About MARC Records
Infobase provides MARC Records for use in your catalog system. If you are unfamiliar with MARC, it stands for Machine Readable Cataloging and is standard format for bibliographic records. For additional information about the MARC standard, visit: http://www.loc.gov/marc/.
The MARC files provided here utilize the MARC21 UTF-8 character set. At your discretion, MARC records can be converted and edited using the MarcEdit software available at: http://marcedit.reeset.net/.
Below you'll find instructions for creating and downloading MARC record files. For assistance importing the MARC records into your system, or if you aren't sure if MARC records are the best way to add content to your catalog, please contact your catalog's support team.
Creating MARC Files
MARC records are available to account administrators and can be found under the MARC Records button on the product level resource navigation of the Administration Portal. They an be created and downloaded in a few different ways.
Using the Download New Records method is the easiest way to get a batch of all the records added since your last download. It will include everything that has been added since the indicated date. For first time users, pressing this button will create a single file that includes all available records.
You can also download all available MARC records by clicking on the Download button under Download All Records.
You can download a delete file of all discontinued records since your last download.
You can also create custom records by clicking on the Create Custom Records button on the right.
To see instructions on how to use a pre-existing profile or create a new custom MARC Records profile, please see the Custom MARC Records Profile article
Custom MARC record files can be generated in one of three ways (if you chose not to use a pre-existing profile) and are available as options to create a new profile:
- By Title - input specific title item numbers or ISBN numbers, separated by commas. This is ideal if you only need to obtain records for a single title or specific handful of titles. For eBooks and streaming video products a delete file option is available to create a delete file for your selection.
- By Date - Enter your desired date range and the tool will return all MARC records created during that time frame. These dates refer to the MARC record creation date, which may not align with the date that title was added to collections. This option also provides further filtering options for specific collections. For eBooks and streaming video products a delete file option is available to create a delete file for your selection.
- All Records - This will return all MARC records available to date with the added option to filter by specific collections, subjects, producers, or content types. For eBooks and streaming video products a delete file option is available to create a delete file for your selection.
Note: For eBooks and streaming video, there will also be an option to select that for a delete file. Delete files will download as a .mrc file and as a .txt file.
Once you have decided on your batch retrieval method, filter options, etc., you can enter a custom filename. This is optional. If you do not enter a filename, a generic name will be assigned. The final step is to click the Generate File button. Note: large batches may take several minutes to download, you will be given the option to be emailed a link to the download instead of waiting for it from the browser.
Previously Downloaded Files
When the batch file is ready it will display in the table below.
- To download the file, click the download icon in the download column. The last download date will always display in the status column.
- You can see information about the record, such as description, date added, and title count from the table columns.
Video platforms MARC records are updated nightly, eBooks MARC records are updated quarterly, and Database MARC records are updated monthly.
Email notifications are sent out when new MARC records become available for your account. For video platforms, an email is sent out once 200 new MARC records are available. If you are not receiving these notifications and would like to, please contact Technical Support.