RE: Finding info. on chinging part of a variable field

[Elizabeth Thomsen <et@xxxxxxxxxx>]

As has been noted, being able to change text within a variable field is
one of the great features of MilCat's Global Update.  This is especially
nice since it lets you preview the changes, before and after, which lets
you catch possible problems. 

If you don't have MilCat, an alternative is to download the records to a
PC, work on them using another program, and relaod them to your system. 
As Howard notes, you do need to make sure you have a load table that
will correctly overlay the records in some 100% reliable way.  We have
one that overlays on the bib record number, which is great for this kind
of project.  For doing the editing and preserving the MARC structure, we
highly recommend MARCEdit, http://ucs.orst.edu/~reeset/marcedit/html/,
by Terry Reese of Oregon State.  It lets you break the MARC records to
text, do your global edits, and then recompile the MARC records so you
can load them again.  It's a very nicely designed, simple program, and
it's free.

-- 
Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager
NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange
Danvers MA 01923
et@xxxxxxxxxx