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Jun 28, 2026

MARC Cataloguing

A Guide for Cataloguers

What it does

  • MARC21 import — both binary ISO 2709 (.mrc) and MARCXML.
  • Copy cataloguing — search a Z39.50 target, preview the returned records, and import the chosen one.
  • Validation — checks the leader, indicators and required subfields before import.
  • Round-trip preservation — the original leader, 005 (last transaction) and 008 (fixed-length data) are kept and re-emitted on export, instead of being regenerated.
  • Conflict detection — incoming records are checked against existing holdings by ISBN (020), ISSN (022), OCLC (035) and LCCN (010) so duplicates are flagged rather than silently created.

Importing MARC

  1. Cataloguing → Import MARC, upload a .mrc (binary) or MARCXML file.
  2. Records are validated — leader length, indicator values, mandatory 245 and required $a subfields. Issues are reported per record.
  3. Conflicts against existing holdings (by standard identifier) are surfaced for review before commit.
  4. On import, the leader / 005 / 008 are stored so a later export reproduces them.

Copy cataloguing (Z39.50)

Cataloguing → Copy Cataloguing: pick a target, run a CCL search (e.g. ti=appraisal or isbn=…), preview the results, and Import the record you want — it is decoded and added to the catalogue.

For Administrators

  • Services: MarcService (import/export, parseMarc21, findConflicts), Marc21DecoderService (ISO 2709 + validate()); copy cataloguing reuses Z3950Service.
  • New library_item columns: marc_leader, marc_005, marc_008 (round-trip preservation).
  • MARCXML export is also available via the metadata-export module (marc21 format).