I'm halfway there: SELECT biblionumber, SUBSTR(ExtractValue(m.marcxml,'//controlfield[@tag="008"]'),8,4) as Date FROM biblioitems m LEFT JOIN biblio b USING (biblionumber) WHERE Date = '||||' Doesn't quite work. If I omit the last line, it spits out a list of all our biblios, and the date. I'd like to limit the results to just the biblios with |||| in the first date section of the 008 WHERE (Date = '||||') didn't work. NULL in place of '||||' doesn't work either. WHERE (ExtractValue(m.marcxml,'//controlfield[@tag="008"]'),8,4) = '||||' also didn't work. I've exhausted my cut and paste abilities. . . . -- Elaine Bradtke (What I don't know about SQL would fill a few books) Data Wrangler VWML English Folk Dance and Song Society | http://www.efdss.org Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London NW1 7AY Tel +44 (0) 20 7485 2206 (This number is for the English Folk Dance and Song Society in London, England. If you wish to phone me personally, send an e-mail first. I work off site) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Registered Company No. 297142 Charity Registered in England and Wales No. 305999 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" --Elvis Costello (Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52)