From a original batch cataloging project back in 2017
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Preliminaries
This procedure is useful for spreadsheets of titles to be converted to MARC, with both a combination of year numerals and text and/or punctuation inclusions in the 260/264 c subfield, or multiple dates (such as seen in estimated dates or multivolume/serial publications.
264 New York, NY : |b International Music, |c ©1934. ← copyright symbol
260 [New York?] : |b Thomas Fischer, |c 1889-1891. ← multiple dates
260 Boston, Mass. : |b Forester Press, |c [between 1899 and 1904] ← questionable dates
In the spreadsheet create two date columns to hold the fixed fields dates,
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Fixed Fields:
Leader:
Click on Edit LDR/008 in the Options area, click on LDR, and chose the format.
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2. For most batch cataloging projects, we should locate the leader’s I (capital i) and replace it with K (for brief cataloging), unless the data has been thoroughly checked for compatibility with the current cataloging rules.
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008 Field - simple method for populating dates (which we’re not using here):
Note: there is a simpler method to populate the fixed field 008 dates (but it only works well for single years without any other text in the subfield); replace the existing s9999 in the Edit LDR/008 box with this function: s{264$c}. Again, this requires that there be no extra characters in the 264, such as c for copyright, and also that there are no “questionable” or multiple dates with the subfield). So, this is useful for clean, single publication dates, but not for more complex date data in the publication field:
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3. Click OK to close the Edit LDR/008 window; then click Next
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Check the records and/or do a Find All on =008 to check that the move went through without changing the number of spaces in the 008 (there should be eight digits of numbers (for those records with 903 fields), side-by-side, no spaces, between the “s” and “xx”).
The 008 Date Type position (6) now needs changing for the 158 records with two dates in position 7 & 11.
To get an idea of what edits need to be done, do a Find All on =903
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Almost all of the 903 field dates are 19uu (with a 902 of 18uu).
Edit Field Data can be used to replace 19uu with q:
Field: 903
Find: 19uu
Replace: q
Click Process
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A total of 154 modifications were made. 4 more records will require manual changes (one of which is the first dummy record, so it can be ignored).
Do Find all: for =903, to find the three remaining dates. Then Edit Field Data to replace each year with an m.
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One:
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Two:
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Three:
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A Find All on =903 now shows all but the first dummy record have 903 fields populated by the 008 DtSt codes.
Finally, use the 903 as a donor field for the 008 position 6 (DtSt).
Tools; Edit Subfield Data,
Field: 903
Subfield: a
Field Data: leave blank
Replace with: 008|6
Click Move subfield data box
Replace Text
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Do a Find All on =008 to see if the 903 codes came through correctly:
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While working this out I always did a Save as for the 008 date change under a different name, just in case one of the steps went horribly wrong:
ChampClassicTest12c before the 008 edits
ChampClassicTest12DtSt after the 008 edits
The last step is to remove the donor fields:
Tools; Add/Delete Field
Field: 902
(Leave the rest blank);
Delete Field:
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And do the same to delete the 903 field.
Always check for errors after modifying the 008 fixed field:
Assuming all went well with all the steps, it’s time to take a good hard look at the records as they now appear: Open OCLC Bib Formats & Standards on a Browser and (for the leader and 008) MARC21, and check through each field for errors that might have been missed during earlier steps.
Run MarcEdit’s validator to look for structural errors by going to Reports; MARCValidator:
Source File: [Current File]
Options: Validate Record (Default)
Click OK
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The file has no errors that MarcEdit’s MARCValidator can find:
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If there are errors, save the report to a notebook or PDF to refer to while correcting.
Then work through each error until all are fixed.