The SuperC Database

The SuperC database available for download.

Click here if you are not already currently using Autodocs.

A possible path for upgrading your Autodocs Superseded List

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The Access file that I used to make the 2002 Superseded List available to the public was downloaded from Documents Data Miner 2. So thanks to Nan Myers for making it available. Also, thanks to Tom Tyler, who developed the Access version of the superseded list in the first place. He put a great deal of work into converting it to an access table.

NOTE: Both "superceded" and "superseded" are in the dictionary. In Autodocs, I have used the table name SUPERCEDED. The GPO calls it the Superseded List. When following these instructions, be careful when naming tables to give them the exact names listed here. There are prebuilt queries in superc that call the tables by specific names.

The Local Changes Problem

The basic problem with upgrading the Superseded List in Autodocs (or any other electronic check-in system), is that each depository may have made changes to its 1996 list to reflect local practices. So the current list and the original 1996 differ in details that the depository will wish to preserve. The question is: how do you isolate the post-1996 changes in order to evaluate them and decide which ones to add to the 2002 Superseded List.

The SuperC Local Changes Solution

The solution that I have arrived at is to have the computer recreate the original 1996 list, and then compare the recreation to your current version of the Superseded List. I then have the user print out a table which lists all records from both lists that do not have an exact match in Item Number, SuDoc Number, Title, and Retention Notes. Unfortunately, with the technique I have chosen to create this report, there is no way of knowing at that stage from which Superseded List the unmatched record comes: from the recreated original list or the current, locally edited list. So I have the user generate a second report which lists the unmatched records that only come from the recreated original 1996 Superseded List.

The user can then locate records on the unmatched list, and if there are two variants on that list, the user can use the other report to isolate which record has come from the recreated original list and which record has come from the locally edited list. Once the locally edited records have been identified, then the local depository librarian can decide which local variations to add to the new 2002 list. (Or what is more common, this procedure will identify records from the Superseded List that the local depository has deleted, because the local depository does not discard those SuDoc classes of documents. Those records would then also be deleted from the 2002 Superseded List.)

Procedures for the SuperC Solution

1. If you chose to follow the SuperC Solution, download the zipped MS Access SuperC database and extract it from it's zipped file. Save superc.mdb to the same directory as Autodocs (usually c:\data\access).
2. Open superc.mdb.
   [NOTE: If you are running a version greater than Access 97, you may have to convert the database and save under another name. If you do so, then name the converted file something like: superca, and then close superc. Open superca.mdb and use that database for the following steps.]
3. Import your current, locally edited superseded list and your item profile from Autodocs.
   1. Click on "File", then "Get External Data", then on "Import."
   2. From the Import Window, select your Autodocs application (you may have changed its name from Autodocs), and click on the "Import" button.
   3. Then select the Tables called "ITEMPROFILE" and "SUPERCEDED", and click on the "OK" button. This will copy those two tables from your current Autodocs system into superc.
4. Recreate the original 1996 Superseded List for your selection profile and construct a table of the records between it and your locally edited Superseded List that do not match one another.
   NOTE: To run a query, you either double click on the query in the database window, or click once on it, so that it is highlighted, and then click on the "Open" button.
   1. At the superc database window, click on the "Queries" tab. You should see five queries: duplicate1996, NONDUP1996, ORIGINALNONDUP, select1996, and select2002. You want to run the select1996 query. This will take the complete 1996 Superseded List and filter it against your current item selection profile to create a table called SUPERCEDED1996. Now you have your locally edited Superseded List, called SUPERCEDED, and the recreated original list, called SUPERCEDED1996. If you have not changed your item selected profile much since the first list, most difference will be due to local edits and deletions. If you have changed your item profile, the lists may differ because of item numbers that have changed.
   2. Run the query called duplicate1996. This query will take your amended 1996 list and append it to the recreated original.
   3. Run the query called NONDUP1996. This will create a new table (NONDUPS) that holds the item number, SuDoc stem, title and retention notes of all records for which those four fields are not matched and duplicated.
5. Print the reports of those records that were unmatched between the two versions of the 1996 Superseded List.
   1. At the superc database window, click on the "Reports" tab. You should see two reports, called UNMATCHED ORIGINAL and UNMATCHED1996. Double click on the report called UNMATCHED1996. This action will open a print preview of a report that shows all of the unmatched records from both the original and the edited 1996 lists. Either click on the printer icon to print this or on the top menu, click on "File" and "Print." This report will show records that do not have exact duplicates between the orignal list and the locally edited list, but it will not show from which list the record comes. Close the print preview window for the report.
   2. Now double click on the report called UNMATCHED ORIGINAL. This action will open a print preview of a report that shows all of the unmatched records that happen to come from just the recreated original 1996 list. Either click on the printer icon to print this or on the top menu, click on "File" and "Print." Close the print preview window for the report.
6. Examine the records in the first report. If there are two records that match on Item number, Sudoc number, and Title, then examine the Retention Notes for possible locally added changes. If there is only one record, check the second report. If it is on the second report, then you may have deleted that Sudoc class because locally, you do not discard earlier editions. If it is not on the second report, then you may have deselected that item number in the meantime, or it is possible that the item number has become inactive. Obviously, item numbers that have come into existence after 1996 will not be on the original 1996 list, but may have been added locally (such as the Patent and Trademark CDs and DVDs). You may have to research each record carefully to decide which records to change or delete on the 2002 List.

