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Cataloging Tips and Tricks

Cataloging Tips and Tricks. Or, How I Learned to Love MARC. What is a MARC Record?. What does MARC mean? Why is a MARC record necessary? MARC terms and their definitions Where do MARC records originate? MARC data issues. MARC 21 Reference Materials.

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Cataloging Tips and Tricks

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  1. Cataloging Tips and Tricks Or, How I Learned to Love MARC (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  2. What is a MARC Record? • What does MARC mean? • Why is a MARC record necessary? • MARC terms and their definitions • Where do MARC records originate? • MARC data issues (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  3. MARC 21 Reference Materials • A summary of commonly used MARC 21 fields • A list of other fields often seen in MARC records • The leader • Field 008 for books • A sample record in various formats • AV records: From cards to MARC 21 (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  4. What Does MARC Mean? • A MARC record is a Machine-Readable Cataloging record • Machine-readable means a record which can be interpreted by a computer • A cataloging record is a bibliographic record which includes a description of the item, entries (such as title and author) by which the record can be searched, subject headings, and the call number • The rules which govern the development of the cataloging record are set forth in Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd ed., 2002 revision (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  5. Why Is a MARC Record Necessary? • A computer must be able read and interpret a bibliographic record correctly • For that to happen there need to be data “signposts” which refer to the various parts of the record in a standard way • Although anyone who is able to use a database program could devise suitable bibliographic records, standards enable records to be shared from system to system • MARC 21 is the standard, first developed by the Library of Congress as LC MARC in the 1960s, which is used by most library computer programs (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  6. MARC Terms and Their Definitions • FIELDS (e.g. author, title, physical description, etc.) are marked by TAGS (a 3-digit number) • Some fields are further defined by INDICATORS (numerals) • SUBFIELDS are marked by SUBFIELD CODES (usually a letter) and DELIMITERS • CONTENT DESIGNATORS is an inclusive term used to refer to tags, indicators, and subfield codes (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  7. Some General MARC Rules • Tags are divided by hundreds • 0XX Control information and codes • 1XX Main entry • 2XX Titles, edition, imprint • 3XX Physical description, etc. • 4XX Series statements • 5XX Notes • 6XX Subject added entries • 7XX Added entries other that subjects or series • 8XX Series added entries • 9XX Locally-defined uses, e.g. barcode numbers (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  8. Access Points • Access points are the headings for which separate cards were created for the card catalog, and which a patron or librarian can search in an online catalog • Most of the access points are in: • 1XX fields (main entries) • 4XX fields (series entries) • 6XX fields (subject access) • 7XX fields (other added entries) • 8XX fields (series added entries) (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  9. Authority Control • The use of established forms for the same access point is called authority control • Is it the “Getty Museum” or the “J. Paul Getty Museum”? • Is it “Twain, Mark” or Twain, Mark, 1835-1910” or “Clemens, Samuel, 1835-1910”? • Determining which form of a particular heading to use is essential for effective and efficient searching of our catalogs • Library of Congress Authorities gives the most comprehensive list of subject heading and for small libraries such as in schools, Sears List of Subject Headings is quite adequate but be careful about differences between the two systems. (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  10. Local Authority Control • Each library must make many decisions about what form its access points are going to take • The library should also establish appropriate cross-references to established forms from non-used forms, i.e. See references • A final purpose of the authority file is to lead the user from a particular form to various related forms, i.e. See also references (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  11. Parallel Content • The fields requiring authority control are also fields that use parallel tag construction • The parallel content can be summarized as follows: • X00Personal names • X10Corporate names • X11Meeting names • X30Uniform titles • X40Bibliographic titles • X50Topical terms • X51Geographic names (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  12. A Special Case: The 655 Field • The 655 field, Genre/Form Subject, is a special case • This field is relatively new but more and more records are appearing with this field • Sears seems to ignore the use of the field • What is GSAFD? • Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction, Drama, Etc. gives a list of genre and form headings • Also be aware of the subfield “v” for form subdivisions of subject headings (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  13. Leader • The leader is the first 24 characters of the record. • Each position is assigned a meaning which mostly for computer use • In some programs the leader may be edited if necessary • The most important positions in the leader for editing are the 6th position “type of record,” e.g. language material, cartographic material, etc. and then 8th position “bibliographic level,” e.g. monograph, serial, etc. (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  14. The 008 Field • Another important field is 008, the Fixed-Length Data Elements, or Fixed Field Codes • Here is where you can encode such information as dates of publication, place of publication, whether a book is large-print, the language of the book, and so on. • For items other than books, this field provides a place to encode information specific to the type of material being cataloged. E.g. for movies and videos, the length of the film and whether it is animated or live action. (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  15. Where Do MARC Records Originate? • MARC records may be obtained from many sources • Most library automation services and online catalogs provide access to MARC records • Examples: • Follett -- Alliance Plus • Sagebrush – MARC Source • Surpass Software -- Copycat • OCLC – Z39.50 Cataloging • Library of Congress – Online Catalog • Marcive – MarciveWeb SELECT • Your local public library -- MariNET (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  16. MARC Data Issues • Data questions • What is the quality of the MARC data? • Which MARC 21 fields are present? • Is the data based on Library of Congress MARC records? • Is anything added to the record (enhanced records) • Software questions • How does your automation system interpret the records? • Does it retain all the data and the MARC 21 content designators? (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

  17. References Access to many online resources discussed in this presentation, as well as the presentation itself, are available online: http://redwood.org/library/cataloging_aids.htm The chief source of information for this presentation is Understanding MARC Bibliographic, 7th ed. by Betty Furrie, available online: http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb. Also available in print from the Library of Congress and Follett Library Software. (C) 2004, Tom Kaun

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