 |
 |
Whatever you do, downstream applications are probably just going to ignore that information anyway. I've never bothered to look at the leader length when parsing MARC-XML, anyway. I would just make it zeros. --Dave ------------------------- David Walker Interim Director, Systemwide Digital Library Services California State University 562-355-4845 -----Original Message----- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sullivan, Mark V Sent: Friday, June 29, 2012 6:52 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [CODE4LIB] Leader in MarcXML Files ( Record Length ) All, I received a question regarding a software library I have created and released as open source. The record length in the leader ( positions 0-4 ) was not being calculated correctly when writing as MarcXML. However, this raises a more philosophical and larger question. What is the point of the first five digits of the leader, outside of a ISO2709 / MARC21 encoded record? Should I calculate the record length AS IF it would be encoded in ISO2709? This would be computationally non-trivial and would likely double the time necessary for my software to write a MarcXML file. Should I just make the first five digits of the leader '00000', since it means nothing in the context of a MarcXML file? Has anyone else pondered this question or have any input on how current systems work? Keep in mind I could be writing a MarcXML record for a record created or modified in memory, so just using a pre-existing record length is not an option. Many thanks for your consideration. Mark V Sullivan Digital Development and Web Coordinator Technology and Support Services University of Florida Libraries 352-273-2907 (office) 352-682-9692 (mobile) [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>