1999 Annual Report

Bibliographic Control Committee, Subcommittee on MARC Formats

Members:

Kathryn P. Glennan, chair; Janet Bochin (from April 1999); Paul Cauthen (from April 1999); Ian Fairclough (to March 1999); Alice LaSota; Ralph Papakhian; Robert Sherrane (from April 1999) William Walker; Jay Weitz; Steve Yusko; Christine Zuger (to Dec. 1988).

Activities:

As the MLA representative, Kathy Glennan attended the MARBI/MARC Advisory Committee meetings during ALA Midwinter and Annual meetings. At the February 1999 meetings, and after much debate, MARBI did not approve a proposal which suggested making certain pre-AACR2 fields obsolete (including those previously used for recording music publisher numbers). Also at this meeting, MARBI continued its discussion which will lead to a new way to mark non-filing characters. At the June 1999 meetings, MARBI debated how to code MARC Holdings for bound with materials and looked into alternatives for coding anonymous relationships. MLA has been asked to comment on whether there are relevant applications for a solution to this problem in our community. The lengthiest discussion focused on possible changes to the MARC21 formats as seriality is redefined in the cataloging rules.

At the Subcommittee's open meeting in Los Angeles, Kathy presented a summary of the MARBI structure and how changes are made to the various MARC formats. We also highlighted recent MARC format developments of interest to music catalogers and mentioned some far-reaching changes which may occur within the next five years.

During the spring, contents of the Subcommittee’s webpages expanded to include over four years’ worth of reports. See http:/www.musiclibraryassoc.org/BCC/MARC/MARC.html for more details. In addition, we continued to revise our charge, as part of the larger effort within the Bibliographic Control Committee.

Submitted by Kathryn P. Glennan

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Last updated April 18, 2000