MARC Records, Free

Librarians on the lookout for Web sites from which they can download free MARC records should check out Sunlink, a service for Florida's K–12 school libraries. The site now offers a page of links to libraries willing to share their MARC records (www.sunlink.ucf.edu/faq/marc_download/default.html ). "We simply explored some suggested sites, researched other sites, and compiled a list of sites that have a free download feature to share MARC records," explains Carol McWilliams, assistant director of Sunlink, which maintains a giant shared database for more than 2,000 public K–12 libraries in Florida.

The reason for creating the page, which includes libraries in the U.S. and Canada, was simple. "The ability to download good MARC records helps media specialists by eliminating, or greatly reducing, the need to do original cataloging for new books and other materials," notes McWilliams. The Sunlink page should be a major time-saver for librarians, she says, because it will allow them to download records right into their automation systems. Librarians outside Florida won't be able to download MARC records from Sunlink's libraries, though. The site is funded by the state legislature, so its download feature is password protected and therefore available only to its member schools.