Introducing the Moo-PAC
What do you get if you combine a Moose with a NHU-PAC? A Moo-PAC, of course. Read on, catalogers--this is not an April Fool's jape. This new option has no effect whatsoever on the functioning of our ILL program but may be of value to catalogers.
For years, NHAIS member libraries have been able to download MARC bibliographic records from the NHU-PAC at no charge using Z39.50. It's one of several choices outlined in the Options for Downloading MARC Records from NHU-PAC instructions. Now you have the option of using a single Z39.50 target to search and download from both the New Hampshire State Library's catalog (known as Moose) and the statewide union catalog (known as NHU-PAC) at the same time. The new Moo-PAC offers access to an additional 240,000 bibliographic records on top of the nearly 1.5 million records in the NHU-PAC.
The Moo-PAC offers many records for government documents, library science books, and historical materials not found in the NHU-PAC. You can still target just the NHU-PAC if you prefer--that's where you're most likely to find records for new general-interest books, audiobooks, music CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays--but, depending on the nature of your collection, you may find it useful to have the Moo-PAC in your list of Z39.50 cataloging resources. You can switch between NHU-PAC and Moo-PAC if you like.
Things to know: if you use the Moo-PAC search, some records with the same OCLC control number will show up twice.
If you want to know which catalog a record comes from, there are clues in various places depending on when the record was last modified but the one rule that applies to all records is if there's a subfield 852c with "NHNHSS" in it, that's a Moose record. Anything else, including records without 852s, came from the NHU-PAC.
Whichever catalog the record came from, your download will include all the fields displayed. You may want to strip out the holding fields (852) and local info fields (9XX) for your local use.Here are settings for a Z39.50 connection to the Moo-PAC:
SERVER ADDRESS (or HOST or URL): nhais-service.auto-graphics.com
PORT: 210
DATABASE ID (or DATABASE NAME): nhunionstatezip
SYNTAX (or FORMAT): MARC21/USMARC
USERNAME: nhunionstatezip
PASSWORD: Call the NHAIS Help Desk at 603-271-2141 during business hours to get the password
Not sure if the Moo-PAC is right for you? Ask your NHAIS Help Desk at 603-271-2141.