Do you know your eDocs?

Have you ever taken a look at those "ePackage" and "eDocument" tabs? You don't need to do anything with thim, but it's good to know what they are--especially if your library is moving towards a duplication service model.

EDocs (meaning the information on the ePackage and eDocument tabs) are a record of where the file described in the rest of the Title record can be found.

For example, for a Talking Books library that offers duplication, the Title record for DB033082 "Gone with the Wind" will have eDocs recording that the zip file of DB033082 is available for duplication and the exact file path where it is stored. The eDoc can also indicate the URL where that Title can be downloaded from BARD (though the catalog pulls that information directly from the MARC record, so an eDoc is not necessary for this).

So where do the eDocs for Talking Books come from?

If you have a local storage device (such as a Qnap, Drobo, or Windows Server) that is set up to store a copy of everything on BARD, it will also have been set up with a program to maintain eDocs. Every night, that program makes a list of all the files the device is storing, and compares that to the list of Title records in KLAS. Whenever it can match a file to a Title record, an eDoc is created.

If your newest titles do not have any eDocs even once they're available on BARD, it could mean that something is preventing that script from running, or that your storage device has not been able to download the latest files. Most of the time, however, eDocs for your Talking Books collection should be kept accurate and up-to-date automatically

(Note: if you have an older storage system in place, you may not have the new eDoc script. We have been working to get all existing PCC customers updated, but if you are having problems with outdated or missing eDocs, let us know and we'll get you back up to date!)

For IRCs and other organizations...

If you have files available for download in your WebOPAC or WebOrder catalog, it's the eDocs that tell the catalog where that file is, and who can download it. If you have questions about how your eDocs are created or maintained, feel free to get in touch and we'll talk you through it!