Just an FYI — I’m a big believer in incremental builds — hence the reason why MarcEdit’s build number changes so slowly. For example, my current development build number is: 5.1.3393.37654 (actually built today). I personally am not fond of software that make large leaps between build numbers, but I also realize that my incremental build numbers can sometimes confuse folks (I mean, how many people would expect over 3,000 minor builds (likely 150-200 actual releases). So, I’m going to take the opportunity to just build numbers to 5.2 sometime in May. The change will correspond to the following:
- Remove the cap on the Z39.50 query (at present, you can search 3 databases simultaneously — that will be removed so you can query to your heart’s content)
- Maybe the addition of a form-based record editor (for editing individual records — since I occasionally hear from smaller libraries that use MarcEdit for cataloging). I say maybe because I’m still not convinced that this is something that should be in MarcEdit. If you have strong feelings, let me know.
- New Edit function in the Editor: Copy Field — for those times when you need to just copy or change a field from one tag to another
- Updated Tutorials page (will include Youtube videos — as well as a few more videos being posted)
- A first crack at a MARC=>Excel export. My guess is that this first crack will suck horribly, but it should at least be a starting place from which we can more forward.
- Finally, RobertCompare will make it back into MarcEdit (by popular request). RoberCompare is a tool that uses heuristics to compare two records to identify differences in records. The most challenging part is obviously dealing with Subjects/Main entry — but again, it’s a good starting point. It will be enhanced from the previous version — though I’m still working out some of the code bottle necks.
- For users that leave the RSS option on, I’ve enhanced the notifications so that it is easier for users to tell if an update is available.
In regards to the build changes — for users, the change will be fairly unnoticeable (save for some icons, program title changes and possibly some color changes in the UI). The program will install over the previous 5.x incarnations — so updates will be seamless (i.e., it will work like any other install of MarcEdit). So no worries there.
Finally, I’m going to be teaching two 6ish hour long workshops in the coming months. One in Columbus, Ohio in May and one in the DC area in early June. If you want information on either, I can send it out.
–TR