Browsing Bib Headings

Overview

Alma enables you to browse bibliographic headings to support various cataloging workflows. In addition to headings from local records, browsing also includes Community Zone records for which we have activated materials (e.g. eJournals, eBooks). You can browse by author name, subject, series, and title.  

To browse bibliographic headings:

• From the Alma persistent menu, select Resources >> Cataloging >> Browse Bibliographic Headings
• From the Metadata Editor, in the Metadata Toolbar, select Tools >> Browse Bibliographic Headings
• See also the Known Issues page section on Browse Bib Headings

There are five types of headings to browse:

• Names (the default option) - Includes names used as subjects and uniform titles
• Subjects
  • Includes many standard subject fields like 650/651, as well as many additional subject fields like 382, 655, 689, etc. 
  • Note:Names and uniform titles used as subjects in 600, 610, 611 or 630 are not included in the subject browse. They are included in the Names browse. 
• Series - Includes all 4XXs and 8XXs
• Title - Includes 24X fields (except 240), as well as 505 $t, and the titles from 7XX fields, except 780/785. 
• Call Number/Classifications
  • Includes call numbers from standard and local call number fields in the bibliographic record, but not from the holdings record.
    
  • A separate feature called Browse Shelf Listing is available to browse call numbers in holdings and items (and not bibliographic records)
  • See a full list of MARC fields and subfields included in each index in the Ex Libris documentation

Field definitions: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F-HYXuGYEdLuf8ba0qGZwBPo48-hVlhlpvGwYeNcVoI/edit?usp=sharing

Browsing Bib Headings

1. Select a Headings Type and the page refreshes to display appropriate source codes
   1. For example under Names you have the choice of: Personal Name, Corporate Name, Meeting Name, or Uniform Title
2. Choose your Source Code in the middle box
3. Enter the terms in the Search Value box to the right
4. Click Go
5. The browsing results appear arranged in the following manner:
   1. Column 1: A magnifying glass icon if there is a corresponding authority record
   2. Column 2: The number of bibliographic record headings found for a particular heading. If there are more than 20 headings found for a particular row, this column displays 20+
      1. If a name appears multiple times in a record, the count will be greater than the number of records. E.g. if "700 $a Bertha" appears 16 times as a heading with various $t subfields, spread amongst 10 records, the count shown in the list will be 16. 
   3. Column 3: The bibliographic record headings (subject, name, series, or title)
   4. Column 4: A View button for viewing the complete bibliographic record

Navigation and Viewing

Use the less-than/greater-than symbols (< and >) to browse the list of results. As you page backward and forward, the first row of the page you are viewing appears as the last row of the previous page.

When you have located a headings record that you want to view in more detail, click View for that row.

For bibliographic headings records identified with the authority icon, the detail in the split-screen view displays both an Authority tab and a Bibliographic Records tab:

• The Authority tab presents the authority record that is associated with the bibliographic headings record. The Bibliographic Records tab shows the total number of records found in parentheses.
• From the Bibliographic Records tab:
  • View or Edit the record
  • Filter your results using the search box
  • Sort your results
  • Click on Open in Repository Search to push those records into an Alma advanced search

While viewing a MARC record, you can page forward and backward through the bibliographic records when there is more than one using the list number or greater than/less than symbols

Browsing CJK Results

To address CJK (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) and other requirements for sorting the browse results list, non-filing text is removed according to all possible options such as bibliographic record indicators and special non-filing characters. See Using Non-Filing Markers and Using Non-Filing Indicators in KORMARC for more information.

For all institutions (except Korean institutions, that have their search language configuration set to Korean (ko) by Ex Libris), sorting Hanzi content for browsing bibliographic headings (and authority headings when using F3 in the MD Editor) will be done by transliterating the Hanzi content to Latin for the primary sort and when necessary using sorted Hanzi content for the secondary level of sorting. So, when there is more than one Latin entry that is the same, the Hanzi sort will determine the browse order of the records that have the same Latin entry. For Korean institutions, Hanzi content will be sorted using a CJK sort; transliterated content to Latin will not be used for sorting browse bibliographic and authority headings for Korean institutions

For Japanese and Korean content, browse bibliographic and authority headings will be handled using a CJK sort for all institutions.