Workflow for SFX journals: John, Inna & Jeff

We have 4 “trigger departments” for SFX messages. Below are the “departments” and what each means:

SFX SFX link is needed

EXSFX SFX link requested from Ex Libris

ADDSFX SFX link now available & should be added to bib

LISFX SFX link needs to be added to LI record

John & Inna:

When John catalogs an electronic journal, he will use a macro to paste in the standard text string for the SFX link. He will then add the appropriate ISSN and test the link—the print ISSN if he’s adding a link to a print record; the online ISSN if he’s using a record for the online version. If the link works, end of story.

If the link does not work, he will complete his cataloging by using the vendor supplied link and he will enter the SFX trigger. This trigger is used to let Inna know that an SFX link is needed.

Note: to add a trigger to a bib record the bib record must be open in the Cataloging Module. Click on Edit and select Record’s triggers. Then click on the NEW button. Enter SFX [or variation of SFX as listed above] in the “Department” field. You don’t have to fill in the text box since we have defined each “department” above to always mean the same thing.

Inna can do an “SFX trigger department” report as often as she likes (every 2 weeks; every month) to see how many journals John has marked.

Note: to get a trigger report, open the Aleph Cataloging module, click on Options and select Retrieve Triggers. The Retrieve Triggers pop-up box should be filled in as follows: enter “999” in the “Days Before Today” field, “0” in the “Days After Today” field, and SFX [or variation of SFX as listed above] in the “Department” field.

Inna will double check to verify that there is still no SFX link available; she’ll report the title to Ex Libris; and she’ll change the trigger to EXSFX.

Inna can do an “EXSFX trigger department” report as often as she likes (every 2 weeks; every month) to see how many journals she’s reported to Ex Libris.

Note: to modify a trigger from SFX to EXSFX, for example. Call up the trigger list by clicking on Options and selecting Retrieve Triggers. Unfortunately, the list of retrieved triggers identifies each record by Aleph system number only. So you will have to highlight what you think is the correct system number, Select it and then scroll down to make sure it really is the one you want. Then click on Edit and select Record’s triggers. Then click on the MODIFY button. In the Department box, change SFX to EXSFX. Click on OK to record your change and close the box.

When Ex Libris adds the journal title to the KnowledgeBase, Inna will let John know to add the SFX link by changing the trigger from EXSFX to ADDSFX.

John can do an “ADDSFX trigger department” report as often as he likes (every 2 weeks; every month) to see how many journals Inna has gotten Ex Libris to add to the KnowledgeBase.

John will add the SFX hotlink to the bib record and he will “hide” the vendor supplied link by putting the whole field into a 599 field. He will also remove the ADDSFX trigger.

Note: to delete a trigger, call up the trigger list by clicking on Options and selecting Retrieve Triggers. As above, because the list of retrieved triggers identifies each record by Aleph system number only, highlight and Select what you think is the correct system number and then scroll down to make sure it really is the one you want. Then click on Edit and select Record’s triggers. Then click on the DELETE button.

John & Jeff:

When John is cataloging a list of new e-journals and finds that the College of Law Library owns the hard copy, he will let Jeff know that Jeff needs to add an SFX hotlink by adding the trigger LISFX.

Jeff can do an “LISFX trigger department” report as often as he likes (every 2 weeks; every month) to see how many journals John has marked for Jeff to take care of.

Once Jeff has added the SFX link to the bib, he will remove the trigger.

What I think I have learned about triggers:

We’re not using them to take advantage of all their functionality. They’re designed to be used for time-critical “wake up calls” whereas we need them for this procedure simply to create a non-time-critical report whenever we need it. That’s why when we request a trigger report, we have to enter “999” in the “Days Before Today” field and “0” in the “Days After Today” field.