Scope: How-to documentation on creating reports using Aleph Services as documented in notes taken during training and review.

Contact: Jacquie Samples

Unit: Metadata & Discovery Strategy

Date last reviewed: 07/28/2021

Date of next review: 10/28/2022

Observe the following rules for Filenames in all services:

Do not use uppercase letters
Do not use spaces
Do not use special characters except underscore (_) or period.

I. Item Reports using the No_book Report.

The no-book report is a custom report created by Gwyneth. The output is formatted in columns with defined information. It can be created from a file of barcodes or from the results of another aleph search.

1. Using a file of barcodes:

This is the simplest and quickest item report:

Save the barcodes in Notepad as txt.
Save to F:Users/aleph/reclass_items

Assign filename according to rules at beginning of this document.

To run the report:
Under aleph services menu choose: Services, Local Duke Services, Reclass labels with no books report.

Type of input in this case is "barcodes"
Enter the file name of your barcode file in the box for "barcodes"
Use a slightly different name for the Report. This will be the output name.

Check the add to History Box and Submit.

Hint: If you run a particular kind of report frequently, give it a filename that includes the date. Then you can choose "view history", find your last report, change the date, and submit it.

The output for the no-book report will be in F:users/aleph/reclass_items.

If you open this file with Excel, be sure to choose "All Files" as the file type.

2. Using the no-book report with the output of the Item Retrieval Service.

You can use various means of retrieving records on the server and then run the no-book report on the output. One possibility is with the Item Retrieval Service.

Select Services, Items, General Retrieval Form (ret-adm-01).

Open the form and select up to five filters for retrieving data. You can click on Help for information about the various retrieval filters.

You will not need an input name unless you are working with a previously selected file.

The output name must obey the naming rules described at the beginning of this document. Hint: You can copy the output filename used from this service to use later as the input for the no-book report .

The Library is DUK50. The Report Format and the Sort are not important, because we are going to use the no-book report to Format the output.

This report does not run as quickly as the no-book report or as a CCL search, so you sometimes need to wait for the results.

You can check the status of the report in the Task Manager. To check status, go to the batch log. This report runs in the DUK50, so you should choose DUK50 as the Library. If you filter by "only mine", then you will see only your own reports, which makes them much easier to find.

Note: Sometimes the task manager does not accurately show whether a custom report has finished running, but it does well on the regular aleph services reports such as this one.

Once the report has finished running, you can run the no-book report on the results.

Use the output filename of the item retrieval report as the input name of the no-book report. Choose item record keys as the type of input.

The output for the no-book report will be in F:users/aleph/reclass_items.

If you open this file with Excel, be sure to choose "All Files" as the file type.

3. Using the CCL search and then the no-book report.

It is usually faster and easier to retrieve a set of item records using the CCL (Common Command Language) search

Useful terms for CCL searches can be found at:
DUK01 Index Codes — Perkins Library Staff Intranet
(You will probably not get the this list by clicking on the above link, but you can copy it and paste it into your browser.)
The CCL search can be done as a Find Search or it can be done through the Services menu.

Here is a CCL search from the find menu.

Hint: be careful with the use of "and" and "or".
The search cna=305->307 and (wcl=PK OR wcl=PLI) gets 1303 records.
The search: cna=305->307 and (wcl=PK AND wcl=PLI) gets 4 records.
That is because the 2^nd search requires both collection codes to be present.

To save your results on the Server, choose the save button on the right and then assign an appropriate filename
Note: Do not use uppercase letters in the filename, even though they will appear on the screen as uppercase. Unfortunately, this means you cannot just copy and paste the filename from this particular search.
When saving the results of a Find search, you filename is limited to 10 characters.

After assigning a name, click OK.

The CCL search can also be done through the aleph services menu. This is a better way to search when you expect to retrieve a large set of records (several thousand or more). It is also useful if you will be frequently using the same search and want to save the search in the history for future use.

CCL search using the aleph services menu.

First, select the service Retrieve Records Using CCL (ret-01), as shown above. Then fill in the search using the same CCL commands that you would use in the Find view.
Give a filename for the output that obeys the rules previously discussed for filenames. In this case, you are not limited to 10 characters for your filename.

Either version of the CCL search can be used to produce an item report using the no-book report. The filename of the saved CCL search under the Find menu or the Output file name from the CCL search in the services menu will be used as the input file name for the next section.

Converting bib to items:

The first step is to convert the bib records to item record keys using the Record Keys Conversion Service (Manage-70)
Under the Services menus, choose Local Duke Services, Record Keys Conversion (manage-70)

Then use the file name from your CCL search as the input file.

In this case, the Convert Library is DUK01, because the search was made in the DUK01. The Library is DUK50.

Hint: Copy the input name and paste it as the output name, adding a number or letter.
After running the record keys conversion, you can run the results through the no-book report:

Under aleph services menu choose: Services, Local Duke Services, Reclass labels with no books report.

