At the Subcommittee on MARC Formats' open meeting, several topics of interest were discussed. Attendees were first brought up-to-date on the status of the form of musical composition codes in bibliographic records (008/18-19 and 047). As a result of comments received by the Subcommittee in Atlanta, a recommendation that the status of the codes remain the same for the time being was submitted to the MARC Standards Office at the Library of Congress in the Spring. There has been no further activity concerning these codes.

The implementation of the musical sharp sign continues to be of interest. It was reported that the current status of the musical sharp sign is that there are plans for implementation by the Library of Congress but that there is no timetable for this implementation. The Subcommittee will announce any change in this status.

Issues of format integration also continues to be a topic of great interest. Kathy Glennan presented a summary of the changes included in the final phase of format integration which is scheduled to occur on March 4, 1996.

New business included a discussion of the current move underway to align formats (USMARC), (CAN/MARC) and (UKMARC). Specific changes suggested by CAN/MARC users to facilitate alignment with the USMARC Bibliographic Format, that have implications for music materials, were discussed. These comments, and others received by April 1, will be forwarded to the MARC Standards Office.

Finally, subcommittee members and attendees discussed current uses of the 028 and 037 fields and how those fields might be defined to better reflect current practice. Anyone wishing to contribute to that discussion may contact any subcommittee member.

Karen Little

Chair, Subcommittee on MARC Formats

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Last updated February 10, 2000