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Introduction

Electronic books that are purchased via GOBI are ordered by C&MS staff and made available by GOBI within a few days (the length of time it takes for an ebook to be ready for use depends on the publisher). Once an ebook is available, catalogers need to process it further in order for patrons to access the ebook. Cataloging an ebook requires:

  1. Updating the bibliographic record in Alma (optional)
  2. Updating the bibliographic description for the PO line (optional)
  3. Verifying that the publisher has given us full-text access
  4. Activating the portfolio
  5. Editing the portfolio
  6. Marking the title as Done in the Electronic Resource Activation Task List

When should you follow these procedures?

These instructions apply to ebooks ordered via GOBI. Ebooks acquired via other methods, such as Rialto, have different processing instructions.

How do I know when an ebook is ready to be cataloged?

With the exceptions detailed below, ebooks are ready to be cataloged when all three conditions are met:

  1. We have received the NOA (notification of access) email
  2. The title appears on the Alma Electronic Resource Activation List (the "clipboard")
  3. Full-text access has been turned on by the publisher

NOA (notification of access) emails

When an ebook order has been processed by the publisher, GOBI sends an email with a subject line that starts with "GOBI NOA:" followed by the name of the publisher. The email is sent to the Electronic Resources team's distribution list and to individual catalogers who work on ebooks. Contact GOBI to add or remove notification recipients. 

Here is an example of an NOA. Below the introductory text of the email is information about the ebook(s):

Alma Electronic Resource Activation List (the "clipboard")

Ebooks fulfilled via GOBI are automatically loaded into Alma. This consists of a bibliographic record with an order attached and an electronic portfolio. The portfolio may be part of an electronic collection or standalone. When the ebook order is loaded into Alma, it will appear on the Electronic Resource Activation List , which we colloquially call the clipboard. The Electronic Resource Activation List can be accessed by clicking on the clipboard icon at the top of your Alma screen and selecting Electronic Resources > Activation - unassigned.

Full-text access 

For most publishers, full-text access to the ebook is turned on by the time the NOA is received but for other publishers, it may be several days (or longer!) before access is turned on. Ideally, full-text access should be verified before cataloging, particularly for ebooks from smaller publishers. However, in order to streamline the process, verification can be postponed to Step 3 below for ebooks from vendors like EBSCO and ProQuest.

The simplest way to check if full-text access has been turned on by the publisher is to click the URL provided in the NOA while on campus (or over VPN if you are off-campus). An alternative to using VPN while off-campus is to access the ebook through our proxy by prepending the link with "http://ezproxy.rice.edu/login?url="  (you may need to log in with your netID).

Exceptions/troubleshooting

Problem: We received an NOA and full-text access is turned on, but the title does not appear on the clipboard.

Possible explanationSolution

Alma has not had a chance to catch up yet. Alma runs a daily job that adds titles to the clipboard. Depending on when the order was submitted to GOBI, it may take an extra day for the title to appear on the clipboard. This is the most common issue for ebooks on platforms that normally deliver ebooks quickly, like EBSCO and ProQuest.

Wait 1 day then check the clipboard again. Do not attempt to catalog the ebook until it shows up on the clipboard. Doing so may  notifications (if any interested users have requested to be notified) to not be sent.
The title is part of an electronic standing order. Titles that are part of standing orders are delivered as each volume is published. E-standing order titles are not automatically loaded into Alma so they will not appear on the clipboard. Verify that the title is part of a standing order by searching for the title in GOBI and checking the order details.

If you are trained on working with electronic resources, find and activate the appropriate electronic portfolio from the Community Zone. If not, ask the Eresources Team for assistance.

Once the portfolio has been activated, make these edits:

  • set access type to "Perpetual"
  • add the PO line number for the standing order (which can be found in GOBI)
  • add a public access model, if necessary
  • add a general note that contains the access model that the title is part of a standing order (e.g. "Unlimited Access (UU). Standing order title." 

Problem: We received an NOA and the title appears on the clipboard but access has not been turned on.

Possible explanationSolution

The publisher is still processing the order. Some publishers, such as De Gruyter, routinely take over a week to send an NOA, and there may be a further delay before access is turned on.   

If it has been more than three business days since receipt of the NOA, email the Head of Acquisitions and ask them to follow up with the publisher.
The title has not yet been published. You can check the ebook's publication date in GOBI, which will say "not yet published" in the Status column.Wait until the title has been published. The publisher will not send a notification when the ebook is activated, so the title will need to be monitored regularly.

Problem: We received a GOBI order confirmation but we did not receive an NOA.

Possible explanationSolution

GOBI cancelled the order. When GOBI is unable to fulfill an ebook order, the order is cancelled but the library is usually not notified. When an order is cancelled, it will be reflected on GOBI's website.

Notify the Head of Acquisitions that the order has been cancelled. They will follow up with the selector. 



