What are local notes and how do I use them?
What are local notes?
Your institution's bibliographic records are in your Institution Zone (IZ), and they may or may not be linked to the Network Zone (NZ) or the Community Zone (CZ). If the records are linked to the NZ or CZ, any changes made by anyone to those records will also be automatically applied to your records. Local extensions allow you to protect some of your local metadata from being edited or erased.
You can designate the following MARC fields as local:
- 09X (call number)
- 59X (note)
- 69X (subject)
- 77X (linking entry)
- 78X (linking entry)
- 9XX (miscellaneous)
Note: Many of these fields are not visible in OneSearch or retrievable in Analytics.
Which local notes are in use at CUNY?
- 590
- Purpose: CUNY makes extensive use of the 590 field. It is intended to contain collection information, but a lot of other metadata was placed in this field during Alma migration.
- Example: "Mallika Dutt Collection"
- 591
- Purpose: purchase notes
- Example: "Fall 2023 Textbook"
- Example: "Wiley Ebook EBA PURCHASED 2022"
- 952
- Purpose: Aleph system number
- Example: "003493677"
- 956
- Purpose: Electronic resource loading notes
- Example: "ProQuest Ebook Central JJ Collection"
- Example: "MARCIVE GPO AL 03 2021"
- 959
- Purpose: Electronic resource loading notes
- Example:
- 975
- Purpose: Aleph OWN code
- Example: "CC"
- 976
- Purpose: Aleph STA (status) code
- Example: "CIRC-CREATED"
- Example: "DELETED"
- Example: "SUPPRESSED"
- 986
- Purpose: government document call number (copied from 086 field)
- Example: "Y 4.C 73/8:110-105"
Add a local note to a bibliographic record
1. Open the record in the Metadata Editor.
2. Place your cursor in a field before the one you want to add.
3. Click Editing Actions > Add Local Extension (or Ctrl+L).
4. A blank field with an institution icon will appear. The icon is your visual cue that this is a local extension.
5. Enter the local note.
6. Click Save > Save and Release Record (or Ctrl+Alt+R).
Remove a local note from a bibliographic record
1. Open the record in the Metadata Editor.
2. Place your cursor in the field you want to remove.
3. Click Editing Actions > Remove Field (or Ctrl+F6).
4. Click Save > Save and Release Record (or Ctrl+Alt+R).
Links & Files
- Ex Libris Knowledge Center > Alma > Product Documentation > Collaborative Networks > Managing Records in a Network Zone > Network-Managed Records in a Network Zone > "Adding Local Extensions to Bibliographic Records in the Network Zone" Opens in new window
- Which bibliographic and holdings fields are custom indexed in Alma Analytics? Opens in new window