Two-step record creation with APIs: an XML-based approach to creating and uploading MARC records from repository metadata for ETDs

West Virginia University Libraries was faced with a challenge that many libraries have had to tackle: transforming repository metadata for electronic theses and dissertations into MARC to improve the discovery of these resources. Using OCLC's WorldCat Metadata APIs, the metadata unit at WVU Libraries consolidated this process into a single script that is run when each semester's ETDs are received. This script combines python libraries for retrieving OAI-PMH metadata in XML, an XSLT transformation, and APIs to generate and upload MARC/XML records for ETDs from our research repository straight into OCLC. The inclusion of APIs means that these generated records are validated and batch-uploaded to WorldCat in one step, with a future goal of also integrating an API-based deduplication process into the workflow.