Catalyst User Information

INTRODUCTION

Catalyst allows bibliographic, copy holdings, MARC holdings, and item record creation and editing. Editing records is very similar to word processing. Before you can edit a record, you must 'lock' it, either by clicking on the EDIT icon or Ctrl+L. Editing in variable fields has many word processing capabilities. Editing in fixed fields uses a separate window. Elements in the fixed fields have their own defined boxes which allows you to access information about the codes for each of these values. After all changes to the record have been made, you can release and update the record by clicking on the icon, record with an up arrow, or Ctrl+U. To cancel the editing of a record, simply click on the icon, EDIT with a red circle and a slash over it, or click the X to close the record's window.

OVERVIEW and SETTINGS

When you first open Catalyst you will be prompted by the User Signon screen to supply your NOTIS User ID and Password. You have the option to signon at this point or at a later point. If you don't signon at this time, you will run into security problems when you try to edit a record. Simply click on the Paper with Pen icon for the User Signon screen. You may choose the Production (NERNOTIS) region or the Test (NERCICST) region. If you need to signon with a different User ID/Password, or to a different region, you must open another Catalyst session.

Default Search Settings

Before you begin to use Catalyst, you must first set your Default Search Settings. Go to the Menu Bar and click on the pull-down File menu. Choose the option Default Search Settings to open the selection box. The drop-boxes allow you to highlight and choose from Select Database, Select Processing Unit, and Limit by Location. You can further limit by checking the Limit Searches by Processing Unit box. These defaults can be changed at any time.

Searches and record retrieval will use the Institution Group and Processing Unit defined in these settings unless you uncheck the def (default) box, located next to the search input boxes. In order to search a database or Institution Group other than your own, uncheck the def box and enter your search. You will be prompted by the Current Search Settings window for the alternative Database Group and Processing Unit.

Font Settings

In order to provide diacritic support, Catalyst uses the FCLA BT Courier font because it has all the ALA diacritics and special characters. When first loading Catalyst on your machine, it puts a font called FCLA BT Courier in your system's Fonts directory, usually C:\Windows\Fonts or C:\Winnt\Fonts. Unfortunately, that doesn't always seem to be enough to get your computer to recognize and install the new font. If Catalyst records or indexes display incorrect characters, such as Greek for non-Greek materials, Catalyst is probably using the incorrect font. Sometimes rebooting your computer is sufficient to acquire the correct font. When that doesn't work, go into the Fonts directory and double click on FCLA BT Courier, close that window, and then reboot the PC. Another approach: from the Start menu, go to Programs - Accessories - Character Map and pull up FCLA BT Courier on the Fonts pulldown.