It is possible to search Alma’s holdings with an Excel spreadsheet to find matches using an import profile. This can help locate titles in the Alma database based on ISBN or OCLC#. This import profile itself does not create or change any records.  It is up to the user to review the report to obtain the details they want.  

1. A list saved in Excel format with an ISBN, or OCLC # and a title at the very least.

   1. Anything extra is fine.

2. Alma permissions to run an import Profile.

3. Access to MarcEdit. Send requests for installation to lsupport@princeton.edu

1. The output from Alma is based on ISBN  or OCLC number matches.  If the ISBN is not unique, there could be a false match. Alma converts ISBN-13 to ISBN-10 (and vice versa) when locating matching records.

2. Alma maxes out at 1,000 records, for both binary MARC and MARCXML.  This means you have to break up the list if the results are greater than 1000.

1. Review and prepping the Excel list.

   1. Oftentimes the list being looked at needs a little cleanup.

      1. Look for duplicates in the list.  

         1. Are they intentional?

      2. Are the ISBN or OCLC numbers clean numbers?

         1. Remove dashes, spaces, parentheses, extraneous text

      3. For an OCLC number matching to happen, there has to be an (OCoLC) prefix added to the number.

   2. Change column headings to corresponding MARC Record fields

      1. For example

         1. ISBN becomes 020$a

         2. OCLC Number becomes 035$a

         3. Title becomes 245$a

         4. Author becomes 100$a

         5. Pushlisher Place 264$a

         6. Pushlisher becomes 264$b

         7. Publication Year 264$c

      2. See Example 

1. An import profile has been created for the look up purpose. 

   1. Go to “Resources>Import”. This action will take you to a list of import profiles.

   2. Locate the import profile Acquisitions Tool Comparing List to Alma Holdings”

   3. Run the import profile by uploading the Excel sheet generated as described above.

2. Once the Import is done, go to the import job report which can be found on the 3 dots action button “…”

   1. If you want to see what matches in Alma against the list go to the drop down for Bibliographic Record Matches.

      1. Click the … corresponding to Matches found 

         1. Download Sources (binary)

         2. You now have a MARC file.

   2. If you want to see what did not match in Alma against the list go to the drop down for Records Not Imported.

      1. The second item is Records not imported upon no match.

         1. Click the … and download the Binary source.

         2. You now have a MARC File. (see the image shown below)

1. You can convert the MARC file to Excel. Open MarcEdit (shown below)

Open

1. Useful ExLibris Training Video

2. Ctrl+t will bring you to the Export tab, Or 

3. Go to Tools (Upper left) > Export > Export Tab Delimited Records

4. The “Export Tab Delimited Records” window will display

5. For Step 1, Find the MARC file you just made.

6. Copy that path and paste it in the next field below.Replace the .mrc suffix with tsv (see example below)

Open

1. Leave the other fields alone and click next.

2. You will then be in the Step 2 “Define Fields/Subfields to Export”

3. Map the MARC fields you want to export to excel.  (see image below)

Open

1. You do not need to put $ in the subfield.

2. Click “Add Field” to complete the first field.

3. Repeat this until you have all the fields you want to export.

4. It may help to make an mrk file so you can see what you are looking at.

5. Click Export

6. You now have a tsv file of the MARC file you downloaded.

7. Open the TSV file in Excel and save as xlsx format.

If this type of analysis is to be recurring, you may want to consider saving the mapping you have made.  This will allow you to reload the same settings the next time you need to do this task.  This feature can be found under “settings”.