between the classic and updated version of Primo, as well as ongoing technical fixes. This page will be updated regularly over the next few days and weeks. 

If you have any questions about the upgrade project, or are unable to access the SharePoint site, please contact Bethan Smith 

For more general queries regarding Explore, please contact the appropriate Explore functional lead.  

Explore Upgrade 2022 – Information for Library Services staff

By Bethan Smith, on 3 February 2022

In the coming weeks, we will be upgrading Explore by implementing a number of new features to enhance the customer experience of using the platform. A SharePoint site has been created to update staff on the progress and key information regarding this project.

The upgrade will focus on three main areas of development: the migration of our online digital collections and exam papers from Digitool to Alma and Explore, the Explore interface update, and the introduction of online payments of library fines and fees.  

Upgrading these applications will mean that we are supported technically by Ex Libris, and that any future system upgrades or enhancements are enabled. These upgrades will facilitate improved searching and browsing of our digital collections, dynamic updates to catalogue records in Explore, and the ability to pay fines and fees online. 

These features will be released in two stages, with the explore interface update and changes to digital collections going live in early March 2022; we are currently aiming for an 8th March release date. Online payments will be added at a later date, following on from testing. We will communicate the go-live date of online payments closer to the time.   

In the next few weeks, we will be releasing communications and training in order to keep colleagues and customers informed. This will include any required actions our customers need to take, such as the need to save their searches. Customers will be informed of the upgrade through social media, newsletters, QR codes, and a webpage on the library website, as well as via messaging in Explore itself. 

 

Please keep an eye out for further communication related to the project. In the meantime, colleagues can find out more about the upgrades in the new project Sharepoint for Library Services staff, which contains information regarding each separate strand.  

 

The SharePoint is accessible now and will also be signposted on LibNet. It will be a central point for training, contain useful FAQs, and a list of previous communications. We would encourage you to check the SharePoint periodically to find out information about the project as it emerges

If you have any questions about the project, or are unable to access the SharePoint site, please contact Bethan Smith.

We would also like to take the opportunity to remind you of the Functional Lead structure. If you have any queries about Explore in general, please use the self-service form to find out how to contact an Explore Functional Lead.

Explore – soft launch of new interface

By Margaret Stone, on 29 August 2017

explore_nuiA new version of the Explore search tool will be made available on Monday 4 September, in a ‘soft’ launch alongside the current interface.  The new mobile-friendly version will be reviewed and developed over the coming months in preparation for replacing the old interface at an appropriate time.

You can try out the new interface now and send your feedback through the form on the information page, or by commenting on this post.

The new interface searches all of the same content as Explore, and connects to the same library user accounts, but delivers some key benefits:

  • New look and feel, which adapts to your screen size
  • Single screen for each search result, reducing the number of clicks
  • On-screen text stripped back to essentials, for a cleaner view

It is still a work in progress and we are already aware of some issues with the new interface, which are being addressed with the supplier.  The two searches will run in parallel whilst we evaluate the new version, including consulting library users, and we will notify everyone well in advance of plans to retire the old version.

The new interface is based on an out-of-the box version from the suppliers, Ex Libris, and has been adapted by a working group of members from the Digital Libraries Team and Explore Advisory Group.

Explore: Citation Trail

By uczcsvi, on 18 July 2016

Later this week, we’ll be starting a month-long trial of some new functionality in Explore. The Citation Trail is intended to improve resource discovery for users by making it possible to look up an article’s citations/cited-by information without leaving Explore – probably a familiar process for anyone who has used Web of Science or Google Scholar.

How does it work?

On some article-level results, the two buttons highlighted below will appear:

result-level

Selecting the ‘Citations’ button will return a list of articles cited by the first article:

cited-by

Selecting the ‘Cited by’ button will return a list of articles that cite the first article:

citing

For a better idea of how it’ll look in action, see this short video from Ex Libris.

Things to note: 

  • The list of citations/citing articles may not be complete – this functionality is not intended to replace subject-specific, bibliographic databases and shouldn’t be relied upon for comprehensive literature searching. There will be a note about this at the top of the results screen, which we can re-word or emphasise as necessary
  • We may not have full-text access to all results returned by following the citation trail – please encourage users to check the full-text indicator highlighted in the screenshot above. For these results, clicking the ‘Services’ tab will redirect the user to an SFX page with links to ILL services and union catalogues
  • The citation buttons will only appear for some article-level, online content
  • The citation data itself comes from CrossRef – more information about how it is generated can be found here

We’ll be calling for feedback about this feature in mid-August, but if you have any thoughts/questions/suggestions before that or would like to pass along any user comments, please do so by emailing digital-library-support@ucl.ac.uk.

Explore: Enhancements and Fixes

By uczcsvi, on 19 May 2016

Update applied 13/05/16 – 18/05/2016:

  • Contributor and Subject fields have been reauthorised and standardised in Aleph. Cross-searching using these links in Explore will bring back larger, more accurate record sets.
  • Canned searches for Aleph items allows users to easily extend their search to COPAC and Senate House Library.
Explore screenshot

Click the image above to see the live version

  • ‘Eastman Dental Institute’ label changed to ‘Eastman Dental’ in facets and location tab
  • ‘UCL Journals’ dropdown scope renamed to ‘Journal titles’
  • View Online/SFX links to Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) eBooks are now resolving correctly
  • Records with diacritic characters can now be retrieved by searches including non-plain Latin characters
  • Hebrew Inflections are now also performed on the Subject field.
  • Misleading information about eBook holdings/availability has been removed

Please direct any queries or comments to digital-library-support@ucl.ac.uk