Importing Records with CSV or Excel Files

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This chapter includes:

Importing Records with CSV or Excel Files

Bibliographic records may be imported using CSV (comma-separated values) or Excel files. Properly formatted CSV and Excel files may be imported using the Repository, New Order, or Update Inventory import profiles configured with the appropriate import options. See Physical source format for more information.

When provided, the import can include fixed position field content such as the LDR or MARC 21 008 content. If no fixed position field content is provided, the import process can create fixed position field content from the normalization process that you specify in the import profile. If no normalization processes indicate what to create for the fixed position fields and no fixed field content is provided in the file, the import process can create fixed position fields when the enable_import_computer_generated Resource Management Other Setting is set to true.

When importing an Excel file that does not include the LDR, Alma uses a non-serial default LDR. If you need to import a serial record with "s" in position 07 of the LDR, we recommend including the LDR field in the Excel file.

Repeating fields with the same subfields and indicators cannot be imported. When the import process encounters multiple columns with the same tag, indicators, and subfields in the input file, a single field is created with multiple instances of the repeated subfields. For example, when the input file has a single row with three columns that contain 245$a, 245$b, and 245$b, the following record is created: 245$a main title $b subtitle 1 $b subtitle 2. See Formatting CSV or Excel Files for Importing Records for more information.

The bibliographic data is filtered, corrected, and validated as defined in the import profile that you configure. Inventory data is created based on the mapping defined in your import profile. See Creating/Editing an Import Profile: Overview for more information.

There is a limitation size of 20 MB on imported CSV or Excel files.

If the imported record lacks a leader field, a default leader is added. For Excel imports, the default leader is:#####nam#a22######u#4500

As a result, when merging with the "Overlay all fields but local" option, the leader in the existing record will be replaced.

To prevent the leader from being changed, you have two options:

  1. Include the leader in the input record.
  2. Use a different merge rule that overlays all fields while preserving the leader from the source record.

Workflow for Importing Records with CSV or Excel Files

The workflow for importing records with CSV or Excel files requires the following:

Formatting CSV or Excel Files for Importing Records

The header row (the first row) of your CSV or Excel file needs to identify the content for each column or comma-separated field of information and the indicators to be created. Each column or field header needs to contain the following information:

  • Field (tag) number

    This can be any MARC 21 or other metadata standard number except Dublin Core.

    This also includes fixed position fields such as the LDR and MARC 21 008.

  • First and second indicators

    Specify indicators in the following manner:

    245$a where no indicators are specified

    2451 $a where a null value is to be created for the second indicator

    245 1$a where a null value is to be created for the first indicator

    24510$a where both indicators are specified

  • Subfield

For an Excel file example, select the following link:

See the illustration below for a CSV file example.

CSV File Example

The following example shows how to work with grouping based on sub-field 8:
An example for the 856 field.

For more information on subfield 8 usage, see Managing Import Profiles.

The file header row is read from left to right by the Alma loader and the relevant tags are created.