MeSH in MARC Format
General Information
- Understanding MARC Authority Records: Machine-Readable Cataloging. This information is from the US Library of Congress. It gives a general overview of MARC Authority Records and how they are used.
MeSH/MARC file release dates
- The annual MeSH/MARC files are released in November prior to the calendar year of their intended use. For example, the annual update of 2018 MeSH/MARC was released in November of 2017.
- If MeSH data changes in the middle of the year, the changes will appear in a monthly full file and the change file. Note that these monthly change files will include only changes made during that month and the changes are not cumulative. However, full files are also made available whenever a change file is released. When mid-year change files are available they will appear on the MARC FTP download site (see below). There may be months without a change file.
MeSH/MARC File Types
- MARC Sample file
- This is a smaller file primarily used for testing and evaluation purposes. It contains 41 descriptor records, 82 qualifier records, and 869 descriptor/qualifier combinations, for a total of 993 records.
- MARC sample label file
- This file provides size and other statistics for the matching sample data file.
- Update-only files
- These files contain new and modified terms with descriptor records and descriptor/qualifier combinations. Please remember use all the files since your last update to get all the changes.
- Update Label Files
- Provide size and other statistics for the update files.
- Full Release Files
- Contains all terms with descriptor records, qualifier records, and descriptor/qualifier combination records.
- Full Label Files
- Provides size and other statistics for the full file.
Downloading MeSH/MARC files
All files are directly accessed via our FTP directory. The data are in extended 8-bit US MARC ASCII. The file can only be transferred via FTP into a saved file. A file extension of ".bin" has been used to prompt the local receiving computer to automatically open a file to save the data.
FTP Site:
All files are available at: ftp://nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov/online/mesh/MESH_FILES/meshmarc/ where you will also see additional metadata such as file size and upload date.
The naming convention for the files follows this pattern: they are prefixed with the YearMonthDate (i.e. 20160101 = Jan 1, 2016) followed by the filename (see examples below).
MeSH/MARC File Examples (2016 data)
| Date | Time | File Size | File Name | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09/02/2016 | 08:04AM | 77 | 20160901_label_marc_change.bin | = MARC Label for Change File from Sept 1, 2016 |
| 09/02/2016 | 08:04AM | 79 | 20160901_label_marc_full.bin | = MARC Label for Full File from Sept 1, 2016 |
| 09/02/2016 | 08:04AM | 15,891,881 | 20160901_marc_change.bin | = MARC Change File from Sept 1, 2016 |
| 09/02/2016 | 08:04AM | 165,696,962 | 20160901_marc_full.bin | = MARC Full File Sept 1, 2016 |
| 09/29/2016 | 01:49PM | 74 | 20161001_label_marc_change.bin | = MARC Label for Change File from Oct 1, 2016 |
| 09/29/2016 | 01:49PM | 79 | 20161001_label_marc_full.bin | = MARC Label for Full File from Oct 1, 2016 |
| 09/29/2016 | 01:48PM | 12,938 | 20161001_marc_change.bin | = MARC Change File from Oct 1, 2016 |
| 09/29/2016 | 01:49PM | 165,708,170 | 20161001_marc_full.bin | = MARC Full File from Oct 1, 2016 |
For further information about the organization of files and file naming conventions visit our MeSH FTP guide.
Have questions concerning the content of MeSH/MARC files, downloading from FTP, or just want to provide feedback?
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Last Reviewed: April 20, 2022