The Title Assistant window collects some basic title information so that a matching bibliographic record can be located.

Search fields

• ISBN/LCCN. Provide a valid ISBN (International Standard Book Number) or LCCN (Library of Congress Control Number) number. When this information is included, only results that have an exact ISBN or LCCN match will be returned. If the ISBN you provide is an older 10-digit, it's newer 13-digit counterpart will automatically be calculated and queried as well.

          When ISBN/LCCN information is provided, the title and author fields will only be used to rank the search results or create a new manual            record if returned results are inadequate.

• Title. Performs a "begins with" search. Provide with all or part of the title's name; For example, for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, type in Harry Potter or Harry. A search by Title can also include Series and/or alternative titles.
  
  
• Author. Provide all or part of the author's name; for example, for Rick Riordan, type in Riordan, Rick, Rior or Ri. An Author search can also include secondary authors.
  
  
• Publisher. Provide the publisher's name; for example, for The Crown Publishing Group, type in Crown Publishing Group.
  
  
• Publication Year. Provide the year of publication.
  
  
• Keyword. Provide any keywords applicable to the book being searched; for example, entering the Keywords Whales, Whaling, Classics, Ships might help narrow down results for Melville's "Moby Dick". You must be searching by another term in order to search by keyword.

Other search tools

• Search for books only. You can force Title Assistant to only search for books by checking the Search for books only box. If selected, Title Assistant results will filter out all results that are not books (as defined by their 245_h tag). However, if you like, you can allow items that are not books (e.g. DVD, eBooks, CDs) by leaving this box blank. Please note that this does NOT find RDA-formatted 'text-unmediated-volume' mediums.
  
  
• Z39.50 Set. Choose the Z39.50 collection of addresses that you would like the Title Assistant to search for potential MARC record matches. Although the default is COMPanion Default, the last selected Z39.50 Set will be remembered (per operator) every time you the Title Assistant is opened.

Click Search to initiate the Title Assistant search using the information you provided. 

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SmartMARC Results

After a search has successfully concluded (or timed out), all the matching bibliographic records are displayed in the results window. Along with the matching Title list, the results window also displays the matching Medium and Location (i.e. the source of the matching bibliographic record).

After this, results are categorized as the following: "bold" for local hits and “black” for good or exact matches. Local matches (i.e. results matching bibliographic records already existing in your collection) will be shown first, before other sources in your results list. 

Scroll to browse through the matching title records. If you click on a record title while scrolling through, the record's bibliographic information is displayed in the section below.

Once you’ve located the record that suits your fancy, double-click on it or select (highlight) it and press <enter> (or click the Continue button); this updates an existing or populates a new (unlocked for further editing) title record in the Items Management window with the contents of the selected record.

If you're not satisfied with any of the returned search results, close the window or click the Back button to choose a different Z39.50 Set, and then search other/additional servers defined by their Search Order prioritization.

In summary, the options available from the Title Assistant: Results window are:

• Back. Returns to your search parameters; any pending searches are terminated.
  
  
• Skip. Allows an operator to enter the information manually, as opposed to using data returned from Z39.50.
  
  
• Cancel. Discards current search results and any pending searches, and closes the Title Assistant window.
  
  
• Continue. When the selected record is local, another copy is added to the selected title. When the selected  record is not local, it is added to the Alexandria database as a new title, and you can add or duplicate copies and/or make additional edits. If no record is found, you are directed to an unlocked new record in either Item View or MARC View, depending on your settings, with the data from the search window (e.g. Title, Author, ISBN/LCCN). Any pending searches are terminated. 

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Technically Speaking...

Want to better understand how the Title Assistant searches for and scores MARC records? Keep reading.

How Are Z39.50 Sources Searched?

By design, the Title Assistant will initially, automatically search the last selected Z39.50 Set; this can be reversed by clicking the Back button when the Results window appears and selecting a new Z39.50 Set to search from. In any event, no matter what Z39.50 Set you end up choosing, your local collection will also be searched simultaneously for existing bibliographic matches.

