Marc Tags of Different Data Types

Koha 25.11 "Sirah Hub" Test Suite

MARC21 Record Samples for Multilingual & Scholarly Validation

1. Physical Book (Multi-Holding) Consolidation Test

=LDR 00000nam 2200000ia 4500 =001 hub-book-001 =020 \\$a9789694080123 =100 1\$aNomani, Shibli. =245 10$aSirat-un-Nabi /$cShibli Nomani. =260 \\$aLahore :$bReligious Publications,$c2010. =952 \\$aIRI$bIRI$pML100445-IRI$yBK$t1$o297.63 NOM =952 \\$aSSMK$bSSMK$p120684-SSMK$yBK$t1$o297.63 NOM

2. Journal Article (Analytical Entry) 773 Linking Test

=LDR 00000nab 2200000ia 4500 =001 hub-art-001 =100 1\$aAhmad, Zohaib. =245 10$aProphetic Diplomacy in the Medinan Period :$ba bibliometric review. =773 0\$tJournal of Islamic Thought and Civilization$gVol. 10, No. 2 (2025)$x2070-0326 =856 40$uhttps://define.pk/articles/prophetic-diplomacy.pdf$zFull Text PDF

3. Thesis/Dissertation 502 Academic Test

=LDR 00000nam 2200000ia 4500 =001 hub-thesis-001 =100 1\$aAhmed, Rauf. =245 10$aMapping Sirah Literature in Pakistan :$ba comparative study of digital repositories. =502 \\$bPh.D.$cInternational Islamic University, Islamabad$d2026.

4. Virtual Bibliographic Citation (SNK) 510 Citation Test

=LDR 00000nam 2200000ia 4500 =001 hub-snk-045 =100 1\$aHamidullah, Muhammad. =245 10$aThe Life and Work of the Prophet of Islam. =510 4\$aSher Nowrooz Khan, Bibliography of Sirah Literature$cEntry No. 45. =952 \\$aSNK_BIB$bSNK_BIB$pSNK-45$yBIBLIO$t1$oREF SNK-45

🔍 Validation Checklist

• The "Split" Display: Does "Nomani" show both IRI and SSMK availability in the OPAC results?
• Link Integrity: Is the "Full Text PDF" link in the Article record clickable?
• Note Visibility: Does the 510 tag appear clearly in the "Description" or "Notes" tab of the Hamidullah record?
• Virtual Branch: Verify that the SNK_BIB item is listed as "Not for Loan."

The Surgical Merge: MarcEdit Edition

Preserving Metadata Integrity for the Sirah Research Hub

Merging records in MarcEdit is like performing a surgical transplant: you take the "healthy" metadata from one file and move the "vital" local data (barcodes and URLs) from another into it.

The Scenario: A Practical Example

Imagine you have two separate files for the same 100 Sirah books:

File A (Source)

High-quality bibliography. Perfect titles and Islamic subject headings, but no barcodes.

File B (Merge)

SSMK Library records. Messy titles, but contains unique barcodes and shelf locations.

Goal: The Perfect Master Record

The Step-by-Step Process

1

Open the Merge Tool: Launch MarcEdit and navigate to Tools → Merge Records.

2

Select Your Files: Set File A as your Source and File B as your Merge file. Name your output Sirah_Hub_Final.mrc.

3

Define the "Match Key": Use the ISBN (020 $a) or Title (245 $a) so MarcEdit recognizes which books are identical.

4

Select Specific Data: Only check the boxes for fields you need from File B (e.g., 952 for barcodes, 856 for URLs).

💡 Pro-Tip: Do NOT select fields like 245 (Title) or 100 (Author) in Step 4. You want to keep the "clean" metadata from your Source file, not overwrite it with the "messy" data from the Merge file.

The Final Result (Behind the Scenes)

Feature	File A (Source)	File B (Merge)	Final Merged Result
Title (245)	The Life of the Prophet	Prophet Life (SSMK)	The Life of the Prophet
ISBN (020)	9780123456789	9780123456789	9780123456789
Barcode (952$p)	(Empty)	ML-100444	ML-100444

Common Troubleshooting

• "No Matches Found": Standardize your ISBNs first. One file might have dashes while the other does not. Use the MarcEdit ISBN Tool to fix this.
• Duplicate 952s: Use the "Replace Existing" option in merge settings if your Source file already contains empty placeholder tags.

Merging in MarcEdit is faster and safer than merging in Koha because you can verify 5,000 records in seconds before they ever touch your live catalog.