BCC00/SMF/3
REPORT OF THE MARBI/MARC ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Chicago, IL
July 8-10, 2000
MARBI and the MARC Advisory Committee met concurrently in two sessions during the ALA
Annual Meeting in Chicago. In addition, the group met jointly with CC:DA to discuss the
relationship of XML and MARC. Chair Bruce Chr. Johnson (Library of Congress) led the
sessions.
Announcements:
The Library of Congress has now issued all formats in MARC 21, in printed versions. The
Community Information format is the last to be shipped. The Cataloger’s Desktop
includes the current Bibliographic and Authority formats; the Holdings format will be
added in the future, but probably not until Issue 4. The Classification format is also
expected in Issue 4.
LC has published the updated language code list; additional updated code lists for
countries, geographic areas, organizations, and relators are expected by the 4th quarter.
LC is working towards additions to the MARC 21 character set which would allow for
encoding of the spacing underscore and the spacing tilde for URLs; the current projected
implementation date is January 2001.
The structure of the LCCN will change in January 2001 to include a 2-character prefix and
a 4-digit year. Full details are available at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/lccn_structure.html
The incoming chair of MARBI is William Jones of NYU.
Proposals
2000-01R: Definition of
Subfield $z (Numbering scheme) in Fields 853-855 (Captions and Patterns) of the MARC 21
Holdings format (approved as amended)
This revised proposal incorporated additional, more precise numbering schemes for an
automated system to use when predicting the next issue expected for serials. The numbering
scheme may be in Arabic numerals, upper or lower case Roman, upper or lower case
alphabetic characters, symbols, or some combination of the above. Six positions were
defined for subfield z: type of designation, case, and script or type code. This new
subfield will codify and consolidate the practices of local systems which have had to
create their own alternatives before now.
2000-07: Definition of
Subfield $y (Link text) in Field 856 in all Formats (approved)
This paper proposed using link or anchor text instead of the URL when displaying field 856
contents to the public. Many libraries would prefer to put descriptive linking text in the
record instead of displaying the URL. Adding subfield y would allow for this information
to be in one place with clear guidelines to systems about what should be done with this
information. Discussion included a recommendation for the development of application
guidelines and a need to look at other MARC tags where the URL can be encoded to see if
similar subfields need to be added.
2000-08: Definition of
Additional Subfields in field 754 (Added Entry--Taxonomic Identification) in the
Bibliographic format (rejected)
This paper recommended a means of recording hierarchy when using taxonomic terms, which
apparently are only used by one institution. Currently these terms can only be recorded in
repeatable $a subfields, which cannot convey hierarchy. The discussion focused on the
parallels between this need and the model for recording the hierarchy in faceted subject
access in field 654. This proposal was rejected in its current form; it will return
rewritten to parallel the technique used in field 654, which will be more expandable.
2000-09: Changes to fields
052 and 058 in the Community Information format
(approved)
This paper proposed adding indicator values to field 052 the Community Information format
and making 058 in the same format obsolete. This is essentially documentation clean-up
resulting from format integration. The paper passed unanimously with no discussion.
Discussion Papers
DP 119: Seriality and MARC 21
This paper revisited issues relating to the possibility of seriality-related changes to
AACR2r and their impact on the MARC formats. The first discussion paper on this topic, DP 114, was discussed by MARBI in
June 1999. DP 119 identified five areas which might be affected by these changes. The
first was to create a new code in Leader/07 for integrating resources, which would be used
in conjunction with the serials 008. MARBI members were generally in favor of this
possibility. The second would add a code to the frequency byte in the serials 008 (and
006) which would indicate an electronic resource which is seamlessly updated. Some concern
was raised about how looseleafs relate to this concept. The third area is the serials
008/21 and 006/04 (Type of serial) which would need to incorporate a code for looseleafs
and possibly for web databases. Also, a code would need to be defined for the serials
008/34 and 006/17 (Successive/latest entry indicator) to identify integrating entries. A
new code would still allow institutions to retain their practice of updating records which
were coded as latest entry. Finally, the paper raised the issue of repeating field 260 for
changes in publisher, and possibly in place. This change needs to be looked at more
closely for its impact on multi-volume sets. This discussion paper is likely to come back
as more than one proposal, with the 260 issues addressed separately.
Reports
Mary Larsgaard (UCSB) reported on the highly successful metadata preconference, which was
attended by over 400 people. They are looking into the possibility of regional one-day
institutes as a follow-up. The proceedings of the preconference are expected by the ALA
Midwinter 2001 meeting. Larsgaard noted that the ballot is currently out for Dublin Core
to serve as a NISO standard.
John Espley (VTLS) stated that the East Asian Character Task Force has received Council on
East Asian Libraries’ approval and that they are targeting a proposal for Midwinter
2001.
The Unicode Task Force has resolved six of the seven issues under discussion after the
passage of Proposal 98-18 and a proposal is expected for Midwinter 2001.
The Multilingual Task Force has interim reports available on the ALA MARBI website. They
are focusing on the authority record and are looking for a general model.
The “Is MARC Dead” program, co-sponsored by MARBI and held on July 9, attracted
an overflow crowd. Even though it was a RUSA program, more members of the audience worked
in technical services or systems rather than reference. The program focused more on MARC
as the status quo rather than proposing alternatives.
Joint meeting with CC:DA
Dick Miller (Stanford University) presented the Lane Medical Library’s implementation
of XMLMARC and advanced his view that XML is a logical successor to MARC. This is largely
due to the growth of digital resources, the rise of XML as a de facto web standard, and
the flexibility inherent in XML. Paul Weiss (III) and Matthew Beacom (Yale) responded for
MARBI and CC:DA respectively. Although there was not a whole-hearted endorsement of XML as
the immediate successor to MARC, the discussion will continue, possibly with the ALCTS
Networked Resources & Metadata Committee.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Glennan
Chair, Subcommittee on MARC Formats
Music Library Association Liaison to MARC Advisory Committee
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Last updated August 18, 2000