As
more and more libraries rely on copy cataloging and outsourcing for their
cataloging data, and more and more libraries share their records in Union
catalogs, MARC database quality control has never been so important. MARC
Report was designed to meet this need for quality records by:
·
validating
MARC records (and entire MARC databases) against the most current MARC21
standards (with hot-links to the MARC standards and OCLC standards)
·
running
hundreds of cataloging cross-checks that catch problems over and above simple
MARC validation (according to AACR instructions, or RDA instructions;
with hot-links to the RDA instructions in the RDA Toolkit)
MARC
Report runs in two modes: interactive, and batch mode:
·
In
interactive mode (which we call ‘Edit Session’ mode), you can load a file into
the program and navigate through that file one record at a time, viewing and
editing each record in one window, with a list of errors (brief and complete
descriptions) in another window.
·
With
Batch Mode, you can run MARC Report’s unique error checking against an entire
file of records and get a customizable report of all of the cataloging and
coding problems in that file. A good use for this report would be to send it to
your record vendor to request a fixed file.
And
all of this error-checking is available in a manner that is completely
customizable by you.
We have tried to design a program that is so easy to use that simply clicking
‘Run’ will provide all the information that many libraries might need. For
example, if you receive vendor records in a file, MARC Report can be configured
so that just double-clicking on the file will provide you with a thorough
cataloging analysis of the records in the file.
Finally, our goal is to make MARC Report the most comprehensive MARC utility
available to the library world. Check out the list of features and utilities
below:
o
MARC Report validation highlights
o
MARC Report utilities highlights
Along with the strongest
possible validation, we also want to offer the most customizable MARC software
available. Simply right-click on any validation message and a menu will pop-up
giving you the option to disable the review for the current session, or even
disable it forever! And, of course, any
review disabled in this manner is saved to a database so that you can re-enable
it at any time. You can also generate your own cataloging checks, using the
MARC Review utility (included).
MARC changes,
and we designed MARC Report from the beginning with this in mind. LC makes changes to the MARC definitions
almost every month, and although these are sometimes minor, often they are not.
In addition, we are constantly adding new Cataloging Checks and program
enhancements suggested by our customers.
And yes, if someone finds a bug, we fix it right away. To deliver these changes to you as quickly as
possible, we have developed a web update system. All you have to do is click on ‘MARC Report
Update’ under the Help menu, and a web page will be returned telling you if an
update is available for your version. If it is, just click on the Update link that appears, and you are
on your way to the latest version.
An ‘Edit Session’ allows you to quickly run through a file of MARC records,
viewing each record in one window, with any applicable error messages in
another window. Clicking on a brief error message opens a longer explanatory
message and positions your cursor where you need to be in the record, to fix
the error; make the appropriate change(s), click Save, and you’re done.
Simply click a function
key when your cursor is on any MARC element when you are running the program in
Record-by-Record or Edit Session mode, and a context-sensitive list of MARC
data elements and their meanings will appear, along with links to the
corresponding instructions on these websites:
o LC
(for MARC help)
MARC Report includes, in
its Cataloging Checks, an ISBD spacing and punctuation check module. This can be turned off with a single mouse
click if these messages about colons, semi-colons and missing end-of-field
punctuation annoy you.
You can copy a MARC
record that you are viewing to the Windows clipboard, as text; from there it
can be printed, pasted into an email, or even edited and imported back into
MARC. You can also copy the current MARC
record to a file of your choice—in MARC Format!
If the file doesn't exist, you can create a new one; if it does exist,
you will have the option of appending to it. With one click, you can also
attach the current MARC record (as raw MARC) to an email message and send it to ...
To save time reviewing a
MARC file, you can quickly and easily jump through a file to find only the
records that contain errors, using a special navigation button that, instead of
going to the next record, goes to the next record 'with errors'.
If you are looking at a record and find an
interesting error, you
can jump to the next record in a file that has the same error, by using a
right-click on the 'interesting error' message.
You can associate a Windows file extension with
MARC Report using the program options. This is useful if your MARC files always
end in an extension like '.mrc', or '.001'. Once you associate a file extension
with the program, you can doubleclick on any similar file and it will open in
MARC Report.
You can export MARC data to MODS, MADS, and DC
using the MARC-to-XML conversion utilities. These conversions make use of the
stylesheets available on the LC MARCXML website.
MARC Report Validation Highlights
We
make any changes in MARC21 available to our customers as program updates,
within 30 days of their announcement by LC.
MARC Report Utilities Highlights
The following utilities come with MARC Report at
no extra charge.
We first released MARC
Review (our first software product), as a DOS-based utility for USMARC files, in
1993. Some people still use it! An enhanced and updated version of MARC Review
is provided as a free utility in MARC Report. MARC Review can:
And there are no limits;
you can Reivew any file size, any record size, any tag length, any number of
tags, any MARC format. Some customers have said that having MARC Review alone
is reason enough to buy MARC Report.
This utility provides
extensive and in-depth statistics on the MARC elements used in your data. You can even add your own data elements to
the report. Here are just a few uses of
MARC Analysis:
This utility will sort
any MARC file on any tag/subfield combination you can come up with. It will even dedupe a file on your specified
field, and put all the dupes in one file, and all the non-dupes in another. Again,
like all of our software, it is completely customizable and without any
limitation in size.
Our Verify utility will
quickly run through a file of MARC records and let you know if that file has
any serious structural problems. If 'Verify' finds a record that cannot be
safely loaded, and if it cannot fix the problem, on-the-fly, it will dump the
record to a textfile, where you can edit it manually and then easily add it
back to your original file using the MARC Import <F9> function described
above.
This utility splits a MARC file into many
smaller files, either by the number of records, or the number of bytes. This is
very handy when you are setting up an upload to someone who requires your file
be split up into smaller pieces.
This utility is the
reverse of MARC Split; it will join separate MARC files together into a single
MARC file. For some reason, we seem to
use this utility quite a bit, ourselves.
These utilities do
exactly what their names imply. 'Export to Text' can be very useful for sending
records to people who do not have software (such as MARC Report) that will
allow them to read MARC records outside their ILS database.
These utilities do
exactly what their names imply: convert a file of MARC21 records to 'MARCXML'
or a file of MARCXML records to MARC21.
UTILITIES available for an additional charge:
Download a 30-day
free trial now and and try MARC Report out on some of your own records.