Cataloging procedures

Step 1: Updating the bibliographic record in Alma (optional)

Updating the bibliographic record for a GOBI ebook is similar to cataloging a print book except in a few key ways:

  • In most cases, you will be editing the Community Zone (CZ) copy of the bib record rather than the local copy of the record. CZ records have the people symbol in front of the title. The Community Zone is Alma's proprietary shared catalog, analogous to OCLC WorldCat. However, unlike WorldCat, edits to CZ records are automatically reflected in the catalogs of every library using that record.
  • There are restrictions on how CZ records can be edited. Search Resources is disabled in the Metadata Editor (MDE) so you cannot merge or overlay OCLC records. Any existing MARC 020s and 776s cannot be deleted but they can be edited. You can see more details about editing CZ records at Contributing to the Community Zone - Bibliographic Records. 
  • Due to the shared nature of CZ records, you should follow the guidelines for Provider-Neutral (PN) Cataloging of online resources. OCLC has a very concise, easy to use overview of PN guidelines and what to put in each MARC field on their Special Cataloging page. Do not put any Rice-specific data in the bib record except in local fields (for example, MARC 590).
  • Ebook bib records that are not connected to the Community Zone can be edited like any other bib record. However, it is still good practice to catalog ebooks using Provider-Neutral guidelines.
  1. Search Alma for the ebook. (tip: search using the ISBN from the NOA)
  2. Edit the bib record if necessary, following the PN guidelines.
  3. If copying/pasting data from OCLC Connexion, remember to change subfield indicators from ǂ to $$.
  4. Save and Release the bib record.
  5. If you accidentally Save instead of Save and Release, you may get a pop-up window that says "An external process has changed the original record. It is recommended to reload the original record." You can ignore the message and click Close to close the pop-up. Go to Record Actions > Release Record to release the record.

Step 2: Updating the bibliographic description for the PO line (optional)

This step is only necessary if you made any significant changes to the 1XX or 245 fields in the bib record.

Ebook portfolios are often attached to a vendor- or minimum-level bib record, which means that the bibliographic information associated with the PO line may be inaccurate. Updating the PO line makes it easier for library staff to understand order records. 

  1. Search Alma for the title.
  2. Click on the number of orders
  3. Click the Change Bib Reference button.
  4. A confirmation message will appear. Click Confirm.
  5. Click the round radio button next to the bib record you just updated (or use the search box to find the bib record) and then click Select.
  6. You should see a green message on the right side of your Alma screen confirming that the POL bib reference has been updated.

Step 3: Verify that the publisher has given us full-text access

Check that the publisher has turned on full-text access.

  1. Find the title on the Electronic Resource Activation List by clicking on the clipboard icon at the top of your Alma screen and selecting Electronic Resources > Activation - unassigned.
  2. Click the ... button and select Test Access. This will load an Online Services page.
  3. Click the link that appears after "Full text available at:"
  4. Verify that you have full-text access to the entire ebook by spot-checking several chapters.
  5. If you have full-text access, proceed to the next step. If not, notify eresources@rice.edu for troubleshooting.

Note: Once you interact with a title on the Electronic Resource Activation List, it will move from the Unassigned tab to the Assigned to Me tab:

Step 4: Activating the portfolio

"Portfolio" is a term used in Alma to refer to, essentially, item records for online resources.  Activating a portfolio makes it available to users in Primo.

  1. Find the title on the Electronic Resource Activation Task List (it will have moved to the Electronic Resources > Activation - assigned to you tab)
  2. Click the ... button and select Activate. 
  3. Confirm that you want to activate the portfolio by clicking Confirm.
  4. A window will pop up asking if you want to edit the portfolio. Click Confirm again to open the Electronic Portfolio Editor.

Step 5: Editing the portfolio

If the copies available to us is unlimited, make the following edits:

  1. General tab
    • Electronic material type = Book
    • Access type = Perpetual
  2. Acquisition tab
    • Highlight and copy the portion of the PO Line details that includes the access model and two-letter code. For example, "Unlimited Access (UU)"
  3. Notes tab
    • Click on Add Note and paste the text. Click Save.
  4. Click Save. This should return you to the Electronic Resource Activation Task List.

If the copies available to us is something other than unlimited, verify the total number of copies that were ordered. If 1-user or 3-user licenses were purchased, follow the instructions above and check that the access model matches the number of users allowed. If a quantity other than 1 or 3 copies was ordered, make the following edits, which will suppress the automatic public access model note and replace it with a manually entered authentication note instead.

  1. General tab
    • Electronic material type = Book
    • Access type = Perpetual
  2. Acquisition tab
    • Change the public access model to blank.
  3. Notes tab
    • Click on Add Note and enter a brief note about the number of copies available (for example, "6 copies")
    • Also add a note to the authentication note field that specifies the number of copies. For example, "This ebook is available to 6 users at a time." 
  4. Click Save. This should return you to the Electronic Resource Activation Task List.

Step 6: Marking the title as Done in the Electronic Resource Activation Task List

This step will trigger any notification emails to interested users and remove the title from the Electronic Resource Activation Task List. There is sometimes a lag between Alma and Primo which can result in a delay before an ebook is available in Primo. It is good practice, but not required, to wait 15 minutes between activating an ebook and marking it as Done on the task list. 

  1. Find the title on the Electronic Resource Activation Task List.
  2. Click the ... button and select Done. The title should disappear from your Electronic Resource Activation Task List.



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