If you plan to use MeSH headings in your instance, be sure to read and comply with the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.

U.S. National Library of Medicine authority records (MeSH) are available to download through the Medical Subject Headings web page. Just click the “Download MeSH Data” link and pick the appropriate link under “MARC 21 Format.” The file you need will be named using the format “YYYYMMDD_marc_fullYYYY.bin.”

Because VuFind®'s default import tool expects binary MARC files to have a .mrc extension instead of a .bin extension, you will need to rename the file after downloading it.

A $VUFIND_LOCAL_DIR/import/marc_mesh.properties has to be built in order to correctly map the authority fields used in MeSH (you can refer to marc_auth.properties to see the defaults that you are overriding).

This example should work in recent VuFind® releases, though you may wish to make adjustments to meet local preferences:

id = 001, (pattern_map.id_prefix), first
pattern_map.id_prefix.pattern_0 = (.+)=>mesh_$1
source = "U.S. National Library of Medicine authority records (MeSH)"
heading = 100abcdegjqt:110abcdegjqt:111abcdegjqt:130abcdegjqt:150abvxyz:151avxy:155avxyz:180vxyz:181vxyz:182vxyz:185vxyz
use_for = 400abcdegjqt:410abcdegjqt:411abcdegjqt:430abcdegjqt:450abvxyz:451avxy:455avxyz:480vxyz:481vxyz:482vxyz:485vxyz
see_also = 500abcdegjqt:510abcdegjqt:511abcdegjqt:530abcdegjqt:550abvxyz:551avxy:555avxyz:580vxyz:581vxyz:582vxyz:585vxyz
scope_note = custom, getAllSubfields(667:680:688, " ")

Once the properties file is in place, the file can be imported with:

cd $VUFIND_HOME
./import-marc-auth.sh /path/to/YYYYMMDD_marc_fullYYYY.mrc marc_mesh.properties