Collect catalogs from a list or a spreadsheet. Each row is one piece of the collection and each column is a datum someone already wrote down. There are two jobs: carry into the record what the cell says, and complete the record when that row is only enough to recognize the work.
What is already written
In the column “Author”, the value is already the author, so there is no need, as on a PDF page, to decide which sentence is the title. The first time, someone says which column matches each field of the record, and later sheets that use the same column names reuse that match.
If the cell says 1967, the record says 1967, because the language model does not change that datum: a wrong date in the sheet stays wrong until someone corrects it. Two authors on the same row remain two authors, and a name written “Cervantes, Miguel de” is not split into two people.
When the row only names the book
Author, title, publisher and year say which book it is, but not what it is about. From that name, Collect recognizes the work and completes the record: a summary, subjects and the other fields the format asks for. The Colegio de La Salle started from a four-column list of that kind.
What the model adds can be told apart from what came in the cell. Names and subjects are checked against authorities and, when there is a match, they keep their source. If the record does not reach the level the institution asks for, it carries a note for review. That mark is described in Why trust a catalog made with AI.
A call number nobody assigned, a measurement nobody took, or a row that only says “Book 1” stays empty, because the work has to be recognizable, and the empty field is filled later, when there is a datum to support it.
What the column already says is kept
What the column already contains goes into the record as written. A location or a tag the institution set for every record comes from that rule.
To continue the conversation
If the collection is in a spreadsheet and you want to see what record comes out of those columns, write to us at info@janium.com.