Creating Holdings Records

The following page details how to create holdings records in Alma. 

As Ex Libris documentation notes, "Holdings records contain the following holdings information: location, items held, publication pattern (where applicable), and notes. Holdings records are dependent on and linked to associated bibliographic records. In Alma, holdings records can be created/edited using the MD Editor, an import profile job, or the Change Holding Information job".

A common use case for creating a holdings record occur when you need to add a physical item to an existing bibliographic record but the none of the existing holdings records are applicable as their library and/or item location do not match your library's holdings. 

How to create Holdings Records in the MDE. 

To create a MARC21 Holdings record: 

1. Locate the title you will need to add a holdings record to using either All Titles or Physical Titles in Alma's search bar.
2. Once the title is located, access the List of Holdings menu: 
   • In the top right corner of the title, using the ellipsis. Select Add Holdings from the list of options;
   • in the top right corner of the title or below the list of holdings;
   • below the holdings list, via the Holdings hyperlink.
3. In the List of Holdings menu, click on the Add new Holdings button in the top right corner. In clicking on this button, a new holdings record will be created in Alma's Metadata Editor. 
4. Now within the newly created holdings record you have created, you will need to add at least the following required fields:
   1. Sublocation or Collection (852b) - The NOAA Libraries as designated by Library Codes
   2. Shelving Location (852c) - The Alma Location Code. For reference see the Alma LibGuide location page.
   3. Classification Part (852h) and Item Part (852i) - The data for these subfields are automatically populated using a normalization task. The task maps the data from the call number field of bibliographic record to the holdings record field when you save the holdings record. The full mapping is listed at the bottom of the page and may be of assistance as a reference tool in times of troubleshooting.
   • While active on field 852 in the holdings record, use the keyboard shortcut Control + F to expand the form editor. The form editor offers the ability of allowing you to selecting the Sublocation or Collection (Library Code) and Shelving Location from a dropdown, thereby eliminating chance of typos. 
5. Once finished working on the holdings record, save the holdings record using the keyboard short cut Control + S.  To then save the bibliographic record using the Keyboard shortcut Control + Alt + R to Save and Release the bibliographic record, which removes it from the MD Editor. Saving will create a holdings record without any item records
6. If needed, an item or item records can been added to the newly created holdings record either by:
   • Selecting the Holdings in the top right corner of the record you are viewing, which will bring you to a list of holdings associated with the record;
   • Clicking on the hyperlinked text, Physical, below the record you are viewing in Alma.
7. With the List of Holdings menu open, locate the holdings record listing from the table you wish to add an item or items record to and using the ellipsis on the left select View Items to open the List of Items menu.
8. To add an item while in the List of Items menu, click on the Add Item button, which will open the Physical Item Editor.