Generating a New SUPERCEDED table from the 2002 Superseded List if you use Autodocs

1. Follow the first three steps above in the SuperC Solution if you haven't already.
2. Go back to the superc database window. Click on the "Queries" tab. Run the query called select2002. This query will filter the complete 2002 Superseded List (created by Tom Tyler, but with some fields renamed to conform to Autodocs names) against the items selected profile in the ITEMPROFILES table. This creates a table called SUPERCEDED2002.
3. Delete the table named SUPERCEDED by highlighting it and pressing the "Delete" key on your computer. Click once on the table called SUPERCEDED2002, then click on the top menu "Edit" and "Rename". Rename it SUPERCEDED (with a c).
4. Close superc database. Open you Autodocs check-in system. In the database window click on the "Tables" tab, and then rename the old Superseded List or delete it. I would start by renaming it, in case things didn't go well for the new list, and then delete it after things are running smoothly.
5. Click on "File", then "Get External Data", then on "Import."
6. From the Import Window, select the superc or superca database, and click on the "Import" button.
7. Then select the table called "SUPERCEDED", and click on the "OK" button. This will copy the new superseded table from superc into your current Autodocs system.

Loading your selection profile.

Part A: Getting and cleaning up the data

• Open an Internet Browser, and go to Item Lister.
• Select Option #4, List selections and non-selections in a single column. Type in your depository number.
• When the file arrives, save it as "select.txt" in the same directory as your SuperC database.
• Open a word processor (not Notepad, the file is over 80K, and Notepad cannot handle it). Open select.txt and cut off the first four lines (these are the ones preceding the entry 0001 Y/N). Then hit CNTL-[End] to get to the bottom of the document. Cut off the lines below the last entry (currently 1150-A).
• Save the file, and quit the Word processor.

Part B: Importing into Access

• Open Microsoft Access 97 or higher.
• Open SuperC. If necessary, convert from 97 format to the format of your current Access program.
• Click on File --> Get External Data --> Import.
• Select "Files of Type" equal to text.
• Double click on select.txt to open it.
• In the Import Wizard, select Fixed width.
• It will naturally pick character #10 as the place to divide columns, where the Y/N column begins. Click Next.
• Choose a new table.
• Call field #1 "Itemno". Call field #2 "Select?" with the question mark.
• Choose no primary key.
• Call that new table "ITEMPROFILE", capitalized exactly in that way.

Part C: Extracting the subset of the Superseded List that conforms to your Selection Profile.

• Run the Query "select2002." It will create a table called "SUPERCEDED2002." Click once on the table called SUPERCEDED2002, then click on the top menu "Edit" and "Rename". Rename it SUPERCEDED (with a c). This is now available to import into Autodocs.