README.Rmd

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output: github_document
---

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```{r, include = FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  collapse = TRUE,
  comment = "#>",
  fig.path = "man/figures/README-",
  out.width = "100%"
)
```

# marc21r

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{marc21r} is an R package for examining and analyzing [MARC21](https://www.loc.gov/marc/) files, a set of standards used to describe library materials such as books and journals. Currently, {marc21r} reads only MARC21 XML.

## Installation

You can install the development version of marc21r from [GitHub](https://github.com/) with:

``` r
# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("dojobo/marc21r")
```

## Example

The basic use case is to load a MARC XML file as a tibble. Each tag (001, 245, etc.) becomes a column whose name starts with `t`, e.g., `t001`, `t245`. Once so loaded, the dataset can be manipulated and analyzed using standard tidyverse tools.

```{r example}
library(marc21r)
library(dplyr)
collection <- read_marcxml("collection.xml")
collection %>% 
  select(t245, t260, t500)
```

For better readability, `tag_names()` can be applied to a MARC dataframe:

```{r}
collection %>% 
  select(t245, t260, t500) %>% 
  tag_names(style = "short")
```

## Current status

This project is alpha/experimental. It "works" as a proof of concept with one or two example files, but I expect there are gaps. Post problems you encounter or feature requests on the [Issues](https://github.com/dojobo/marc21r/issues) page. I am also happy to accept pull requests!