The priority in which servers are searched within the Z39.50 Set depends on their Availability and order—both of which are configurable by editing your z39.50 Preferences.

Each server in your Z39.50 Set will be continually searched as long as communications are steadfast and active. However, to avoid congestion and deadlocks, Title Assistant will only wait ten seconds after receiving its last response from the Z39.50 server or Alexandria Data Station being searched before assuming that the source is no longer abundant or available. If no further messages are received from the source before the allotted ten second timeout is reached, Title Assistant will move on to the next server in the set. Title Assistant will only stop searching once every server in your set has surpassed the allocated timeout period.

From time to time, you may find that some of the servers you have selected are unresponsive or longer returning results. Machine failures or communication faults will sometimes make it impossible for servers to reply before the timeout period expires.

Although Title Assistant may still be receiving responses from servers (and appear to be searching), only qualifying matches are returned to the Results window. Therefore, it is imperative to specify which Z39.50 databases you would like to use when searching for matching bibliographic records.

COMPanion suggests using our preconfigured COMPanion Default Z39.50 Set, including:

• DC - Special - Library of Congress
• OH - Special - OhioLINK

When configuring the Z39.50 Servers or creating your own custom sets (e.g. “Exceptional Spanish Sources”), we usually recommend picking no more than four quality Z39.50 servers, including the Library of Congress and OhioLINK among them. The other two servers can be personal favorites, in-state universities, or perhaps a well-established Alexandria database. 

How does Title Assistant score records? 

Title Assistant uses a very sophisticated system to grade MARC records. The full details of this system are a trade secret and will not be shared. However, the following information may help you to understand enough to get the best results in your quest for perfect records.

• All potentially matches are either scored as PASS or FAIL. If a bibliographic record is somehow returned that doesn't match any of the data provided in the Title or Author queries, it's promptly ignored.

• Title Assistant grades MARC records by assigning points for various conditions. Therefore, Title Assistant believes that the highest scoring record is the best possible match. The absolute number itself means nothing from record to record. Thus, a record matching at 100 may be just as good as one matching at 200. Additionally, small changes in the scores may have great significance.

• If you checked the Search for Books Only box, Title Assistant will ignore records that are not books or MARC Language Materials. The leader position 6 (type of record) and 245_h (medium) fields are examined. An “a” in leader position 6 indicates a book, all others are considered non-books. A blank 245_h, or one containing the word “book,” is considered a book—all others are considered non-books.

• Two types of automatic matching errors can occur:
  
  • A “false positive” occurs when Title Assistant picks a record that it shouldn’t.
  • A “false negative” occurs when Title Assistant skips a record that it shouldn’t. Title Assistant is biased toward avoiding “false positive” errors because they can result in changing your data from something correct (but brief) to something incorrect (but complete).

• For matching purposes, Title Assistant examines the Title, Author, and ISBN/LCCN fields. In general, larger, more complete records with more matching fields get higher scores.

• When matching fields, those that match exactly get higher scores than those that contain substrings or matching words. Thus, missing or misspelled words in your data will result in fewer matches.

• When either the initial or potential record is missing a match field, a test for that field is not performed. Thus, missing data has no impact on the score. This makes it possible for a record that doesn’t contain an ISBN to match against a record which does. Thus, only when fields in both the initial and potential records are found are they compared.

• More complete initial records provide better matching results. Thus, a record that only contains an ISBN may match against the “wrong” record since Title Assistant has no other way to differentiate between records which contain this ISBN.

• When records are automatically updated, the matching record is merged with your initial data, thus preserving any private tags you might have created. This may result in additional notes and subject fields which can be removed manually, if desired.
  
  

In closing, our Title Assistant system is getting better every day. If you find results that are “strange,” contact us (a copy of the source record, the database you used for matching and the results you obtained) and, if possible, we’ll teach Title Assistant to make better decisions in the future. 

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