Note that the type of input is Item record keys, rather than barcodes.

The output for the no-book report will be in F:users/aleph/reclass_items.

If you open this file with Excel, be sure to choose "All Files" as the file type.

II. Bib Record Reports using Duke Customizable MARC Columnar Report.

We now have a custom bib record report that will produce a formatted report with any fields you choose from the bib record.

First, search for a set of records and save your search. This can be done with any search under the Find menu or through an aleph services retrieve records search.

Here is a simple Find search from the advanced search menu:

Save the search results on the Server:

Click OK to save.

Remember not to use uppercase letters, even though the letters appear uppercase on the screen.

Then choose Services, Retrieve Catalog Records, Duke Customizable MARC Columnar Report (custom 25)

The file name you used for saving your search will be the input file name. Choose up to 10 MARC fields to include in the report. You can limit the fields to specific indicators, or, use "##" to include all indicators for that tag.

Help for every field can be found by clicking the Help button.

The output of this service is found in:

The output will be a txt file, so choose "All Files" when opening in Excel.

NOTE: This report can be run on the results of any search in the DUK01, including CCL searches.

III. Holding Record Reports using Reclass Holdings report (p-custom-18)

The most direct way to get a Holdings report is to run a CCL query in the DUK60, and then run the Reclass Holdings Report on the Results. A list of terms for CCL search in the DUK60 is found here:
https://intranet.lib.duke.edu/groups/ils-techservices/doc/duk60-ccl-search-codes/?searchterm=duk60%20codes

There are very useful fields indexed, including the HOL record type. You can run a CCL query under the Find menu, or through the Services menu.

1. Using the CCL search under the find menu.

If you do not expect a very large output, then running the CCL search under the Find menu is much faster than running the query through the Services menu, but it will time out without giving you any results when too much data is being retrieved.

You can run The CCL search while you are connected to either the DUK01 or the DUK60, but be sure to specify DUK60 for the search.

After running your CCL search, save the results with a filename, just as you did for other CCL searches.

DoD

Do not use uppercase letters in the Filename, even though they will appear on the screen as uppercase.

To run the Holdings report, choose services, Local Duke Services, Reclass Holdings Report (p-custom18)

Open the Service and fill in the choices, using the filename of the saved CCL search as the input file name. You can add a number for the output name. Be sure to use DUK60 as the Library.

The output for the Reclass Holdings report will be in L:\Departments\Aleph\Reclass_items.

If you open this file with Excel, be sure to choose "All Files" as the file type.

2. Using the CCL search under the aleph Services menu

For larger reports, use the CCL search under the aleph Services menu.

Choose: Services, Retrieve Catalog Records, Retrieve Records Using CCL (ret-03)

Then enter your search query terms. Be sure you have chosen DUK60 as your library. If you connect to the duK60 before beginning the search, then your DUK60 searches will be saved in a separate history from the CCL searches you did in the DUK01. This can be very convenient when looking for an earlier search.

You can check to see whether your search has finished by looking at the Task Manager. Be sure to look at the DUK60.

After your CCL search is complete, run the Reclass Holdings Report, as described earlier in this section, using the output Filename from your CCL search as the input filename.

To run the Holdings report, choose services, Local Duke Services, Reclass Holdings Report (p-custom18)

Then enter your search query terms. Be sure you have chosen DUK60 as your library. If you connect to the duK60 before beginning the search, then your DUK60 searches will be saved in a separate history from the CCL searches you did in the DUK01. This can be very convenient when looking for an earlier search.

The output for the Reclass Holdings report will be in L:\Departments\Aleph\Reclass_items

If you open this file with Excel, be sure to choose "All Files" as the file type.

3. Creating Holdings Reports from Bib record reports.

Sometimes you want a report of Holdings records but you want to start with a bib record report. This might be because you want to use and existing bib record report. It could also be that you want to find holding records for a particular location and also want to know what other locations exist for the same bib records.

This example shows a CCL search under the Services menu, but any Bib record search will do, as long as it exists as a saved file in aleph.

Once again, choose Services, Retrieve Catalog Records, Retrieve records Using CCL(ret-03)

Then create a CCL query in the DUK01 . In this case, the search is for all remaining records with Sublibrary Vesic.

After the search has finished running, convert from bib to holdings with Record Keys Conversion (Manage 70)

Choose Services, Local Duke Services, Record Keys Conversion (manage-70)

The input file is the name of the saved file or the filename for the results of the CCL search. The output name should be slightly different.

Note: If you connect to DUK60 before running this Service, then this will be saved in a separate history. That sometimes makes it easier to find for running again.

After the conversion program is finished, run the Holdings report on the results.
Choose : Services, Local Duke Services, Reclass Holdings Report (p-custom-18)

The output of the Record Keys Conversion Service becomes the the Input for the Reclass Holdings Report.