Validating 126 million MARC records

Abstract

The paper describes the method and results of validation of 14 library catalogues. The format of the catalog record is Machine Readable Catalog (MARC21) which is the most popular metadata standards for describing books. The research investigates the structural features of the record and as a result finds and classifies different commonly found issues. The most frequent issue types are usage of undocumented schema elements, then improper values in places where a value should be taken from a dictionary, or should match to other strict requirements.