Tuesday, August 26, 2003 14:30 CDT Hi, guys, You had a question as to how to "set" the Leader information. Don't know if I can help with that but I can explain what the Leader is. # From MARC documentation online at Library of Congress (URL <http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/>) the description of what the Leader is, is under the rubric of the Concise MARC 21 Bibliographic data at URL <http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/ecbdldrd.html>, to wit, LEADER A fixed field that comprises the first 24 character positions (00-23) of each record and provides information for the processing of the record. The leader is followed immediately by the Directory, which provides a computer-generated index to the location of the variable control and data fields within a record. [i.e. what we think of as the bibliographic data, what we enter] The Directory immediately follows the Leader at character position 24 and consists of a series of fixed-length (12 character positions) entries that give the tag, length, and starting character position of each variable field. In casual usage, the Directory is often thought to be part of the Leader and both are referred to together as the Leader. As for 'setting' it, you can't. That is, the computer has to be able to generate certain data elements (lengths, positionals). You may already know how to do that; I have no clue how it's done. In terms of coding the Leader, that must be done individually for each record based on the actual data of the record. The Directory, following from the definition, is directly depended on the actual data and size of the record; any changes/updates to the record automatically change the data coded into the Directory. You might be able to use a provisional, kind of rudimentary coding for the Leader, setting, by default, position 5 to n for New position 6 to a for Language Material (most common) position 7 to m for Monograph (most common) position 8 as blank position 9 as blank position 17 as 2 for less-than-full level, material not examined position 18 to a for AACR2 (or otherwise as accurate) I have no idea at all how to code the other required positions. Like most end-users, I guess just having worked with the systems we've had, the systems always did all the other bits which are equally crucial. I hope some of this helps you figure out a script. You might also want to take a look at the Understanding MARC Bibliographic, especially the end part at URL <http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um11to12.html> and check through the MARC Tools and Services section to see if one of the tools there that is noted as working with/for Perl scripts might help. Cheers, Steven F. Baljkas library tech at large Koha neophyte Winnipeg, MB CANADA