2025-05-01 Metadata Management Meeting notes

Meeting URL: Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting . The meeting password can be found here.

Date

May 1, 2025

Note taker

Katie Rahman

Recordings

Recordings of meetings can be found in the Metadata_Management_SIG > Recordings folder on AWS from 2022 onwards: https://recordings.openlibraryfoundation.org/folio/metadata-management-sig/

Discussion items

Item	Presenter	Notes

Item	Presenter	Notes
Announcements		WOLFcon 2025 submissions extended to May 16, 2025. Contact Jennifer if you have any issues or if you do not receive a confirmation email.
Discussion of MARC searching in the UI	@Raegan Wiechert	MARC UI Searching Requirements Khalilah said that the project is in the analysis phase, and the product team is looking for answers to the following questions: What are the current challenges you have because you are not able to search MARC? What are the pain points? What do you need for us to solve? What workflows are lacking and what workflows do you need? Why you need MARC search? What do you use it for? Use cases mentioned: Database maintenance was brought up multiple times. Examples include a project to change subject headings to genres (need to know what is 600 and what is 650), deleting 245 $h in records, checking the length of 008 fields, and cleaning up migration data. Cleaning up bad MARC data. Not every MARC field is mapped to an instance field, and there is currently no way in the FOLIO UI to search for MARC fields not mapped to an instance field. Sometimes, a MARC field is the only way to identify a certain group of records. Not every institution has access to a reporting tool like LDLite and Metadb and that access may be limited. Some staff members do not have the time to learn API or SQL if they have Metadb. One of the things missing in FOLIO that staff have requested is the ability to get data or run reports themselves instead of relying on staff who know API or SQL. Jennifer asked how what this functionality falls within other MM projects. Raegan mentioned that this is on the implementer topics and that this is personally a top priority for her because it affects her workflows. Jennifer and Laura mentioned that this functionality may fall under reporting. For example, the Lists app will have the ability to search MARC fields in the future. Jennifer recommended inviting Kathleen to discuss SRS record information in the Lists app. After use cases were discussed, MM went through the document. Topics discussed include: Clarification regarding “blank” versus “null” (Intro) Differences and similarities between sections 4., 5., 6. (searching fields and subfields) Special characters, diacritics, Regex (7. Normalized searching) Instance fields, UI tags, note fields, administrative data, circulation, and acquisitions added (9. Ability to combine with non-MARC data) Additions/deletions, exact phrase searching, suggestion to match Lists app (10. Boolean operators) Ability to nest (11. Link multiple search parameters) Ability to search non-Latin characters This document is now open for editing, but do not delete items (cross out instead).



Product Council updates	Charlotte Whitt	No meeting this week.
BELA (Bulk Edit and Lists App)	Jennifer Eustis	https://folio-org.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/BULKEDIT/pages/959938562 Discussed further scheduling jobs in Bulk Edit https://folio-org.atlassian.net/browse/UXPROD-4025 https://folio-org.atlassian.net/browse/UXPROD-5277 we also discussed more visual cues for when users edit a srs versus a folio instance record https://folio-org.atlassian.net/browse/UIBULKED-594 https://folio-org.atlassian.net/browse/MODBULKOPS-443 https://folio-org.atlassian.net/browse/UIBULKED-590
Data Import Working Group	Jennifer Eustis	Representatives of Data Import met with the Acquisitions SIG and the App Interaction SIG about how to organize DI going forward. The discussion from Acquisitions leaned towards DI being a SIG with the understanding that more collaboration is needed between both groups. The discussion in App interaction was similar with people leaning towards a SIG and a request to have more collaboration. From the discussions: The following themes have come forward: DI needs to stop flying under the radar. it is believed that becoming a SIG would raise the prominence of this tool within the community. Not everyone can attend DI meetings. More effort needs to be given to both synchronous and asynchronous participation. More collaboration is needed between DI and other groups such as Acquisitions and App Interaction. DI needs to provide equitable time to all of its various aspects beyond just bibliographic.

Chat

10:32:29 From Raegan Wiechert to Everyone:
Hello

10:36:28 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
this all really sounds like reporting to me

10:36:54 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
so searching MARC in the UI is a workaround for FOLIO's lack of robust reporting functionality

10:37:09 From Amanda Scott to Everyone:
I also have Vivian's use case.
Khalilah (EBSCO):👍

10:37:15 From Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her) to Everyone:
Same
Khalilah (EBSCO):👍

10:38:51 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
I am in the privileged position of having access to MetaDB, where I routinely query MARC data

10:38:59 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
We have ldlite

10:39:40 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
It is important to have this functionality via UI
Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her):➕

10:40:22 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
My concern is this: when we ingest data in other formats, will we be expecting to be able to search those formats in the UI as well? It doesn't seem sustainable.
Jennifer Eustis:➕
Khalilah (EBSCO):👍

10:42:26 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
I can share lots of queries I have been running in MetaDB based on MARC, though there I really like having the option to search some Instance data and some MARC (in a combined query).

