WEST Metadata Validation Reports Now Available in AGUA

The AGUA Development Team has recently completed a project to make WEST members’ metadata validation reports available in AGUA. These reports are generated by the AGUA Technical Team during the biennial unarchived holdings submission period and the annual archiving disclosure period to alert members to metadata issues in their records for review and action as appropriate and necessary for local needs and practices. 

Members will see a new Validation Reports page in their institution’s reports section:

This page includes three report types: 

• AGUA Validator (Unarchived). This validator runs on your bibliographic records, focusing on formatting issues, for example, problems with control number formatting or control numbers in wrong subfields (ISSN, OCLC, etc.), non-print formats, and non serial leader bytes. These errors should be reviewed and corrected, as they directly affect matching/collocating with journal families. These reports are generated every other year for institutions that participate in the biennial collections analysis.

• CRL Validator (Unarchived). This validator runs on both your bibliographic and holdings data, comparing your input data with what’s currently found in OCLC. This report focuses on lacking ISSNs, ISSNs which do not match what’s currently stated in the matching OCLC record, records where a new primary OCLC number is available, and places where fixed byte data doesn’t line up with print serial formats. It will also alert you to cases where your holdings statements do not contain years (which are used to determine holdings ranges) or where your stated holdings lie outside the known publication range for that title. These reports are generated every other year for institutions that participate in the biennial collections analysis.

• CRL Validator (Archived). This validator runs on your holdings records, comparing your input data with what’s currently found in OCLC. This report focuses on lacking ISSNs, ISSNs which do not match what’s currently stated  in the matching OCLC record, records where a new primary OCLC number is available, and places where fixed byte data doesn’t line up with print serial formats. It will also alert you to cases where your holdings statements do not contain years (which are used to determine holdings ranges) or where your stated holdings lie outside the known publication range for that title. These reports are generated annually for Archivers that submit disclosure files.

The newest versions of these reports that are available for your institution will also appear in the Newest Reports page in AGUA. 

Detailed information about the two validators is available:

• AGUA Validator Reporting
• CRL Validator Reporting

Please note that if your institution does not have a file for a particular year, it is because there were no errors in your file, or you did not submit a file for that year. If you believe that your institution should have received a file, please reach out to the WEST Project Team.

Previously, these reports were shared directly with individual contacts; going forward, these reports will be deposited to AGUA as they are generated to facilitate broader access by member institution staff.

The WEST team is available to answer any questions about these reports! Please reach out to west-staff-l@listserv.ucop.edu for more information or clarification about what’s included in these reports and how your institution can leverage them for data cleanup projects.