MARC Report features

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); after Dec 2021, updated validation tables will still be made available at Download or update MARC Report & MARC Global (for the foreseeable future
• running hundreds of cataloging cross-checks that catch problems over and above simple MARC validation (according to AACR or pre 3R RDA instructions; with links to the RDA instructions in pre 3R RDA Toolkit); new cataloging checks can be easily added by the user.

MARC Report runs in two modes: interactive, and batch mode:

• In interactive mode (‘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.

• Easy to Configure: 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).

• Easy to Update: The MARC standards change over time, and MARC Report was designed 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, until further notice, you can check for updates using the ‘MARC Report Update’ option under the Help option on the main 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.

• Edit Session: 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 move on through your file.

• MARC Help/Cataloging Help: 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:
• LC (for MARC help)
• OCLC (for MARC help)
• Pre-3R RDA Toolkit (for cataloging help)

• ISBD Spacing and Punctuation Check: 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.

• MARC Copy and Paste: 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 …

• Jump to next record with errors: 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'.

• Find next record with same problem: 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.

• Associate a File Type with MARC Report: 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 double-click on any similar file and it will open in MARC Report.

• Export MARC data to MODS and DC: 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 validates the MARC elements in MARC records according to the latest LC and OCLC standards
• Validation runs either in Batch mode (producing a “report”), or interactively, in Edit Session mode (allowing you fix coding errors on the spot)
• MARC Report validation includes over 1400 cataloging checks (Cat Checks) including RDA cataloging checks (based on the original RDA Toolkit)
• All validation and Cat Checks messages can be disabled/enabled
• Validation also includes (optional) support for OCLC tags that are not considered valid by LC
• You can also create your own validation table and custom Cat Checks!
• Validation Tables currently include: MARC21 Bibliographic, MARC21 Authorities, MARC21 Holdings, MARC21 Community Information, OCLC MARC; plus supporting MARC21 Code lists for: Countries, Languages, Geographic Areas, Relators, RDA Carrier Types, RDA Content Types, RDA Media Types, Form of Musical Composition, Instruments and Voices, Genre Terms.

The following utilities come with MARC Report.

A DOS-based version of MARC Global was first released in 1995. As of April 2003, MARC Global became available as an add-on module to MARC Report. Please visit this link for more information about MARC Global.

MARC Review was first copyrighted as a DOS-based utility for USMARC files in 1992. 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:

• search any MARC file for any combination of MARC data patterns and output a variety of reports
• export records (or portions of records) as MARC, or text, or HTML or other popular database formats (e.g., Excel)
• split a MARC file into two MARC files based on the presence of the search argument
• and much more

And there are no limits; you can Review any file size, any record size, any tag length, any number of tags, any MARC format.

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:

• find out what tags/subfields are used in every record
• find out what tags are not used at all
• find out what subfields are used in a tag and how often they appear
• get a ranked list of tags in a file; find out the age of your collection (by analyzing date strings)
• find out the strong and weak areas of your collection (by analyzing call number strings)
• find out how many record have good match keys
• find out …

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, 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.

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.