This is a process to download a file of records from OCLC and load them in Sierra.
Table of Contents
There are two forms that MARC files take. We’ll call them Human Readable MARC (HR) and Raw MARC. An HR file is the sort you might edit manually in MarcEdit or Notepad or anything. They look like this:
That’s messy, but if you know what the tags mean you can read it and edit it. On the other hand there is Raw MARC. The same file in Raw MARC looks like this:
That’s impossible to read or edit, but that’s the form the file needs to take when it is transferred between systems. That’s the file format required when loading into Sierra. If you open the file in notepad, and you can read it, like the first one, then it won’t load into Sierra.
The most common file extensions are .mrc and .mrk. HR files are .mrk and Raw files are .mrc. That’s the most common, but not the only ones used. The fact is the file extensions don’t really matter, it’s the format inside the file that matters. You could just change the file extension from .mrk to .mrc, but if you don’t change the format inside the file, it won’t load in Sierra. You need to use MarcEdit to change the format inside the file.
If you open a Raw MARC file with .mrc extension with MarcEdit it will automatically create a copy in HR MARC. Then you will have two files, a .mrk file and a .mrc file. However, if you have an HR MARC file, regardless of the extension, you have to use the MarcEdit MarcEditor to compile a Raw MARC file that you can load.
With the file open in MarcEditor click on the button that looks like a funnel:
That will open a dialog windows where you can name the file, and choose the file type. Set file type as either MARC files or UTF-8 MARC file.
Now you have a .mrc file that’s in Raw MARC format ready for loading into Sierra.
Under the Export tab, choose File to set Connexion to export a file of records.
The Gateway option would send each record separately to Sierra as if you had sent them all one at a time.
In Options, under the Batch tab, check the box “Bibliographic Record Export.”
Apply and Close
(This is optional, but it will make the process easier)
You will gather the records you send in the local save file.
Clearing the file first will make sure you don’t send old records from some other project
Select Cataloging > Search > Local Save File
Leave everything blank here and press OK.
This will bring up the contents of your local save file.
Right click and choose Select All
With all the old records highlighted, press the “ActionDeleteRecord” button.
Click Yes. Now your local save file will be empty.
Search for the records you want to load in OCLC using whatever method
Save them to the local save file with F4, or the Action menu:
Once you have your records in the local save file you can download them. They should be the only thing in the local save file if you cleared the file before this process.
Right click and Select All.
Click the ActionExport button.
Now the Export column should have “R” in every cell. This stands for Ready.
Select Batch > Process Batch...
Check the “DefaultBib.bib.db” box again, and check the “Exports” box.
Chose File in Options > Export (If you haven’t already set this).
then you have to download a file of records to load with Data Exchange.
Load profile (R) will match on OCLC number, and check for a match in the first five characters of the TITLE field.
The extra TITLE check is useful because there is bad data in Sierra and some records have numbers in the 001 that are not correct OCLC numbers.
Titles that don’t match will be inserted. These should be checked.