MARC Review Cataloging Checks

The Cataloging Check Builder form makes it possible to use any previously saved MARC Review as a cataloging check. (MARC Review is located in the Utilities menu, and extensive help for using this tool is available therein).

Any saved MARC Review can be re-used as a cataloging check during an edit session. This effectively makes it possible for the user to design their own cataloging checks.

To implement this feature, make a new set in the Cataloging Check Builder. Once that's done, drag and drop any saved review (from the table on the right) onto the (empty) table on the left, and it will then be active during an edit session.

MARC Review cataloging checks are color-coded green in the brief message list.

Create as many sets as you need; for example, you might want to use a different review set for each different record source.

EDITING

There are two columns in the Cataloging Check builder that can be customized: Brief message, and Note. The former will appear in the list of brief messages that is displayed for each record in an edit session; the latter will appear anytime the corresponding brief message is clicked in an edit session.

Brief messages

Begin each brief message with a 3-digit MARC tag, followed by a colon and a blank space. For example: “245: ”

For a fixed field, use the following format (where /01 indicates the position or offset of the element): “007/01: ”

Follow the tag with a concise message that will give just enough detail to categorize the problem. Remember that, in an edit session, brief messages are truncated at around 40 characters.

NB. The 'green arrow' feature will not be available for brief messages that do not follow the format described above (ie. messages should begin with a 3-digit tag followed by a colon).

Notes

Click on any note and a small edit memo will pop-up. Here is where you can describe the problem you are checking in more detail. Take enough time to write a note that will be meaningful months or years down the road, to another cataloger, and so on. When writing a note for a cataloging check, it is a good idea to have a web browser open on LC's MARC documentation pages–we find the details available here to be invaluable when composing notes.

SAVING CHANGES

When you are finished making changes, click the 'Save' button to save your changes; if you press the 'Cancel' button, the option will be restored to the state it was when you last opened it.

SORTING

You can sort this table simply by clicking on any of the column titles. Clicking on the column title a second time, reverses the sort order.

NOTES

Changes made to the Brief Message and Notes columns are not applied to your saved review database; these columns are completely separate from the latter.

To temporarily disable a review from running, uncheck the 'Enabled' box. This will keep it within the set until you want to enable it again.

To remove a review from a set, selecet the review and press the 'Remove item' button. Note that this does not remove the review from your saved reviews database.

WHAT IS A SET?

We use the term 'Set' to refer to groups of decisions that you have saved about how MARC Report should operate. These sets are useful if you frequently work on files from different vendors or files of different types of records, and would like to configure the cataloging options accordingly.