diff --git a/lib/parse.C b/lib/parse.C
index fb046084ba..ad4f220784 100644
--- a/lib/parse.C
+++ b/lib/parse.C
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 
 #include <string.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string>
 
 #include "error_numbers.h"
 #include "util.h"
@@ -219,3 +220,39 @@ char* sgets(char* buf, int len, char*& in) {
     in = p+1;
     return buf;
 }
+
+bool extract_xml_record(const std::string &field, const char *tag, std::string &record) {
+  std::string::size_type start_pos,end_pos,m;
+    char end_tag[256];
+    sprintf(end_tag,"/%s",tag);
+    std::string::size_type i=0,j=0;
+
+    // find the end tag 
+    do {
+      j=field.find(">",j+1);
+      end_pos=field.rfind(end_tag,j,j-i+1);
+      i=field.rfind("<",j,j-i);
+    } while ((end_pos==std::string::npos) && (j!=std::string::npos));
+    if (j!=std::string::npos) {
+      end_pos=j;
+    } else {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    // find the start tag
+    j--; i=0;
+    do {
+      j=field.rfind(">",j-1);
+      start_pos=field.rfind(tag,j,j-i+1);
+      i=field.rfind("<",j,j-i+1);
+      m=field.rfind("/",j,j-i+1);
+    } while (((m!=std::string::npos) || (start_pos==std::string::npos)) && (i!=std::string::npos));
+    if (i!=std::string::npos) {
+      start_pos==i;
+    } else {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    record=std::string(field,start_pos,end_pos-start_pos+1);
+    return true;
+}
diff --git a/lib/parse.h b/lib/parse.h
index 85fb0ad4f0..5834289b6d 100644
--- a/lib/parse.h
+++ b/lib/parse.h
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 //
 
 #include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string>
 
 extern bool parse(char*, char*);
 extern bool parse_int(char*, char*, int&);
@@ -33,3 +35,5 @@ extern int read_file_malloc(char* pathname, char*& str);
 extern void replace_element(char* buf, char* start, char* end, char* replacement);
 extern void extract_venue(char* in, char* venue_name, char* out);
 extern char* sgets(char* buf, int len, char* &in);
+extern bool extract_xml_record(const std::string &field, const char *tag, std::string &record);
+