Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
February 4-6, 1995

MARBI and the USMARC Advisory Group met in three sessions during the ALA convention. Priscilla Caplan (Harvard University) chaired the sessions.

Of particular interest to music librarians was Discussion Paper No. 81 on the form of music codes in bibliographic records (008/18-19 and 047). The Subcommittee on MARC Formats will gather information on the music community's desire to either expand the list of form terms or recommend that these bytes and the field be made obsolete.

The implementation of Proposal No. 95-2 by the Library of Congress for Library of Congress Subject Headings will also affect music libraries. Details on their implementation plans have not been announced. Library of Congress representatives also distributed a new discussion paper No. 84, titled Changes to the Form of Library of Congress Control Numbers. This paper discusses options that they have as they enter their second century of the use of LCCNs. Although it is a local data element, it is known to be widely used. With that in mind and with the certainty that the Library of Congress will need to change its internal processing to handle the second century of assignments of this number, they are interested in comments on the impact to users of the various options under consideration. The discussion paper is posted on LC MARVEL and comments can be sent to USMARC@LOC.GOV or to SMCC@LOC.GOV.

The phased approach to format integration is proceeding on schedule at the Library of Congress. Format integration is complete for fields 010-999 with the final phase comprising the remaining fields to be completed by the end of 1995.

Proposals

94-10: Encoding of Patent Information in the USMARC Bibliographic Format (no vote taken; referred back for clarification and revision)

This proposal called for adding specific guidelines for the treatment of patent information in the bibliographic format, suggesting the definition of new data elements to accommodate certain patent information and the need to map it to a new field. The questions could not be answered by those in attendance.

94-17A: Definition of Field 786 in the USMARC Bibliographic Format (Approved electronically with amendments)

This proposal is an addendum to Proposal 94-17, considered by MARBI in June 1994, and considered the addition of field 786 (Data Source Entry) to be used to record information pertaining to a data source to which the described item is related. Its approval, given electronically prior to the MARBI meeting in Philadelphia, is provisional, consistent with other new fields in the original proposal.

95-1: Chang es to Field 856 (Electronic Location and Access) in the USMARC Bibliographic Format (Approved, with minor changes)

This paper proposed the addition of three subfields and a new first indicator to indicate dial-up access. The three new data elements are dial-up telephone number, bits per second, and settings (databits, stopbits, and parity). A request will be made to ISO to work on guidelines for formatting telephone numbers.

95-2: Defin ition of Subfield $v for Form Subdivisions in the USMARC Bibliographic Format (Approved)

This paper proposed a new subfield $v for form subdivisions in fields 6xx in the bibliographic format and in parallel fields in the authority, classification, and community information formats. New fields were also proposed for subdivision headings in the authority format. It was agreed that it is necessary to support both the $v and 655 (Index Term–Genre Form), that some terms will be problematic because of their dual-functioning nature, and that while minimal implementation is an alternative, full implementation with retrospective conversion, not all of which can be done by machine manipulation, would improve the benefit to users.

95-3: Addit ion of Subfield $6 (Linkage), Field 066 (Character Sets Present) and Field 880 (Alternate Graphic Representation) to the USMARC Holdings Format (Approved, with minor changes)

This proposal called for the addition of a subfield and fields to allow for linking pairs of fields that are alternate graphic representations (non-Roman data) of each other in the holdings format. This brings the holdings format in line with other formats that already have these fields defined.

95-4: Merge r of the 27X Fields in the USMARC Format for Community Information (no vote taken; referred to PLA for additional input)

This proposal called for merging fields 271 (Additional Address) and field 275 (Address Associated with Title) with field 270 (Primary Address) in the community information format to align it with the newly defined field 270 (Address) in the bibliographic format. Discussion showed that it was unclear to the Advisory Group exactly what the needs of the users of the community information and the bibliographic formats were. As this impacts the decision to align the fields or not, the proposal was referred back in order to gather more information.

95-5: Addit ion of Subfield $b to Field 154 (General Explanatory Index Term) in the USMARC Classification Format (Approved)

The addition of subfield $b to field 154 is needed for the Library of Congress classification scheme when a general term refers the user to another term because there is not one classification number from which to refer. The approval of this proposal permits the recording of a succeeding level or subdivision of a general explanatory index term in the classification format.

95-6: Linki ng Code for Reproduction Information in the USMARC Bibliographic Format (no vote taken; will reappear in modified version)

This paper proposed the use of a code to mark fields pertaining to a reproduction that are added to a record for an original when creating the record for the reproduction. The newly defined subfield $8 (Field Link and Sequence Number) would be used to identify the added fields. Lengthy discussion regarding the need to communicate this information through separate records, the need for the subfield's use, once defined, to be required, and the perspective that the information in the 533 should be broken out of that field ensued. Little consensus was reached.

95-7: Chang e of tag 310 to 307 in the USMARC Format for Community Information (Approved)

This proposal called for changing the tag used for hours, etc. in the community information format from 310 to 307 in order to align it with the bibliographic format.

Discussion Papers

DP 80: Defining a Component Item Entry Field in the USMARC Bibliographic Format

This paper explored whether a field should be defined in the linking entry of block fields to contain information about items that are constituents or elements of the item being catalogued or contained in the collection, group, or set being catalogued. A need for work on the definition of component part was noted and the relationship of this with analytic records was discussed. A revised discussion paper, with the various options outlined, will be prepared.

DP 81: Form of Music Composition Codes in Bibliographic Records

This paper explored the need to represent form of composition and genre for music as coded values in field 008 for music and whether new codes should be added for forms/genres not currently assigned specific codes. Discussion confirmed the appropriateness of reviewing these fields as the current list of codes is inadequate. Questions were raised regarding the amount of use is currently made of the field and the number of institutions inputting the coded information. Additional information will be gathered from the music community with the expectation that a proposal may follow.

DP 82: Merging Field 755 with Field 655 in the USMARC Bibliographic Format

This paper discussed the impact of merging field 755 (Added Entry– Physical Characteristics) with field 655 (Index Term–Genre Form), making field 755 obsolete. As distinction between the two fields was seen as difficult to make and no one in attendance was aware of any use of separate indexes for these fields, this discussion paper will appear on USMARC-L as a proposal and will be voted on electronically before June's ALA meeting.

DP 83: USMARC Authority Records for Genre/Form Terms

This paper discussed providing authority control for genre/form terms used in field 655 (Index Term–Genre Form). Although concern was expressed that defining fields 155, 455, 555, and 755 in the authority format would set a precedent for defining new fields for authority control for occupation (x56) and Function (x57), it was decided to have this discussion paper brought back as a proposal outlining that option.

 

Submitted by: Karen Little

Chair, Subcommittee on MARC Formats

17 February 1995

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