On Thu, 7 Apr 1994, Margaret Byrne wrote:
 
> We have just purchased GENCAT, a relational database program built on
> ADVANCED REVELATION software. What is different about it as opposed to
> virtually all relational systems out there is that fields are of
> unlimited length, can repeat as often as needed, and support subfields.
> We have also purchased the MARC import/export add-on module, which is
> very recent, as it wasn't available, I don't think, until a short while
> ago.
 
I have heard good things about GENCAT, but off the top of my head I can
think of several Relational DB products which support unlimited length fields.
 
At the DMA we use ARGUS release 8.x, made by QUESTOR Systems in Pasadena,
CA, which does support infinitely-repeatable unlimited length fields,
which can be word or phrase-parsed and indexed.  ARGUS 8.x fields (called
"Superfields," a designation that is a little too snappy for my tastes)
can also include subfields with field delimiters of your choice (thus it
can be configured to be MARC compatible).
Superfields can be free-text, or controlled by an online thesaurus, which
can be customized to fit the needs of the user/institution.  The online
text editor is a bit clunky to use, and will not bold or italicize text
(it does support diacritics), but changing free-text data is certainly no
problem.  The system even includes a field modification utility that
allows you to "search and replace" words (e.g., change all occurences of
'car' to 'automobile') in a free text field for individual
records or groups of records.
 
ARGUS also includes a powerful import/export utility, which can import or
export data to and from MARC or virtually any other format. The user can
program an import/export function via a macro system, or have the tech
support people at QUESTOR do it for them.
 
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