My original post:
"I am interested in whether people who do their own cataloging prefer to
build new records using Alliance Plus or MarcMagician (or some other
method). Also, which product do you prefer for modifying records that are
in the system but need improvement?"
Thank you to all who responded. Most respondents prefer Alliance for
creating new records and MarcMagician for cleaning up records. Here are the
responses.
I prefer the records in Alliance Plus. The hit rate is much better. I love
MarcMagician for making labels, but I very seldom use it for finding records
when cataloging.
I use both: Alliance to download records, MARC Magician to fix them. They
really are two different tools.
I have not used MarcMagician, but am very satisfied with Alliance Plus. We
subscribe to both the print and AV versions. The cataloging is high
quality, and needs little or no editing.
Alliance Plus and MARC Magician are two different things. Alliance Plus is a
database of cataloging records which you can download into your system.
MARC Magician is a utility program that allows you to do lots of global
editing. I have Alliance Plus, but not MARC Magician in my current schools.
I have had MARC Magician and liked it very much. It's a very powerful tool,
but isn't really necessary unless you've got a really messed up database, in
my opinion.
I have both and prefer Alliance (it has more records, and it includes AV).
However, I've had technical problems with Alliance on and off due to our
firewall, and that's never happened with MarcMagician. I still spend a lot
of time with my Abridged Dewey and Sears, and reading the back of title
pages.
I love Marc Magician. I use Access Marc and Magic Recon. It is a wonderful
program. I also have students look up marc records from the library of
congress and have them type them in and then I check them. That works
fairly well.
MARC magician!
I use Marc Magician and I really like it. I can't compare to Alliance
because I haven't used it. Marc Magician lets you catalog using a template
and it has prompts with examples that makes it easy. You can also add fields
if you need to.
I use both. With Follett it is very easy to use and I prefer to use it.
But I also use MarcMagician to clean up any records and to globally update
records. I also recommend MarcAccess for a/v materials. It is less
expensive than the Follett.
I prefer MarcMagician and have been using it for at least 5 years. I used
Alliance Plus and like it, but prefer new records and checking purchased
records through MarcMagician. I also prefer MarcMagician for checking and
modifying. A couple of years ago Texas had a Texas Library Connection
initiative and we had strict requirements in our Marc records. MarcMagician
set it up so that they would be checked for each of those required fields
and we still use it today.
I use Alliance as the basis for the small amount or original cataloging that
I do.
Mary Kenslea
Library Teacher
MacArthur Elementary School (at Northeast)
40 Putney Lane
Waltham, MA 02452
kensleam@k12.waltham.ma.us
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