When a bookmark is created, it is possible that at that point in time, that the resource is not in the library catalogue. When the resource is acquired and catalogued, the original bookmark is therefore not linked to the catalogue and there may be a manual exercise to link the resource to the catalogue. Alternatively, a bookmark may have been created manually in a way which does not link it to the catalogue.
The Book Metadata Refresh is an administrative function which allows Talis Aspire Reading Lists (TARL) to identify Books in TARL which are not linked to the catalogue (don't have a Library Catalogue Number (LCN)). By starting the Metadata Refresh Job, TARL will attempt to link these books to your catalogue by performing an ISBN search and updating the metadata for the books found in your library catalogue.
This is performed as a background job so that you can continue your activities in TARL. The status of the job can be viewed by re-visiting the Book Metadata Refresh page or by going to the Review Jobs page
The user who initiated the job will be notified by email when it is completed with a summary detailing the number of items that were linked and the number of items which remain unlinked. Please note: From April 2016 this now includes the number of errors experienced during the Book Metadata Refresh (this is the number of items we didn't get a response from the library catalogue).
Frequently Asked Questions
Q - Is there a post-refresh report?
A - There is no report of the list of items that have been successfully linked or not, you simply get a summary email to let you know the number that were linked or not linked. Once the job is complete you can use the All List Items report filtered to show books and chapters not in the library catalogue to see what is outstanding.
Q - Will the metadata refresh update chapters?
A - The metadata refresh looks for any resource with an ISBN which does not have a Library Catalogue Number (LCN). This will also update chapters if they have been bookmarked correctly i.e. a chapter with an "is part of Book". The "is part of Book" will be updated, but the chapter information will be retained.
Q - As it's an ISBN search, it will in some cases find multiple results - how will Aspire handle that? If this search is by Z39.50, does it just pick the first result returned
A - The search is done by Z39.50 and it does what we normally do, i.e. it uses the first result.
Q - Does this process run on Bookmarks or on items on lists (or both!)?
A - The process runs on any item with an ISBN, so that means it will pick up items on lists as well as only in My Bookmarks.
Q - Are all 'occurrences' on Lists automatically updated?
A - All occurrences of an item will be updated.
Q - With LCNs being added to the metadata across the Tenancy, how are potential conflicts with live incremental edits managed
A - The process works on the snapshot of the environment taken when the job was initiated. Updates will be made to everything in the snapshot regardless of live incremental updates. I'd advise doing the refresh towards the end of the day.
Q - Once the job is running, what happens to new Books-not-linked-to-the-LMS added to Talis Aspire as Bookmarks/list items - is Talis Aspire working to a snapshot of the environment at the point that the job begins?
A - New items (not linked to the catalogue) created/bookmarked once the snapshot has been taken will not be included in the update.
Q - How does Aspire limit the volume of simultaneous look-up requests against the LMS to prevent overloading?
A - The process queues up each item as an individual job and the jobs are processed sequentially, in batches. We will be monitoring the average time taken to process each item and the responses we get from the Z39.50 service. The refresh has been built in such a way which will allow us change the number of jobs per batch and to change the delay time between the batches.
Q - Can you confirm that the metadata refresh only checks and links 'books' but not 'book chapters'?
A - The metadata refresh looks for any resource with an ISBN which does not have a Library Catalogue Number (LCN). If chapters have been bookmarked correctly i.e. a chapter with an "is part of Book". The "is part of Book" will be updated, but the chapter information will be retained.
Q - Will the metadata refresh remove any digitisation links?
A - No, if there is an existing digitisation link to an item that does not have an LCN, the book metadata refresh would link the LCN as part of the task and not change any other parts of the bookmark.