Profiling Your MARC data
Last updated on 2023-09-21 | Edit this page
Overview
Questions
- How do I use different reports to get an overview of my MARC file?
- How do I locate errors in my records?
- How do I use the Edit Shortcuts tool to identify and fix common errors?
Objectives
- Access reports for getting an overview of your MARC data
- Find tools to locate errors in your MARC records by using the MARCedit Edit toolbar
Profiling your MARC data
The MarcEditor provides multiple reporting options and tools to help you profile your MARC data and understand the contents of your file. Reports are located under the Reports tab.
Overview reports
The Material Type Report
can be used to identify the
types of resources described in your MARC file. This report is helpful
when you’re uncertain of what resources are represented in your file, or
to locate potential errors.
If we expect our MARC file to contain only book records, we can
easily locate and review records with other material types by using the
Find Records by Type
Report.
Run Find Records by Type Report
To run the Find Records by Type Reports
- Click Reports
- Select Material Type Report
- Select material type of records you want to review from the drop-down list. For this exercise select Continuing Resources. A window will open displaying the Leader of each record. Double click on a result to be brought to that record in the MarcEditor.
- Click Close to exit the results window
The Field Count
Report can also be used to profile your
data. The Field Count Report lists each field found in your records, the
number of times each field occurs in the record set, and the total
number of records each field occurs in. While high level, the results
can tell you about the cataloguing standards used (260 vs. 264) and
identify potential errors (repeating non-repeatable fields), missing
fields, local fields, etc.
- Field count outlines each field found in our records, the number of times it occurs, and how many records it occurs in. Field count can also tell us the number of records in our file (536).
- Non-repeatable field 245 occurs more times than the number of records it’s found in. At least one record contains multiple 245 fields. Field 245 appears in one less record than other required fields.
Edit functions
Other useful tools for profiling your data can be found under the Edit tab.
Like many applications, the MarcEditor provides a Find
function. Find is particularly useful for locating and reviewing all
instances of a MARC field within your data, or locating a particular
text string within your data.
We can use Find to locate and review the 245 field.
Run Find Function
To use the Find function
- Click Edit
- Select Find (*Ctrl+f will also launch the
Find
function) - In the “Find what:” dialogue box enter =245
- Click Find All
Note: When using Find
to locate
instances of a specific field, make sure to include the preceding =
before the field number. Including the = ensures only matches on field
number will be returned.
The Find results list is organized by record number, displaying the matched field content on the left, and the record number the field belongs to on the right. We can see from our results that Record # 8 appears twice, signaling that this record contains two 245 fields. By double clicking on “Jump to record #: 8” we could go directly to the record in our file to edit it. However, next we will show you a set of tools that can be used to locate and fix common errors like duplicate fields.
The Find Records With Duplicate Tags
function allows us
to easily locate records with a duplicated field.
The Find Records Missing Field
function allows us to
easily locate records with a missing field. To run this function
- The 245 field number is formatted incorrectly. The MarcEditor relies on a standard format to identify and take actions on fields. Remove the rouge space and update the field number to correct this record.