RE: Don't Monkey with the MARC

["Ericsson, Paul" <PEricsson@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Elizabeth --

You, and Paul Burry in reply to the previous posting re: dealing with 490's, state this principal so well. A simple, but ever so important rule of thumb. Don't monkey with MARC. 

The screen mapping and index mapping should do everything that we need to deal with the seemingly unusable data that finds its way into MARC records. 

BTW ... I see enormous potential for posters that we can hang in our Tech Services offices.  Don't monkey with MARC  ...

Paul
	___________________________________________

	Paul Ericsson
	Adult Services Supervisor / Automation Coordinator
	Concord Public Library    http://www.onconcord.com
	45 Green St.     Concord, NH 03301     603 230-3697
	pericsson@xxxxxxxxxx
	___________________________________________
		



-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth Thomsen [mailto:et@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 8:01 PM
To: innopac@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Don't Monkey with the MARC


On Fri, 19 Sep 2003, Paul Burry wrote:

> One rule of thumb I have learned: don't monkey with the MARC to overcome 
> systems limitations unless absolutely unavoidable.

This is a such an important rule I decided it needed its own subject line.  
Systems change, and libraries change systems.  Your MARC database is
likely to be shared in various ways, and anything non-standard that you do
now is likely to cause problems some time in the future.

I'd add one thing...if you must monkey with the MARC for some reason, be 
sure that you document what you did, and why, and, most importantly, 
provide some means to undo what you did. You (or your successor) will be 
glad that you did!

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

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