Work With Templates: How to

Owned by Minjie Chen
Last updated: Mar 09, 2022Version comment
5 min read

This page covers the basics of how to work with templates -

Please consult Recommended Practice to maintain the private and shared templates for clarity and findability.

Permissions

To work with templates, you must have one of the following roles -

  • Cataloger
  • Cataloger extended
  • Catalog Manager
  • Catalog Administrator

Customize the display of templates as menu options

Under the MDE menu option New are listed templates for creating new bib and holdings records.

However, the Template tab in the Left Pane apparently lists many more choices.

Click on New > Templates display configuration to customize which templates to display under the menu and which to hide.

Private and Shared entries of templates from all sub-tabs are listed in the configuration page. Use toggle switches to choose which templates you will need for displaying in menu.

At the bare minimum, enable the following two default templates -

  • PUL Books Template (Default)
  • New holding (Default)

Those templates you don't turn on for menu display are accessible when you apply Expand from Template (Ctrl+E), which allows you to insert the content of a template into a record you are working on.

Save your choice.

View templates

In the MDE, click the Templates tab, then take note to select the sub-tab of interest: MARC21 Bib or Holdings. (There is a third sub-tab, DC, for the Dublin Core metadata scheme, which may not be relevant to most people's job tasks.)

Templates are organized into three zones (see Template properties below):

  • Private: Visible to you only.
  • Shared: Visible to PUL users.
  • Community: Templated shared among all Alma institutions.

Right-click on any template name in the record list, select Edit to view its content.

For a template for a bib record, left-clicking on the name of the template will generate a new bib based on the template. The MDE will switch from the Templates tab to the Records tab. (See Apply templates > 4. Left Pane: Templates list below)

For a template for a holdings record, left-clicking on its name opens the template for viewing and editing, functioning the same as right-clicking > Edit.

Create your own templates

You may curate templates that contain fields and values you frequently use.

Method A: Duplicate an existing template and edit

1. Find any existing template (a short one is good, or one that resembles the template in your mind), duplicate it

2. In the pop-up window, change the name of the template from Copy Of ... to a distinct new name

3. Save it to the Private zone

4. Under the Templates tab - Private zone, locate the new one you have just created, click on its title

You must first locate the new template in the list, otherwise you will be altering the existing template you have chosen to duplicate.

5. Edit

6. Press the menu option Save

Method B: Save a record as template and edit

1. Find a record that contains elements you wish to have in a template. Open it in the Main Pane

2. Select the menu option Save > Save as Template

3. Give it a distinct name in the pop-up window

4. Save it to the Private zone

5. Open the Templates tab in the Left Pane, unfold the Private zone to view the full list, locate the new one you have just created, click on its title

6. Edit

7. Press the menu option Save

Template properties: Private or Shared

The instruction above specifies to save a new template to the Private zone, which is visible to yourself only. Alternatively, you may save it to the Shared zone, so that other PUL users can see and use it. To modify the user scope of a template you have created -

1) Select it by clicking on its name under the Template tab and the correct sub-tab

2) Select the menu option Template Actions > Properties

3) Select the radio choice Shared

4) You may also alter the name of the template, or add a brief description

5) Save

Your template is now shared with all PUL users. This change is reversible.

You may not have the permission to change a template created and shared by another user to your Private zone. (You can, however, duplicate a shared template and save it as a private one.)

Apply templates

There are at least fours ways of applying templates.

1. Menu option New

For those templates you have configured to display in menu, click on any of them to create a new bib or holdings record

2. Menu option Add Inventory

While you have a bib or holdings record open in the Main Pane, click on any of the templates listed under Add Inventory to create a new holding

  • If the open record has been a bib, the new holding will be attached to the bib
  • If the open record has been a holdings record, the new record will be a second holdings record attached to the same title

3. Menu option Editing Actions > Expand from Template (Ctrl + E)

If you select a template and choose the Applying method Add all, everything in the template is inserted into the current record. It will appear at the bottom of the record. It works similarly to the Text Strings feature in Connexion Client.

4. Left Pane: Templates list

This method applies to bibs only.

Locate the template of interest in the Template tab, click on its name in the Left Pane, and a new record based on the template will be created. See video demonstration The Metadata Editor - Click on Template to Create New Record

This was a new feature released in March 2022. It functions the same as right-clicking a template for a bib and selecting New Record from Template. This enables catalogers to easily create a new record derived from the chosen template, without running the risk of accidentally changing it, as could be done previously, when the default action was Edit.

Source

ExLibris Knowledge Center > Working with Record Templates