diff --git a/module/VuFind/src/VuFind/RecordDriver/Feature/MarcReaderTrait.php b/module/VuFind/src/VuFind/RecordDriver/Feature/MarcReaderTrait.php
index 0d16ce4c39d..bc2f3081af8 100644
--- a/module/VuFind/src/VuFind/RecordDriver/Feature/MarcReaderTrait.php
+++ b/module/VuFind/src/VuFind/RecordDriver/Feature/MarcReaderTrait.php
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ public function getRawMarcData()
                 break;
             }
         }
-        if (!isset($this->fields[$preferredMarcField])) {
+        if (empty($this->fields[$preferredMarcField])) {
             throw new \Exception('Missing MARC data in record ' . $this->getUniqueId());
         }
         return trim($this->fields[$preferredMarcField]);