10:45:17 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to "I can share lots of queries I have been running in...":
Here's one where I wanted anything published in Iceland:

10:45:18 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to "I can share lots of queries I have been running in...":
SELECT mt.instance_hrid
FROM folio_source_record.marc__t mt
WHERE
mt.field='008' AND substring(mt."content", 16, 3) = 'ic '
;

10:45:58 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to "I can share lots of queries I have been running in...":
(the country of publication code is much more reliable that the textual data from 26x that is mapped to the Instance)

10:46:34 From Amanda Scott to Everyone:
As a music cataloger, one specific use case for me would be to be able to search the MARC 382 for specific media of performance and be able to identify records that lack the field.
Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her), Jennifer Eustis:➕
Khalilah (EBSCO):👍

10:47:30 From Jamie (they/them) to Everyone:
speaking for the small libraries group, this would be important. most of the folks in the group don't have external reporting tools and have struggled to find time to learn how to search with APIs, etc.
Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her):➕
Khalilah (EBSCO), Katie Rahman:👍

10:47:33 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
I would really rather see us develop reporting capabilities that will translate to other formats rather than bespoke MARC searching

10:47:52 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
the lack of reporting tools in FOLIO is really problematic
Jennifer Eustis, Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her), Emily Semenoff:💯

10:48:17 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to "the lack of reporting tools in FOLIO is really pro...":
everything mentioned thus far, I can do (and likely have done) using MetaDB

10:48:28 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to "the lack of reporting tools in FOLIO is really pro...":
but I know MetaDB is not the solution for everyone

10:48:34 From Katie Rahman to Everyone:
As Jamie mentioned, many staff members do not time to learn API or SQL to use Metadb.
Vivian Gould (she/her):👍
Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her), Laura Daniels, Amanda Scott:💯

10:49:07 From Ryan Tamares - Stanford Law Library to Everyone:
Replying to "the lack of reporting tools in FOLIO is really pro...":
Also, reporting that can be scheduled/automated would be helpful

10:49:39 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to "the lack of reporting tools in FOLIO is really pro...":
@Ryan Tamares - Stanford Law Library Yes!

10:50:54 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
It sounds very exciting

10:53:37 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
If the querying could be done in the lists app, and then be able to link results to Inventory, that seems ideal to me.

10:54:47 From f-piscitelli to Everyone:
Agree with Katie.

10:55:08 From Khalilah (EBSCO) to Everyone:
Thank you for sharing Katie.

10:56:35 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
Here's the link to the high level roadmap for Lists App: https://folio-org.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/BULKEDIT/pages/902660138

10:57:01 From Jamie (they/them) to Everyone:
Having a tool sooner rather than later would be great -- having the capability to search other formats is also important. However, small libraries folks are incredibly overwhelmed and need tools like this yesterday
Vivian Gould (she/her):💯

10:59:43 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
YES to what Lloyd just said.

11:00:10 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to "YES to what Lloyd just said.":
need to be able to search across record types as well

11:00:23 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
nature of contents

11:00:52 From Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her) to Everyone:
Replying to "YES to what Lloyd just said.":
Searching across records would be fantastic.

11:01:27 From Lloyd Chittenden (Marmot Library Network) to Everyone:
Replying to "YES to what Lloyd just said.":
Yes, items, orders, users, ...

11:02:21 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
NULL and blank are NOT the same thing in the FOLIO data also

11:03:10 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to "NULL and blank are NOT the same thing in the FOLIO...":
there are times an element is simply not recorded, and other times the element is recorded as NULL

11:04:38 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Bad MARC sounds like a super villain
Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her):😈

11:04:52 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to "Bad MARC sounds like a super villain":
who wreaks havoc in the library catalog

11:06:44 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
the variable data searches can often be done via the Instance data also -- do we need to make distinctions between the searches we can only do effectively by searching the underlying data vs those that can be done in Inventory already?
Magda Gad, Jennifer Eustis:➕

11:08:03 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to "the variable data searches can often be done via t...":
it might help with prioritization
Jennifer Eustis:➕

11:08:29 From Nancy Lorimer to Everyone:
Replying to "the variable data searches can often be done via t...":
agree

11:10:11 From Jamie (they/them) to Everyone:
I imagine 4 & 5 being important if someone was trying to search multiple fields at once - so something with 700 Shakespeare AND something else

11:11:21 From Khalilah (EBSCO) to Everyone:
Thanks Raegan, I very much appreciate this document because I personally need all the help I can get.

