Understanding the MARCReady Free Preview

MARCReady offers a free preview so you can evaluate AI-assisted MARC repair before committing to a subscription. This article explains exactly what the free preview includes and how it differs from a paid plan.

What the free preview does

When you upload a catalogue file, MARCReady selects a sample of records and runs the same analysis and repair-suggestion process used for paid jobs. You can inspect the results, see which fields were flagged and why, and review Kai’s suggestions — before paying anything.

How records are selected

The preview always selects the same records from the same file. The selection is derived from a hash of your file contents, so uploading the same file twice will always show the same preview records. This ensures your evaluation is consistent and not affected by chance.

Free preview limits

Once you reach the monthly limit, MARCReady will prompt you to upgrade. The counter resets at the start of each calendar month.

What’s different in the preview vs. a paid export

The free preview is intended for evaluation. To keep the free preview suitable for evaluation rather than production import, preview results have two differences from paid exports:

• Partial field masking — you can see how many fields were fixed and what type of fixes were applied, but some corrected field values are shown as ••••. You can see the fix count and the repair logic, but not all corrected values.
• Preview watermark — a MARC 583 note field is included in preview records indicating they are not ready for direct import. This field is removed in paid exports.

Do not import preview records into a live catalogue.

Neither of these affects your ability to evaluate whether MARCReady’s repairs are correct for your data — the fix count, field tags, and repair explanations are all visible. The masking only obscures the corrected subfield values themselves.

Upgrading to a paid plan

Visit kohasupport.com/marcready to see available plans. Paid subscribers can:

• Process their full catalogue (no record limit)
• Export clean MARC21 (.mrc) and MARCXML files ready for import into Koha or any other library system
• Access all corrected field values without masking

Questions?

Contact [email protected] or visit kohasupport.com/contact/.