RE: CatMe batch export

[CSeeman@xxxxxxxxxx]

 Steve -- 

Alas, I believe you have nailed the problem right on the head.  At the
Baseball Hall of Fame, we had the logging printer for OCLC exports.  I
was able to export many records at once with CAT-ME, but only from one
PC.  While using the OCLC Gateway is far superior, the inability to
export multiple records in CAT-ME is not great.  

It was my understanding (from my days on the other side of the 800
number) that this limitation was caused by the way that OCLC exports to
the system.  So as we tried to troubleshoot what was happening, it
appeared that the problem was coming from their side, not III.  I am not
sure if this is something that can be looked at down the road, or if it
just the way that it is.  

The only way to get a true batch export from CAT-ME to the INNOPAC is
(as you mentioned) exporting to a file, moving it over with FTS, and
loading it in a batch mode.  While this is not elegant, if you have
large numbers of files, the time it would take to hit "close" 100 times
would probably exceed the amount of time it would take to use the FTS
program and load the file in a batch mode.  One nice thing about using
the batch interface for large files is that if there is an error or if
there are significant overlays, you would see that in the record loading
report.  If you were exporting 100 records the old fashion way, then the
mind numbing task of hitting close might cause you to miss a potential
error.

However, there may be a way to handle this based on modifying your
workflow.  In CAT-ME, the basic idea is you process all the records,
update holdings and export them at one or two steps.  Still you can
setup your CAT-ME workstation to allow you to export a single record at
the time in non-batch mode (basically when you are done editing the
record).  To do this, I believe that you have to go to the OPTIONS or
TOOLS menu (I need a life, but I do not have CAT-ME at home), and
DESELECT export from something done in batch mode.  In turn, when you
export the record after you finish editing it, it goes right into the
INNOPAC, you click close, and life is swinging.  This way, you really do
not have that extra step of babysitting the records as the load, but do
it as an end of the process.  You would still probably want to update
holdings in batch mode, but that could be done later.  

Give that a shot and see if it provides you with an option.

Best wishes --

Corey Seeman
University of Toledo

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Early
To: innopac@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 1/3/2002 4:15 PM
Subject: CatMe batch export

Greetings in the New Year,

	I am very new to using CatMe for exporting into III.

	Prior to last week, we exported from Passport/CatMe into III via
cable and 
the lantronix boxes. Each record exported from Passport produced a
report 
that printed out from a thermal printer.
Occasional batch exports of up to 500 records were done via CatMe into
III. 
To save us from the lengthy printout, the person exporting simply shut
off 
the thermal printer.

	We now export exclusively by OCLC gateway. This is great, since
we are no 
longer limited to using "export only" terminals. But one thing has
changed: 
the report is now produced in an on-screen window generated after each 
export instead of onto the thermal paper.
	This means that when I batch export 100 records, that report
window must 
be closed 100 times. I have attempted to have this information diverted
to 
a printer. This won't work for me in CatMe (although it is supposed to)
and 
when I try it from Passport, the report is still generated in an
on-screen 
window in addition to being printed.
	So, in gaining more exporting versatility, we appear to have
lost some 
functionality, just at the moment when batch exporting is becoming a
real 
need at my library.
	Technical support at III told us that the on-screen export
report cannot 
be disabled. Has any other III library found a way to bypass this
problem 
(without resorting to FTS)?
	Our only solution so far is to re-activate the cable/lantronix
box method.

Stephen T. Early
Cataloger
Center for Research Libraries
6050 S. Kenwood Ave.
Chicago, IL  60637
773-955-4545 ext. 326
early@xxxxxxxxxx

Center's web site: wwwcrl.uchicago.edu





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