Athenaeum MARC Utility

Commencing with Athenaeum Express 8.5 and Athenaeum Pro 7.6, MARC import functionality is incorporated directly into those solutions.

For earlier versions of Athenaeum Pro, Athenaeum Express and all versions of Athenaeum Light, the stand alone MARC utility is available for translating MARC data into a format that is easily imported into these programs.

It also happens that this utility is useful for virtually any FileMaker solution, because it is customisable.

To find out more, download the 22 page manual as an Adobe Acrobat pdf file. It describes how to use the program, with screen shots, as well as how to customise the behaviour of the program for different MARC tags and their sub-fields.

Custom application

If you have a FileMaker solution and you wish to import MARC data, then you can use this utility to translate that data in a customisable way. The data in MARC files is "tagged" with numbered fields and subfields. You can customise how the data is placed, whether certain tags are ignored or if various tags or subfields are prefixed or suffixed with string constants (e.g. commas or colons).

The processed data is then exported to a number of pre-defined fields. In your solution, you import the exported files, matching up the pre-defined fields to your own fields. Have a look at the manual for more information.

MARC version

The utility is designed to process MARC21 files. It can, however process other similar formats, though we recommend you test the output to your satisfaction.

Test your data

If you want to see how your data might be processed, then e-mail Rob who can process your data (without any special customisations) and he will send you a sample of the results for your review.

Price

The MARC Reader program is

• free to all Athenaeum Pro users
• free to Athenaeum Express 8.5 users
• USD95 for Athenaeum Light 6 and 7 users purchasing via the web store
• NZD150 for New Zealand users purchasing direct from SumWare Consulting