diff --git a/lib/md_tools.sh b/lib/md_tools.sh
index 6e04d80..0707664 100755
--- a/lib/md_tools.sh
+++ b/lib/md_tools.sh
@@ -85,6 +85,10 @@ getEntityFromFile () {
 		echo "ERROR: $FUNCNAME: directory does not exist: $LIB_DIR" >&2
 		return 2
 	fi
+	if [ ! -f "$LIB_DIR/extract_entity.xsl" ]; then
+		echo "ERROR: $FUNCNAME: stylesheet does not exist: $LIB_DIR/extract_entity.xsl" >&2
+		return 2
+	fi
 	
 	# get the entity descriptor from the metadata file using parameterized xslt
 	entityDescriptor=$( /bin/cat $md_path \