Importing 852 holdings information
Import Titles in the Catalog supports the MARC21/852 holdings format. Destiny converts the MARC 21/852 holdings data into title and copy records as they are imported.
Each physical copy in the collection needs an 852 field. The 852 field contains information about the organization holding the item, the location of the item, call number, and copy number information. It may also contain other detailed information about the copy.
Destiny allows importing at the district level and at the site (school) level.
Importing at the district
In a centralized district installation, all the MARC records and holdings for all the schools are contained in one collection. If you are a district library materials manager importing a MARC file, you need to indicate which library or libraries own the copies:
- If the file contains holdings for more than one school, each 852 tag must contain a subfield _a (852_a) containing the Short Site Name of the school.
In Import Titles, you would select the first option, More than one library in the district, under The copies in this file belong to. - If the file contains holdings for just one school, you would select the second option under The copies in this file belong to and choose a library from the adjacent list. When you select this option, Destiny ignores any information that may be in the 852_a subfield and assigns the copies to the library specified.
Importing at the school
If a vendor is providing a file containing holdings for only one school, there are no specific requirements for the 852_a. Destiny assumes that the importing school is the organization holding the item.
Make sure your vendor is preparing your copy information in the 852 tags as indicated in the following table:
852 specifications
| 852 subfield | Contents | Requirements |
| _9 | Price |
Can be up to 8 digits total: 6 before a decimal point and 2 after Prices without a decimal point are considered to have two decimal places (for example, 852_9150 would appear in the copy record as $1.50) |
| _a | Location code |
Identifies the site that has the holdings Must match Short Site Name Needed on district imports only |
| _b | Sublocation |
Should not be the school name or district name Can be up to 30 characters |
| _k, _h, _i, _m | Call number |
Can be up to 30 characters The subfields are combined in the order shown |
| _p | Barcode number |
Can be up to 14 characters Must match the scannable barcode labels |
| _t | Copy number | Can be up to 5 characters |
| _xFSC@a | Circulation type | Can be up to 30 characters |
| _xFSC@b | Categories |
Can be up to 30 characters No limit on the number of categories per copy |
| _xFSC@c | Acquisition date | Must be in YYYYMMDD format |
| _xFSC@e | Volume | Can be up to 20 characters |
| _xFSC@f | Vendor | Can be up to 30 characters |
| _xFSC@i | Enumeration |
Can be up to 20 characters Can be repeated up to 3 times |
| _xFSC@j | Description |
Can be up to 20 characters Can be repeated up to 3 times |
| _xCOPYID | Control number |
Destiny-generated control number If you are importing records previously exported from Destiny, do not alter this number. |
| _xFUND: | Funding Source |
Can be up to 30 characters Important: A space is required after the colon. |
If any field is too long, it is truncated to the appropriate length.
The job summary contains the message: <field name> too long; shortened to fit.
About prices (852_9)
If the price is invalid or contains extraneous characters, it is left blank or modified.
The job summary contains one of these messages: Copy price of "<incoming copy price>" is invalid; field left blank, or
Copy price of "<incoming copy price>" has been adjusted to "<saved copy price>".
About call numbers (852_k, _h, _i, _m)
| _k | Call number prefix (R) |
| _h | Classification part (NR) |
| _i | Item part (R) |
| _m | Call number suffix (R) |
If these subfields do not contain a call number, the call number is based on the contents of the title record. If no call number is available in the title record, the field is left blank.
The job summary contains one of these messages: No call number specified; call number <call number> assigned based on title’s <tag> tag, or
No call number specified; we recommend that you assign one.
About circulation types (852_xFSC@a)
If this subfield contains R, the copy is assigned the Regular circulation type.
If this subfield contains an unknown circulation type, Destiny creates a new circulation type (with the default settings and policies).
The job summary contains the message: Circulation type was unknown; new type of <circulation type> created.
If this subfield is blank, Destiny assigns the circulation type selected on the Import Titles page.
The job summary contains the message: Circulation type was blank; used the <default circulation type>.
About categories (852_xFSC@b)
If the subfield contains an unknown category, a new category is created using the category information in the incoming record.
The job summary contains the message: Category was unknown; new category called <category number> created. If the subfield contains duplicate categories, the duplicated category is skipped.
About acquisition dates (852_xFSC@c)
If the acquisition date is blank, the date is set to the current date. If the acquisition date is invalid (that is, it does not
conform to YYYYMMDD), it is left blank.
The job summary contains the message: Acquisition date of "<incoming acquisition date>" is invalid; field left blank.
Note: Messages are reported only for copies that are actually added to the collection. If the copy is skipped, either because of a defect in the copy, or because it is a duplicate and you chose to skip duplicates, no message appears in the job summary. If a copy is added or replaced and generates a message, a link to edit the copy is provided in the job summary.