Updated Sending Files Document

To better reflect how holdings are now being maintained in the NHU-PAC we have updated our guidelines on Submitting Records to NHU-PAC. The links to this document in recent NHAIS Notes blog posts have been updated.

Here is what changed:

• We took out all the stuff about the old holdings maintenance system which no longer applies
• We streamlined what you need to include in your email message 
• We added the record count to the file name structure you need to use. Many libraries have been doing this and it works well for us to keep track of the file through its processing.
• We increased the limit on how many records can be in an individual file to 500.
• With the new process of getting records into your local system via Z39.50 and then extracting a file  periodically to send to NHAIS Services so your holdings can be added to NHU-PAC the need to send us files of records from individual vendors (Baker & Taylor, etc.) is eliminated. The guidelines reflect this change.

In order for us to keep up wiht the increasing volume of files we are receiving from libraries it is essential that the files you are sending follow the naming conventions we have asked for. This convention has been in place for well over a decade, but we have accommodated many, many libraries over the years who chose to disregard it in naming their files. We cannot continue to do this. 

The naming convention that needs to be used is:

Your HSA code 

followed by the date the file was created 

then a dash and the number of records in the file.

For example: 

A file of 27 records created by NHSL (HSA code NHSS) on Nov. 3^rd  

would be named NHSS1103-27.dat

Different systems export files of MARC records with different extensions (.dat is used in the example above) keeping the 3-character file extension you have been using for files you send us is probably going to be fine. If you send a file with an extension that doesn't work we will let you know. 

If you are just starting to process your holdings additions this way, please use .dat if you can.