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5 Things You Should Know about Cleaning Up Your MARC Records – Copyright Mitinet Library Services 2017

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1 – Over time, every MARC record database accumulates problems

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Metadata problems in MARC records can be hard to find, time consuming to fix manually, and they complete with other priorities for over-worked library staff.

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Incomplete MARC records make it difficult for materials to show up in searches. Duplicate records clutter up search results and make it frustrating for users to find the one item they want. Digital materials, such as e-books, are much less likely to circulate when they have bad metadata, since they have no physical presence and so can’t even be found by browsing the shelves.

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In addition to causing problems for library users, problem MARC records cause problems for libraries.

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When items don’t circulate, the money spent to purchase them is wasted. For libraries with already small materials budgets this is a critical problem.

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In addition to poor circulation, poor metadata means that librarians often have to spend time helping patrons find materials they might have found themselves. They also have to spend time fixing the problems, if they can, to prevent the materials from being wasted, and sometimes they even need to search down items that are “lost” in the system, due to inaccurate information in the MARC record. All of these activities take time that could be better spent elsewhere.

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If your library doesn’t have the interlibrary circulations rates you want, it could be due to poor metadata in your MARC records.

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For school libraries, inaccurate or missing reading program information, for Lexile Measures, Accelerated Reader, Fountas & Pinnell, and Reading Counts!, means that some materials the library already owns may not be included in their reading program curriculum, simply because they aren’t labeled with the proper information.

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Reason 2 – Performing a cleanup on your MARC records database will save you time and money.

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If your library is planning to convert to RDA, performing a cleanup on your database can save you a lot of time. More complete records and fewer duplicates mean that more information is likely to be transferred to the correct fields and/or formats.

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If you are planning to merge two or more databases into one, there will be a lot of duplication, differing cataloging styles and even just inaccurate information to deal with in order to make the two catalogs perform as one. Cleaning up the databases before the merge will make it much easier to find and correct any problem issues after as well as reduce the number of records that have to be merged.

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Whenever you plan to change call numbers, performing a cleanup will help organize the MARC records, reduce duplicates and, in general, find common errors that can prevent you from having a consistent database. Mitinet also includes in our Complete Cleanup service, expert assistance with record standardization.

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When MARC records are incomplete, they are less likely to circulate. What is the potential cost to a small library? Mitinet has found that between 5 and 15% of a library’s MARC records database can have missing or inaccurate information significant enough to prevent it from being included in search results. To determine the financial impact on even a small library (one with 5000 MARC records in their database) we calculated 5 percent of 5000 items (250 items) by the average cost for library materials today ($25). The value of potentially wasted items for even a small library is $6,250. And that is the lower end of the range. For more specific information about your library, contact us to do a free database diagnostic.

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If we increase the size of the MARC records database to 100,000 items (consistent with a moderately large school district, public library, or medium size consortium) the potential savings increase dramatically. The potential cost of having 5% of your materials with poor metadata that affects circulation is $125,000 in material costs alone.

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Another area where a cleanup can help improve materials circulation is reading program information. Mitinet supports four reading programs, The Lexile Framework for Reading, Fountas & Pinnell, Accelerated Reader and Reading Counts!. Many schools who use one or more of these reading programs don’t realize just how many of the materials they already own can be included in their current reading program. The chart in this slide shows an example from a real, and fairly typical customer, who saw a nearly 500% increase the number of items that could have Lexile measures added to their MARC records. All in all there were over sixty-six thousand materials that would have Lexile measures alone added to their MARC records. These are all materials that then become available to students and teachers to include in a Lexile-based reading program.

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Mitinet customers see an average increase of 147% in new reading program information for items they already have. But if we look at customers new to Mitinet, the percent of materials in their collection can be much, much higher.

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The third thing to understand about a Mitinet cleanup service is that it doesn’t have to take a long time.

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Because Mitinet uses automated updating processes and has a team of metadata experts to help you perform your cleanup, we can get you started and get your metadata cleaned and enhanced much more quickly than our competitors. In most cases, depending on the complexity of the cleanup and the size of your database, you’ll have clean, up-to-date MARC records in 3 to 5 business days after the scheduled start.

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With our Complete Cleanup service, tell us about any special things you need, and we’ll let you know if we can either reduce or eliminate the need for you to make those changes manually. We also supply you with a PDF file with labels for the newly standardized materials.

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Item 4 – How the Mitinet Cleanup Works. We have two levels of cleanup services. The Essential Cleanup is our reasonably priced option for libraries that do not plan to standardize or re-label their materials. The Complete Cleanup is for those libraries that want to standardize call numbers or have special custom data they want to add, change or delete.

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The Essential Cleanup is a more automated process. You just select what you want done from the list of options. We download a copy of your database and process it, usually within three to five business days after the scheduled start date. Then we return your database along with a report of the updates performed.

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The Complete Cleanup is a little more complex, because of the customizable nature of the service. We analyze a copy of your MARC record database and email you a list of available options. If you have special requests we work with you to find a way to get that metadata updated. Then we process the records and return your database and a report, usually within three to five business days. For large databases or complex updates, we work with you to assure that your database is returned as quickly as possible.

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Number 5 – Some things a cleanup can do for you

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Both cleanup services include adding information with a brief to full feature, then we add enhancements from the options you choose, including reading program and subject heading updates as well as national and state awards. We can also update items like outdated subject headings.

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Both the Essential and the Complete Cleanups also include a deduplication and MARC records merging service. Duplicate records are identified using several fields, not just ISBN. The Complete Cleanup also includes the ability to identify and correct many items, such as punctuation, moving articles to the beginning of titles, and standardizing call number prefixes. What we do depends on what you need.

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Another Mitinet advantage is the one year subscription to BestMARC Standard included with every cleanup service. Not only do we cleanup and enhance your database better than anyone in the market, we give you the tools to keep it that way, going forward. Talk to us about a webinar to see what else BestMARC can do for you.

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Other benefits of a Mitinet cleanup are our commitment to service and our flexibility. We listen to you and work with you to give you the services you need at a price you can afford.

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Rather than dealing with the inefficiency and workarounds brought about by poor metadata, spend time and money where it really counts, with your patrons.

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Testimonial from Patty Turner, Library/Textbook Service, Sacramento City USD, Sacramento City, California. “The records are amazing – matter of fact we really can’t say “cleaned” we need to say “all new MARC records” because that is really what they are. Dixon USD just started using Alexandria the week of January 11, 2016. I know that the library tech who handles the middle and high school is thrilled with being able to “find” titles because there are now subject headings. What a concept!! Thank you all so much for making a purse out of a pig!”

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To find out more about any other Mitinet products or services contact us at 1-800-824-6272 or email us at sales@mitinet.com. Thank you!