How MARCReady Handles Your Catalogue Data

How MARCReady processes uploaded catalogue files, what data is retained, and how optional anonymised contribution works.

MARCReady is designed for bibliographic catalogue records. This article explains what happens when you upload a file, what data is retained, and what you should not upload.

This is a practical summary. For formal wording, see the Privacy and GDPR page and Terms.

What MARCReady is designed to process

MARCReady is designed for bibliographic catalogue records including MARC21 files, MARCXML files, MRK files, and CSV, TSV, Excel, and JSON catalogue exports.

MARCReady is not designed for patron or borrower records.

What not to upload

Do not upload files containing: patron names, patron addresses, patron email addresses, borrower records, circulation history, fines or payment history, staff account exports, passwords or credentials, or sensitive personal notes unrelated to bibliographic description.

If such data is uploaded by mistake, contact [email protected] so KohaSupport can help arrange deletion.

What happens when you upload a file

When you upload a file to MARCReady:

  1. The file is stored temporarily for processing.
  2. MARCReady analyses the file format and structure.
  3. Kai may assist with field mapping and repair suggestions.
  4. You review the preview and suggested changes.
  5. MARCReady creates output files where export is available.
  6. Uploaded source files and processed outputs are deleted according to the published retention schedule.

Standard retention

Data Purpose Retention
Uploaded source file Processing and review Deleted within 2 days after processing is complete
Preview and processed output Review and export download Up to 90 days
File hash Duplicate handling and deterministic preview selection Same as processed output
Temporary bibliographic cache Avoid redundant processing Up to 90 days

Optional anonymised contribution

MARCReady includes an optional opt-in setting called “Contribute anonymised MARC correction examples”. This setting is disabled by default.

If you enable it, KohaSupport may use selected anonymised bibliographic correction examples to improve MARCReady’s repair quality. You can use MARCReady without enabling this option. Contribution can be disabled at any time.

This optional contribution should not include patron data, borrower records, circulation history, payment data, staff accounts, passwords, or uploaded source files as complete files.

Use of Amazon Bedrock

MARCReady may use Amazon Bedrock for AI-assisted MARC field mapping and repair suggestions. Amazon Bedrock is an AWS managed AI service. AWS states that Bedrock does not use customer prompts or outputs to train Amazon or third-party foundation models.

KohaSupport’s optional MARCReady improvement contribution is separate from Amazon Bedrock’s foundation model training. If you choose to contribute anonymised correction examples, those examples are used only to improve MARCReady.

Payment processing

MARCReady paid plans are billed through Stripe. KohaSupport does not store payment card details directly.

Next Steps

More in Koha System

Was this article helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!