Cataloging - Cat Maps

Cataloging - Cat Maps

Overview

To aid in catalog maintenance, a library can request a catalog map ("cat map"). The cat map will be delivered as an Excel spreadsheet so that you can review the item classifications in your library and identify irregularities for correction. A cat map is basically a list of all the ways items are cataloged in your library.

Libraries now also have the option to access an interactive cat map on-demand in BLUEcloud Analytics.

Interpreting the Map

The cat map is a spreadsheet with multiple worksheets. One sheet is the Cat Map, which will display rows with item type, location, item category 1, item category 2, and item category 3. Each combination is matched with a total count of items. 
Depending on how your items are cataloged, you may receive a cat map with all the item fields, but we often exclude item categories 4 and 5 as those fields are not usually dependent on the item itself. If you would like a cat map that includes different fields, such as only item type and home location, please let us know.
The second sheet, Item List, includes details about all your items. It can be filtered using drop-down arrows in the column headers so that you can easily find mis-cataloged materials. 

The first cat map prepared for your library can be daunting as it will show all the errors and different ways items have been cataloged over time, in some cases many years. The MSC system administrators can help you clean many of these errors in batch. Examples of batch changes can be found later in this article.

Rows with Low Numbers

On the Cat Map tab, rows with low numbers in the count column are potential cataloging errors and should be marked for review. A low count means only a handful of items are cataloged with the list combination of types, locations, and categories.

You can review these items by using the same combination of fields on the Item List sheet. Use the filters to select the relevant fields. 

If there are only a few errors of the same sort, it is easiest to fix them manually.

Reviewing Call Numbers

You can use the cat map to review your call numbers. On the Item List tab, use the filters to limit to a single collection. This will allow you to look for irregularities in prefixes and analytics.

Interactive BCA Cat Map

Libraries can access a cat map at any time from BLUEcloud Analytics:
  1. Go to BLUEcloud Analytics.
  2. Log in with your BCA credentials. If you do not already have these, please open a ticket to request access.
  3. Navigate to Shared Reports > Collection Maintenance > List Reports for Catalog Clean-up.
  4. Click on Cat Map to run.
  5. When prompted, select your library policy, either by double clicking or by using the arrows to move the policy to "selected."
  6. Click Run Dossier at the bottom left to continue.
  7. Select a cell in the Number of Items column in the Cat Map to generate a list of items.
  8. To export the Cat Map or Item List, hover over the visualization's right corner to reveal a vertical ellipsis menu.
  9. Select Export.
  10. Choose Excel or PDF.
BCA refreshes nightly so any catalog changes will not be reflected until the next day. To learn more about how to navigate and use BCA, please view our  BCA knowledge base for articles and recorded tutorials. 

Batch Changes

The MSC system administrators can help with the following batch changes:
  1. Populating category 1 based on item type or location (e.g. type BOOK, set category 1 to BOOK).
  2. Populating category 2 based on location (e.g. for location BOARD-BOOK, set category 2 to EASY). 
  3. Adding call number prefixes based on categories or location (e.g. for item category 1 CD, add prefix CD).
  4. Setting location based on call number prefixes (e.g. for items with a prefix DVD, set location to DVD).
The list above is not exhaustive. Administrators can also use a combination of categories to makes changes. For example, if you only wanted to change items with a prefix of DVD and category 2 of JUVENILE, we can fulfill your request.

Please specify in detail how to identify the items to change. Some libraries will note changes in a new column on the cat map, and attach the spreadsheet in a ticket. 

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