Alternate Labels in RIMMF4

The options form described on this page provides a framework by which the user can design their own element labels for some views of their records.

The general workflow for doing this is as follows:

1. Export a complete set of RDA labels
2. Edit the exported labels (in an app like Excel)
3. Import the edited labels

RIMMF maintains a list of the imported label files, from which you can select one to be active in certain views of your records.

1. Export

Go to Options|Setup on the main menu and select “Setup alternate labels”–the form pictured below will appear.

The default RDA Labels column will be rendered using the RDA Toolkit 'style'. If you would rather have RDA Registry style labels as a default, open the Export label style dropdown (at the top of the form) and select 'RDA Registry'.

Next, click Export a new set of labels (also at the top of the form): this will output each label and its Uri to a text file named 'RDA ### labels export xx.txt' (where '###' is the default label style–'Toolkit' or 'Registry', and 'xx' is the language code currently in us by the program).

Exported labels are output to ..\Documents\RIMMF4\exports\.

2. Edit

Open the exported file in Excel. There are four columns in the file:

1. RDA Id
2. Lang code
3. RDA ### Label
4. My Label

Edit the 'My Label' column: enter the label you would prefer to use for each element. If the label in the 'RDA ### Label' column meets your needs, leave the 'My Label' column blank.

Do not

• change the order of the four columns
• change the content of the 'RDA Id' or 'Langcode' (columns 1 and 2)
• insert columns before 'My Label' (column 4)
• delete any rows containing uris¹⁾

If you wish to add extra columns (for your own notes, for example), the added columns must follow 'My Label' (the fourth column) when the file is saved.

The rows can be sorted as you wish.

When your changes are complete, save the file:

• Be sure the Excel file type is set to: 'Text (Tab delimited)(*.txt)'
• Give the file a distinctive name²⁾
• Save the file to any folder
• Close Excel (if you are using it–other software is not able to access files open in Excel).

3. Import

Return to the “Setup alternate labels” options form in RIMMF4. Drag and drop the file of edited labels (from step 2) onto this form.

The program will validate each row; if the validation succeeds, the file will be added to the list of alternate label files, and will be available for selection each time you use this form.

To apply an alternate label file to an instance of RIMMF4, select the file from the list, and check the Apply labels from selected file box. Set any additional options ('selected views', 'capitalization choice') then press Save.

The labels will be applied to the selected views when the form closes (ie. as soon as Save is pressed).

To un-apply an alternate label file, uncheck the Apply labels from selected file box, then press 'Save'. The labels will no longer be applied to the selected views after the form closes.

If you want to remove a previously imported alternate label file from the list, right-click on it.

To modify or update a set of alternate labels, repeat steps 2 and 3:

Edit your labels in Excel, make the changes that you want, save the file as detailed above, and then drag and drop it onto the Alternate Labels form to import the changes.

The program will ask you if you want to update the file, etc.

The alternate labels can be applied to the following record views:

1. R-Tree
2. Opac view
3. Excel view
4. Text view (record set)

Alternate labels cannot be applied to RDA templates or when editing records. This is by design.

The following capitalization choices, with an example of each, can be applied to the 'My Label' column:

• Sentence case

  Fuller form of name of

• Title case

  Fuller Form of Name of

• Start case

  Fuller Form Of Name Of

• Lowercase

  fuller form of name of

• Uppercase

  FULLER FORM OF NAME OF

By default, no additional capitalization is performed.

More than one alternate label file can be added to the list of alternate labels. However, only one can be active (ie., 'applied') at a time.

You can change the alternate label file, the capitalization choice, and/or the views in which the alternate labels are applied, at any time, but changes are not applied to existing views. For example, if alternate labels using the registry style are applied, and then an OPAC view is generated of a record; if you then apply a different alternate label file, the previously opened OPAC view (if it is still open) will not be updated to reflect the change(s). However, any new OPAC views will reflect the changes.

Validated alternate label files are saved in ntriples format to:
..\Documents\RIMMF4\imports\labels\ .

The data exported in column 3–'RDA Label'–is intended as a guide to help you enter your own label. It does not necessarily represent what will be used as the default label when the program runs.

To check for RDA element updates, first, make sure your copy of RIMMF4 is current. Then drag and drop an existing alternate label file onto the form again. If there are elements in RDA that are not in your file, a list of these elements (in the export format described above) will be output to a separate file in ..\Documents\RIMMF4\exports; Use this file to update the existing list³⁾.

Alternate labels cannot be applied to RDA templates. This is by design.