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OCLC Support

File attachments and web pages

Learn how file attachments and web sites are linked to the catalogue record in OLIB.

With OLIB it is possible to link catalogue records either to electronic files (e.g. images or documents) or to specific websites, ebooks and ejournals. In this way, end users have direct access to chosen resources stored in electronic format by loading these ’objects’ from the catalogue record.

Files such as word processing documents, sound files, images and web pages can be stored within the Oracle database itself or OLIB can reference an ’object’ stored elsewhere on your network. Objects are normally imported into the database so that users on remote workstations have direct access to them. (An exception might be the cataloguing of large objects held on optical media visible over the local network. Loading a large object from the Oracle database may take much longer than referencing it from some other location).

The appropriate application/viewer installed on the PC displays the 'object'.

View an existing attachment

  1. In Titles, perform a search to obtain a hit list.
  2. In the Title details click the Attachments link at the top of the screen icon_attachment.gif
  3. There may be more than one attachment listed. Click on the relevant attachment to open it.

Attach an object to a catalogue record

Either:

  • With Title full details in modify mode, go to Related Items and Control data: Attached Objects and click New
  • In Titles full details click the link at the top of the screen Attachments: Add Attachment
  1. In the Object Details page select the Type of file, e.g. PDF file.
  2. If required, enter a Title and Version number and select a document Status from the drop down.
  3. In Locate By choose either File or Textual. Textual should be selected when entering the URL of a web page.
  4. In Exclude from Export select Yes from the drop down, if you do not want the object details to be included with MARC exports (in Tag 856).

 Note: this excludes an individual Object from export; optionally, you can also exclude all Objects of a certain Object Type. If set here at Object level, this determines the in/exclusion for an individual object. If not specified there, OLIB looks at the setting on the Object Type. If not set there, Object details will be exported.

  1. Specify whether the object should be imported into the Database or simply referenced at its current location.
  2. Import Now? - if Yes, the object is imported into the OLIB database when the attachment record is saved.
  3. Check the File box and if the item is an image it is possible to link a thumbnail of that image so that it will display in the hitlist in the OPAC. Check the Thumbnail box. Save the details.
  4. In the new dialog, browse to and select the object and the thumbnail to be attached to the catalogue record. Save these details.

Link a website, ebook or ejournal

A fast method of entry for adding links to e-Resources and other web pages is also available. To use this, the system manager needs to add 2 attributes using Layout Manager to the Titles: Related Items and Control Data sheet:

  • URL Entry, with label e.g. "Objects"
  • Add URL button

Suggested placement:

Suggested placement in Related Items and Control Data sheet
 

  1. Enter the URL of the web page or resource that you want to link to in the free-text URL Entry field - "Objects".
  2. Click the Add URL button. OLIB creates a new object with an object type of WWW and adds the URL you entered to the Locator field.
  3. The Objects list box is refreshed to include the new WWW object and the URL Entry field is cleared. If required add another URL to the URL Entry field and click Add URL.
     

Alternatively, create the link by accessing the Object Details page as usual:

  1. With Title full details in modify mode, go to Related Items and Control data: Attached Objects and click New OR
  2. In Title full details click the link at the top of the screen Attachments: Add Attachment.
  3. In the Object Details page set Type to Web page.
  4. Set Locate By to Textual.
  5. The screen re-draws and the Locator field will accommodate up to 4000 characters, so you can enter any lengthy URL required for linking to ejournals or ebooks.
  6. Save the details.

 Note: the system manager can monitor that the URLs remain current and working: to enable this, configure OLIB's Link Checker.

Delete an object from a catalogue record

  1. Put the Title record into modify mode.
  2. In Related Items and Control Data: Attached Object, select the box next to the attachment for deletion.
  3. Click the Delete link and save the changes.

Search for titles with attachments

It is possible to filter Title searches by one or more of the following fields in the Objects domain:

  • Locator
  • Filename
  • Title
  • Date Of Last Link Check
  • Link Checker Next Check Date

In Titles enter the search criteria (this may be wildcard %) and click Refine Search. Open the Linked Domains drop down:

  1. Select the Linked Domain - Objects.
  2. Choose from the Refinements available.
  3. Execute the search to obtain the matching Title records.

Objects domain

A separate domain search is available for all Objects.

  1. In the menu go to Cataloguing> Objects.
  2. You can search by Locator, Title and Object Type.

Objects can be readily retrieved by their title or their Locator, using the % symbol to run a right-truncated search if necessary. For example, %oclc in the Locator field will retrieve all objects with “oclc” somewhere in the Locator. (NOTE: This is a case-insensitive search.)

Example

In the Objects domain, search for objects where the Locator field is empty:

  1. Click Refine Search without first entering anything in any of the search input fields.
  2. Select to refine by Locator.
  3. Enter "xxxxx" in the second Locator search input field, and select the Allow Null? check box.
  4. OLIB returns all objects that have a blank Locator field.
     

Search Objects with no linked Title record

It is possible to search for Object records which have no linked records by using the Blind Object Search in the Objects domain.

  1. In Other Searches choose Blind Object Search.
  2. OLIB returns all the Objects that are not stored in the database and which have no links to catalogue items.
  3. From the hit list you can delete Objects that are not linked to a Title by checking the box to select them and clicking the Delete button.