<font size=2 face="sans-serif">Linda,</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">According to OCLC's input standards
"MARC bibliographic records have a maximum length of 99,999 characters.
For more information, see <i>MARC 21 Record Specifications for Record Structure,
Character Sets, and Exchange Media</i> (</font><a href=http://www.loc.gov/marc/specifications/specrecstruc.html target=_blank><font size=2 color=blue face="sans-serif"><u>http://www.loc.gov/marc/specifications/specrecstruc.html</u></font></a><font size=2 face="sans-serif">).</font><font size=2>"
</font><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> Also see </font><a href=http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/fixedfield/mrec.shtm><font size=2 face="sans-serif">http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/fixedfield/mrec.shtm</font></a><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
for more specifics. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Furthermore, it is fairly easy to tell
how long or how many characters are in a MARC record. The first sequence
of numbers in the leader is the number of characters in that record. This
record has 75,586 characters. It happens to be a Business Week subscription</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> </font><font size=2>000 -LEADER
@ 07586cas a2200973 4500 </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">This example is 108,749 characters long.
It will no longer display properly. The record was duplicated
and the items moved to the new duplicates. This was a manual procedure.</font>
<br><font size=2>000 -LEADER @ 108749cas 2207657 45000 </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Apparently the way items are attached
to the MARC record results in them becoming part of the record so the size
of the record increases with each item attached. We run into the
maximum number of characters all the time with large serials holdings in
our shared catalog. We have several records that split when we imported
them into Koha. Others that will no longer display until the are
detected and manually duplicated and their items split between the twin
records. These records can also affect, as in halt, indexing.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">We hope that when the serials control
module gets redesigned this issue will be addressed. We thought that
was in the works last summer...but there is a bug report #2453.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Hope this helps. Good luck and
may your records never reach 100,000 characters.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Regards,</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Becki </font>
<br><font size=1 face="sans-serif">----------</font>
<br><tt><font size=2>Becki Whitaker<br>
Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS)<br>
6202 Morenci Trail<br>
Indianapolis, IN 46268<br>
317-298-6570 x506 / 800-733-1899 (IN only) / fax: 317-328-2380 <br>
whitakerb@mcls.org / </font></tt><a href=www.mcls.org><tt><font size=2>www.mcls.org</font></tt></a><tt><font size=2>
/ scion.incolsa.net</font></tt>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<table width=100%>
<tr valign=top>
<td><font size=1 color=#5f5f5f face="sans-serif">From:</font>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Linda Culberson <lculber@mdah.state.ms.us></font>
<tr valign=top>
<td><font size=1 color=#5f5f5f face="sans-serif">To:</font>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">koha <koha@lists.katipo.co.nz></font>
<tr valign=top>
<td><font size=1 color=#5f5f5f face="sans-serif">Date:</font>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">03/22/2010 03:41 PM</font>
<tr valign=top>
<td><font size=1 color=#5f5f5f face="sans-serif">Subject:</font>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">[Koha] number of item records attached
to a biblio record</font>
<tr valign=top>
<td><font size=1 color=#5f5f5f face="sans-serif">Sent by:</font>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">koha-bounces@lists.katipo.co.nz</font></table>
<br>
<hr noshade>
<br>
<br>
<br><tt><font size=2>Sorry, folks. I know I have read or heard somewhere
about a limit to <br>
the number of items that can be attached to a single bibliographic <br>
record, but I can't find it now. Can someone tell me what that number is?<br>
Thanks.<br>
<br>
-- <br>
Linda Culberson
lculber@mdah.state.ms.us<br>
Archives and Records Services Division<br>
Ms. Dept. of Archives & History<br>
P. O. Box 571<br>
Jackson, MS 39205-0571<br>
Telephone: 601/576-6873<br>
Facsimile: 601/576-6824<br>
<br>
<br>
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