11:11:55 From Magda Gad to Everyone:
I agree with punctuation doesn't matter.

11:12:12 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
any really good search/reporting would allow for use of Regex!
Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her), Mary Aycock (she/her), Amanda Scott:💜
Vivian Gould (she/her):💯

11:14:04 From Magda Gad to Everyone:
special characters

11:14:09 From Katie Rahman to Everyone:
How will diacritics be handled?

11:14:46 From Magda Gad to Everyone:
yes for diacritics

11:14:59 From f-piscitelli to Everyone:
Maybe be able to choose one way or another

11:15:01 From Vivian Gould (she/her) to Everyone:
I have to bounce or I'll miss the conference lunch. Thanks, all!

11:16:20 From f-piscitelli to Everyone:
Also, some records may have the diacritics and some don't, so I would want an option to search both ways.

11:18:35 From Magda Gad to Everyone:
Maybe cataloged date?!

11:18:35 From Jamie (they/them) to Everyone:
I don't use UI tags but would that matter for anyone else here?

11:18:45 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
suppressed from discovery

11:18:46 From Jenn Colt to Everyone:
Maybe holdings notes that have a specific gift name in them

11:19:16 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
other administrative data ( and including date created or updated)
Magda Gad, Amanda Scott:➕

11:19:29 From f-piscitelli to Everyone:
+Note fields in holdings

11:19:35 From Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her) to Everyone:
Cataloged date would be handy
Mary Aycock (she/her):💯

11:19:38 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
Acquisitions and circulation data
Laura Daniels:➕

11:20:57 From Khalilah (EBSCO) to Everyone:
This is great!

11:20:59 From Jamie (they/them) to Everyone:
Might be worth prioritizing "everything" at some point 😆
Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her):💜
Jenn Colt:😂

11:21:32 From Ryan Tamares - Stanford Law Library to Everyone:
Instances - being able to toggle suppressed/unsuppressed as filters

11:21:37 From f-piscitelli to Everyone:
AND + NOT

11:21:45 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
Contains/In

11:21:50 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
NOT IN

11:21:59 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
Not Like/Like

11:22:17 From Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her) to Everyone:
nested Boolean (or or or or) and (or or or or)
Mary Aycock (she/her):➕
Mary Aycock (she/her):💯

11:23:27 From f-piscitelli to Everyone:
I can't read the document on my screen, but I realize those are default Boolean operator. SO, point taken

11:23:30 From Amanda Scott to Everyone:
Assuming dates are searchable, "before or equal to" and "after or equal to"
Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her):➕

11:23:51 From Jamie (they/them) to Everyone:
Do you cover quotations for exact phrase in this doc?

11:25:04 From Jamie (they/them) to Everyone:
Replying to "Do you cover quotations for exact phrase in this d...":
Or does "equal to" mean the same thing?

11:25:19 From f-piscitelli to Everyone:
Replying to "I can't read the document on my screen, but I real...":
I do like the other suggestions for Boolean operators

11:27:20 From Khalilah (EBSCO) to Everyone:
Some of the supported query builder operators

11:27:23 From Khalilah (EBSCO) to Everyone:
{E07AB781-1D89-4580-9E26-CB339833886E}.png
Jennifer Eustis, Jamie (they/them):➕

11:27:58 From Jennifer Eustis to Everyone:
I really like the empty/null

11:28:03 From Magda Gad to Everyone:
Sorry, if this was obvious, but just to confirm, this will include searching for non-Latin metadata as well, right?
Laura Daniels, Ryan Tamares - Stanford Law Library:👆🏼

11:28:20 From Laura Daniels to Everyone:
Replying to " Sorry, if this was obvious, but just to confirm, ...":
I certainly hope so!

11:29:43 From Katie Rahman to Everyone:
To cut down on confusion, maybe, the operators should be the same as the Lists app.
Khalilah (EBSCO), Jennifer Eustis, Amanda Scott, Jamie (they/them):👍

11:31:57 From Jamie (they/them) to Everyone:
Thanks for putting this together Raegan!
Sheila Torres-Blank (she,her):💯

11:32:09 From f-piscitelli to Everyone:
Thank you all.

11:32:09 From Khalilah (EBSCO) to Everyone:
This was a great meeting. Thanks Raegan for leading this meeting and for everyone's feedback.
Jennifer Eustis:💯