Manual MARC21 import

Wanted to import the Library of Congress record for my Webster’s dictionary. It failed with an obscure message (notices invalides). Looking at the code, this could be caused by a missing title statement (UNIMARC tag $200a). And indeed upon inspection the title is in MARC zone $245:

00953cam a2200253 a 4500
001 4715262
005 20140505111109.0
008 831102s1984    nyuaf    d    000 0 eng
906    $a 7 $b cbc $c orignew $d 1 $e ocip $f 19 $g y-gencatlg
010    $a    83020232
020    $a 0671418149
035    $9 (DLC)   83020232
040    $a DLC $c DLC $d DLC
050 00 $a PE1625 $b .W34 1984b
082 00 $a 423 $2 19
245 00 $a Webster's New World dictionary of the American language / $c David B. Guralnik, editor in chief.
250    $a 2nd college ed.
260    $a New York, N.Y. : $b Simon and Schuster, $c c1984.
300    $a xxxvi, 1692 p., [36] p. of plates : $b ill. (some col.) ; $c 29 cm.
650  0 $a English language $z United States $x Dictionaries.
650  0 $a Americanisms $x Dictionaries.
700 1  $a Guralnik, David B. $q (David Bernard), $d 1920-2000.
991    $b c-GenColl $h PE1625 $i .W34 1984b $t Copy 1 $w BOOKS
991    $b c-GenColl $h PE1625 $i .W34 1984b $p 00017698631 $t Copy 2 $w CCF

Turns out that the LoC notice is in MARC21 format, whereas PMB expects UNIMARC. So I used MarcEdit to convert MARC21 to UNIMARC and was able to import.

Conversion process: Tools > UNIMARC Tools > MARC21=>UNIMARC

00812  22a22002415  450
001 4715262
005 20140505111109.0
100    $a 19831102s1984    u||y0   y        0
105    $a         000|y
106    $a y
110    $a zkue   0|||
010    $a 0671418149
200 0  $a Webster's New World dictionary of the American language / $f David B. Guralnik, editor in chief.
205    $a 2nd college ed.
210    $a New York, N.Y. : $c Simon and Schuster, $d c1984.
215 1  $a xxxvi, 1692 p., [36] p. of plates : $c ill. (some col.) ; $d 29 cm.
606    $a English language $x Dictionaries. $y United States
606    $a Americanisms $x Dictionaries.
676    $a 423 $v 19
680    $a PE1625 $b .W34 1984b
701    $a Guralnik $b David B. $f 1920-2000. $g (David Bernard),
721    $a Guralnik, David B. $f 1920-2000.
802    $a zz

Automated import through Z39.50

Added 2026-09-29

PMB can query the Library Of Congress Z39.50 server. However the built-in configuration references an old server than no longer exists:

  • Nom : Library Of Congress
  • Utilisation : CATALOG
  • Base : Voyager
  • URL : z3950.loc.gov
  • Numéro de port : 7090
  • Format : USMARC

Instead the following configuration can be used:

  • Nom : Library Of Congress (new)
  • Utilisation : CATALOG
  • Base : LCDB
  • URL : lx2.loc.gov
  • Numéro de port : 210
  • Format : USMARC

and it works just fine.

The default attribute mapping can be left as-is:

Libellé Attributs serveur
Auteur 1003
ISBN 7
Sujet 21
Titre 4