diff --git a/oaipmh-core/src/main/java/info/textgrid/middleware/OAIPMHImpl.java b/oaipmh-core/src/main/java/info/textgrid/middleware/OAIPMHImpl.java
index 9fac07e2066b67d0c27dd983acf45f03c0c24d6c..3fa9b176bc43f5f15e4c994d788197c6c2977d05 100644
--- a/oaipmh-core/src/main/java/info/textgrid/middleware/OAIPMHImpl.java
+++ b/oaipmh-core/src/main/java/info/textgrid/middleware/OAIPMHImpl.java
@@ -688,7 +688,7 @@ public class OAIPMHImpl implements OAIPMHProducer {
     String schemaLocations =
         OAIPMHUtilities.OAIPMH_NAMESPACE + " " + OAIPMHUtilities.OAIPMH_SCHEMA_LOCATION;
     // Add OAI_DC and DC schema location if needed.
-    if (theVerb.equals("GetRecord") || theVerb.endsWith("ListRecords")) {
+    if (theVerb!=null && (theVerb.equals("GetRecord") || theVerb.endsWith("ListRecords"))) {
       schemaLocations +=
           OAIPMHUtilities.OAIDC_NAMESPACE + " " + OAIPMHUtilities.OAIDC_SCHEMA_LOCATION +
               " " + OAIPMHUtilities.DC_NAMESPACE + " " + OAIPMHUtilities.DC_SCHEMA_LOCATION;