RIMMF3 conversion (to RIMMF4)

1. RIMMF4 must be installed on your computer and have been started at least once.

• To get RIMMF4: RIMMF4

2. Download and install the conversion tool

• https://www.marcofquality.com/sft/rimmf324.zip

• Copy rimmf324.zip to the location where you want to install it–any folder where you have read and write permissions, except in an existing RIMMF3 folder.

• Right-click the zip and choose 'Extract to … rimmf324\' ¹⁾

• Open the extracted-to folder (rimmf324)

3. Start the RIMMF3 to RIMMF4 conversion tool (convert3to4.exe in folder rimmf324)

• Set RIMMF3 data folder to the data folder that you want to convert to RIMMF4

• Set RIMMF4 folder to the folder named “RIMMF4” in your my documents section²⁾

• Set Verbose logging to Y or N. The former may assist troubleshooting if there are problems.

• Set Personal name flip to Y or N. “Y” will un-invert names found in preferredNameForPerson elements³⁾.

• Set Overwrite to Y or N. This option refers to the results of the conversion. If 'N', each subsequent run of the converter on the same RIMMF3 data folder creates a new RIMMF4 folder.

• Press the 'Go' button

• Press 'OK'

• Close

4. When the conversion completes, start RIMMF4

• Select 'Tools|Change data folder', and select the folder containing the records converted from RIMMF3.

• The converted records are output to a RIMMF4 'data' folder in a sub-folder named after the RIMMF3 data folder. You can rename this folder or move it to a different location.

• The logs generated by the converter tool are output to the selected RIMMF3 data folder, in a sub-directory named '..\R4prep\__cache'. Logs may be opened with any text reader.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each data folder that you wish to convert.

Converting RIMMF3 data to RIMMF4 is problematic for several reasons.

First, the two programs used very different data formats: RIMMF3 used a homegrown markup language which was designed to mimic the treelist appearance of the editing interface; whereas RIMMF4 simply uses RDF in an ntriples serialization.

Probably next in importance is the element set. RIMMF3 is based on RDA Registry version 2 (the last iteration being 2.7.3), whereas RIMMF4 uses RDA Registry version 3 (the most recent being 3.4.1). Catalogers might know the latter as the “3R Project” or Toolkit Beta site. The difference between these two element sets is large, and there were a few false starts in developing a map between the two. One area still under development is how to handle deprecated elements during the conversion.

Also, our implementation of the Authorized Access point has changed in RIMMF4, where the user constructs the AAP, and the AAP is saved both as a string, and as an instruction set that can be followed to regenerate that string. In RIMMF3, AAPs were automatically generated by the program using a set of rules that was difficult to change, and a database of 'access point pieces' that was hidden from the user. This automation was so pervasive that the resulting AAP strings were not usually saved in the records themselves. Thus, in order to convert each RIMMF3 record's AAP to RIMMF4, the converter must have access to the RIMMF3 database of 'access point pieces', and hence the need for a special version of the RIMMF3 program.

Finally, most of the sample datasets that we have available have large differences between them. So it will take time (lots of trial and error) to get the conversion to the point where it can handle so many different possibilities. If you find your results to be questionable, please contact us so that we can try to improve the converter.