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Format Designation in MARC Records. A Look Under the Hood. Michael Doran Systems Librarian. First, a few words about…. Terminology. Type Medium Format Form. overlapping meanings.
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Format Designation in MARC Records A Look Under the Hood Michael Doran Systems Librarian
First, a few words about… Terminology • Type • Medium • Format • Form overlapping meanings
AACR2 (1976) and AACR2R (1988) use format to mean a “particular physical presentation of an item” but the term does not appear in AACR (1967, 1970). * * http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/f/format
Abstract => Concrete Book Intellectual form Printed book E-book (computer file) Audio book (e.g. on CD) Physical forms
Abstract => Concrete Movie Intellectual form Film strip DVD Streaming video Physical forms
Concrete => Abstract This object is a…? From a bibliographic perspective… • Book • (Bound) Serial • Manuscript • Artifact
Concrete => Abstract This object is a…? • CD ROM • DVD Containing… • Data • Music/sound • Video • Software • ???
Voyager OPAC • Patrons see two • “format” choices: • Type • Format
Jargon-y • Unclear • Ambiguous • Imprecise “Why are there two lists?” “Which choice is for movies on DVD?”
Jargon-y • Unclear • Ambiguous • Imprecise “Why are there two lists?” “Which choice is for movies on DVD?”
Staff see two • “format” choices: • Medium • Type
MARC Record Leader and Control Fields (mainly fixed-position fields) Variable Fields
MARC record Leader http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/ “Type” Important: Fixed field positions start at “0”
MARC record Leader “Type” 15 x 7 = 105 possible combinations (in theory)
How many “type” combinations actually exist in a typical database?
In UTA’s Voyager database (of ~ 1,600,000 bib records): 53 However the 12 used for type limits encompass 99% of our bib records.
Count of bib records per Leader/06-07 combination (UT Arlington Library - Voyager ILS) CountVoyager “Type” limit CountVoyager “Type” limit
Count of bib records per Leader/06-07 combination (UT Arlington Library - Voyager ILS) CountVoyager “Type” limit CountVoyager “Type” limit
Type Limit LDR/06-07 Using 12 Leader/06-07 combinations for “type” limits in Voyager
LDR/06-07 WebVoyage HTML code
limits.xml Add, remove, or rename “type” limits in the limits.xml file.
Voyager Indexing Reports.mdb • BIB_TEXT.BIB_FORMAT • 2-character field • value is Leader/06-07
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field Positions of most interest are the 00, 01, (and 04) Character position 00 “Category of material”
007/00 WebVoyage HTML code
limits.xml Add, remove, or rename “Format” limits in the limits.xml file.
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field Positions of most interest are the 00, 01, (and 04) Character position 00 “Category of material”
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field 00 Character position Once you choose a particular “Category of material” value, the remaining values in the 007 field are specific to that category. 01 Character position
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field 007/00 Category of material 007/01 Specific material designation 007/04 Videorecording format
Voyager Indexing Reports.mdb • BIB_MEDIUM.MEDIUM • 1-character field • value is field 007/00 Missing out on valuable format information.
Voyager Indexing • BIB_MEDIUM.MEDIUM • 1-character field • value is field 007/00 Missing out on valuable format information.
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field 36.8% of the collection
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field Count of bib records per 007/00 (UT Arlington Library - Voyager ILS) Mandatory if applicable (In “National Level Full”) Seems to suggest that the 007 field is seldom used for books and serials.
“Type” format Based on the MARC Leader positions 06/07. Not all “types” are represented by default. Although there are additional “types” these 12 will likely cover about 99% of your collection. Not very user-friendly.
“Format” format • Based on the 007 field, but only on the first position – so missing a lot of granularity. • Not all possible “formats” are represented. • Probably roughly 1/3 of your collection will be included in the search if this is used as a limit.
Traditional catalogs are not very user-friendly inregards to format limits.
“This looks better!” It is better. two lists But not as quite as good as it appears.