Character Coding Scheme checks in MARC Report

In the past, the program has allowed you to configure which encoding scheme to use (MARC-8 or UTF-8) when checking records for invalid characters. This option was named 'CHARACTER ENCODING' in 232 and located on the Cataloging Checks page.

In 233, we have added an option called 'LOCAL SYSTEM CHARACTER ENCODING' that allows you to setup MARC Report to check records for the Leader/09 value that your local system expects.

To better organize these options, we have renamed the first option slightly (from 'CHARACTER ENCODING' to 'CHARACTER ENCODING VALIDATION'), and moved both options to the Program Automation page:

We've appended the help for these two options here, which will hopefully clear up any confusion.

<sub>CHARACTER ENCODING VALIDATION
This option determines how MARC Report will validate the characters used in your records. By default, the program follows the value in the Leader/09 (Character coding scheme). If Leader/09 is coded 'a', the program will use UTF-8 rules to check for valid diacritics, and will report on any characters that are not allowed by those rules. If Leader/09 is coded blank, the program will use MARC-8 rules to check for valid diacritics, and will report on any characters that are not allowed by those rules. If for some reason, the records you are checking do not have the correct leader/09 value, you can get around that problem by selecting either MARC-8 or UTF-8 as appropriate. In this case, the program will ignore the leader/09 value and always scan the records with the rules for the selected encoding.

LOCAL SYSTEM CHARACTER ENCODING
If you are using MARC Report to edit or review records that will be loaded into a particular library system, you may wish to set this option to the character coding scheme option that your library system requires. This will permit the program to warn you (using a cataloging check message) when any of the records in your file do not match your desired character encoding. The default is 'N/A' or Not Applicable. Use this option to disable this check. MARC-8: If you choose this option, the program will require Leader/09 (Character coding scheme) to be coded blank. If Leader/09 is not coded blank, MARC Report will warn you that the character coding scheme for the record being examined is not the one that is required by your ILS system. This is the default option. UTF-8: If you choose this option, the program will require Leader/09 (Character coding scheme) to be coded 'a'. If Leader/09 is not coded 'a', MARC Report program will warn you that the character coding scheme for the record being examined is not the one that is required by your ILS system.</sub>