Strategy Sheet for Processing MARC Record Sets
Beth Guay

Most important is to determine what needs to be done to the file, and then to
figure out how to use MarcEdit to accomplish it! I had to get very creative in
order to move “series” statements and numbering from the 830 to the 773
fields. I queried the MarcEdit listserve for help on it -- make use of help from
colleagues on the MarcEdit listserve! Not only can you query the list for answers
to your questions for difficult procedures, you can also search the listserve
Archives to see if your questions have already been answered.

MarcEdit Tools/Functionality. The above being said, there is not necessarily just
“one” way to achieve a goal with this utility. Furthermore, not every task can be
performed in batch. For example, expect that in some cases, you will be using
“Find All” to jump to individual records for editing one by one.

We deduplicate the files before processing them, and then we do a field count
report, which we print out and use as a management tool for evaluation of the
processing needs. For example, if it were apparent that there were many 505
fields, and if we were familiar with the vendor’s record sets, suspecting that
there might be records with too many 505 fields for our ILS to handle, we would
use the “Find All/Jump to page” tool to locate the individual records having too
many 505s.
Another way that we use the print-out of the field count report is bychecking off
what’s been done to a file, which is useful when multiple staff members will be
working on it.

Open each new and/or different set obtained,and take a look at it in the MARC
Editor. If you are Information Technology staff, have your cataloger look at the
file with you to get an idea about the batch edits desired/required for the set.If
you are the cataloger, you will be looking over the set with this objective.
Example: University of Maryland, College Park, classes some series together. When
we process arecord set, we can look at the series entries (e.g., using Find All =830);
we can use theseresults to search our catalog for these entries, and from there we
can create a document listing the series titles and the call numbers to be used. We
can then return to the record set, search for each classed together series, and
classthem according to our practice.
SERIES/SERIAL TITLE Search StringCALL NUMBER FORMAT
=830 \0$aAdvances in polymer science
QD281.P6 F6 v.
MLA MarcEdit Workshop, July 10, 2012, McDaniel College, Lewis Hall of Science

If you expect to obtain records from a particular vendor on an ongoing basis,
note the kinds of processing that you are doing. These may develop from a
simple set of notes to a procedural document. The procedural document can
then be used as a checklist by staff performing the tasks.
Example of notes turned to procedures:
Use the following methods to find the records with 856 fields that must be
deleted:
 Find All NetLibrary
 Find All Ebook Library
 Find All Scholars Portal

Keep in mind if you perform any function such as Delete field, etc., and you
realize you’ve made a mistake, you can use the “EditSpecial Undo” function
immediately afterward, but not after another function has been performed.

Saving and naming files. When working with record sets, give them names that
will have meaning for the purpose of identification. As you process a file,
consider renaming it, e.g., with a suffix or prefix “Rev” -- just in case you want to
go back to square 1 or reexamine the original file.

URL Checker/Verify URLs.This feature typically takes a long time, so it is wise to
deduplicate the records and delete the unwanted urls before running it.

Catalog management. Use management tools for the record set work, e.g., for
work that is to be shared among several staff, use a shared folder on the library’s
LAN. For record keeping and reporting purposes, use spreadsheets or database
management tools.For example, at the University of Maryland, College Park, we
maintain a Microsoft Access database from which we can produce a report
designed to keep public services staff informed on the status of the record set
loads.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To
view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a
letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California,
94041, USA.
MLA MarcEdit Workshop, July 10, 2012, McDaniel College, Lewis Hall of Science