How to Join Bibliographic Records Using

MarcEdit ver. 6.0:

The MARCJoin Utility
McAllen Public Library
Last Updated: 11 May 2015

Abstract
MarcEdit has a handy, built-in utility for combining / merging separate MARC records into a single batch file: MARCJoin. The utility
is straightforwardexcept for a couple of minor steps. This tutorial
explains those tricky steps.
These instructions are valid for MarcEdit ver. 6.0 (the current version at the time of writing). The screenshots show the new releases
slightly updated user interface.

Before using MARCJoin, make sure to save the MARC files you wish
to join in a single folder. All the files must be in the same format; .mrc
works best.
Open the MarcEdit program. Do not launch its MarcEditor tool, but
stay at the main page / initial screen, as shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1: MarcEdits main screen.

At this main UI window, choose Tools > MARCJoin (see Figure 2):

Figure 2: The Tools > MARCJoin menu option.

You will see the window shown in Figure 3. Destination means the
new batch file which you will create shortly.

Figure 3: The Destination field in MARCJoins UI.

Click on the folder icon beside the Destination field, and navigate to
where you wish to save your new, merged file.
Give this file a meaningful name which will help you identify it later,
e.g., Lectorum_merged_20150501.mrc.

Tip:
If you are merging files already in .mrc format, your destination
file must also be in .mrc format
Save your destination / target file.
Next, you will select the files you wish to join. Notice the File(s)
to option in the UI window. The Join Individual Files box should
have a check mark (illustrated in Figure 4):

Figure 4: The File(s) to field in MARCJoins UI.

Click on the folder icon beside the File(s) to field, and navigate to
the folder where you stored the MARC files which you plan to join.
To select some of the .mrc files, use the Ctrl key and your mouse to
highlight / select the files to be merged.
(If you want to select all the .mrc files in the target folder, press the
Shift key and use your mouse to select everything).
Click on the Open button to finish the selection process.
You will be returned to the MARCJoin UI screen. (Also, the fields
for Destination and File(s) to should now be populated with the
directory paths to the folders where you saved your work).
Click on the Process button to actually merge the records.
When the process finishes, you will receive a confirmation message in
the UI screen which looks something like Figure 5:

Figure 5: Post-processing Confirmation message.

To verify that your files were correctly merged / processed, open the
newly created file in MarcEdits MarcEditor.
You should follow the usual procedure of choosing MARC Tools from
the programs main screen, then using the MarcBreaker function to
create a broken .mrk file of your new batch file.
(Press the Execute button to process the .mrk file; you should see a
confirmation message that X records were processed in Y seconds.
Then click on the Execute button to actually open the MARC file
within the programs built-in MARC Editor).