Descriptive Cataloguing 2 - MARC.pdf - The Study Stream

MARC

Outline 

• Instructions for Rate your Instructor 

• Recap 

• Assignment 1 resutls 

• MLA vs. APA exercise discussion 

• MARC 

• Next week 

• Readings 

• Assignment 2 (15%)

Rate your Instructor 

• Individually and anonymously 

• Write on a piece of paper 

• Anything about this class you feel I should know 

• What I should try to change 

• Style of presentation 

• Visual Supports 

• D2L, etc. 

• Drop at the front by the end of this class

Recap 

• Panizzi, Cutter (Rules) 

• AAR, Paris Principles, AACR 

• AACR2 

• Part 1 and 2 

• Description, i Name access, Subject Analysis, Record 

Formatting, organization 

• Chapters (13) 

• ISBD parts (8) 

• Finding the right rule 

• E.g., publishing cities, width

Assignment Results 

Average: 82% 

Median: 80% 

×1.15

Assignment results: Search Engines 

• Search engines are great for introductory information 

about a subject 

• Search engines don’t (yet) deliver full‐text of most 

modern works 

• Someone has to pay (Books, articles, etc.) 

• Search engines cannot group everything unless you 

can come up with all the right words 

• Reliability can be good with search engines 

• For example: Limit results to sites with .edu or .gov 

• Having multiple keywords is NOT an advanced search

Assignment Results: OPAC 

• Keyword searching is not very useful with an OPAC 

• Why 

• Just like card catalogues, OPACs are meant to be searched 

using predefined terms (authorities) 

• Author name 

• Pre‐defined dfi d subject terms (single or multi‐word phrases) 

• This allows the OPAC to absolutely show what was written 

by someone vs. what was written about someone 

• For the UWM collection: 29 written by, 3 about 

• Adding keywords necessarily eliminates results 

• Eg E.g., Library, 1980

Assignment results 

• Be careful about being adequately specific 

• “Google can do XYZ”, or “OPACs can do TUV” 

• How dd did these features help hl you in this case

http://www.tcnj.edu/~writing/students/citing/mlavsapa.html

MLA vs. APA 

• Who and when the information was published are 

important for APA 

• Who and which work is referenced are important for MLA 

• Timeless quality of works in humanities 

• MLA Handbook provides much more detail about citing 

books, anthologies, audiovisual material, and other sources 

like interviews, advertisements, and cartoons 

• The emphasis in the APA Publication i Manual is on sources 

typically encountered in advanced research, such as 

technical reports, proceedings of meetings, and 

dissertations.

Understanding MARC 

• Understanding MARC by Betty Furrie is a good 

manual for common MARC fields: 

http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/ 

• Part 1: what is MARC and how is it used 

• Part 2: common fields explained, with examples 

• Part 3: Longer examples

MARC 21 

• International standard based on ISO 2709 

• Information and documentation ‐ Format for information 

exchange 

• Various Standards 

• Bibliographic data 

• Authority data 

• Community Information 

• Holdings 

• Classification 

• Developed from country specific versions of MARC 

(USMARC and CANMARC) 

• http://www.loc.gov/marc/ 

p// / /

Issues with MARC 

• Requires training to use properly and frequently 

updated so retraining may be needed 

• MARC is a specialised ili interchange format and does 

not mesh well with newer formats 

• However rich bibliographic data is important for 

• However, rich bibliographic data is important for 

improving search and retrieval

MARC Records 

• MARC (Machine Readable) format was designed to 

allow computers to print bibliographic records 

• MARC has since been used to make bibliographic 

records machine readable for use in online catalogues 

• AACR2 provides the data values and MARC21 provides 

the data format. 

• a MARC record consists of: 

• an OCLC header 

• numbered fields of bibliographic info

Raw MARC Record 

01271cam2200277a45000010009000000050017000090080041000269060045000679250044 

001129550166001560100017003220200038003390200035003770400018004120500022004 

300820014004521000029004662450046004952600049005413000035005905040064006255 

05018500689650001400874700002200888856008300910#15258260#20090831125647.0#00#0 

80411s2008 nyua b 001 0 eng # #a7#bcbc#corignew#d1#eecip#f20#gy‐gencatlg#0 

#aacquire#b2 shelf copies#xpolicy default# #alh39 2008‐04‐11#ilh39 2008‐04‐11#elh39 2008‐ 

04‐11 to Dewey#aaa20 2008‐04‐15#aps04 2008‐06‐20 1 copy rec'd., to CIP ver.#flh36 2008‐ 

06‐27#glh36 2008‐06‐2706 27 to BCCD# #a 2008015176# #a9781555706357 (pbk. : alk. paper)# 

#a1555706355 (pbk. : alk. paper)# #aDLC#cDLC#dDLC#00#aZ666.7#b.Z46 

2008#00#a025.3#222#1 #aZeng, Marcia Lei,#d1956‐#10#aMetadata /#cMarcia Lei Zeng and 

Jian Qin.# #aNew York :#bNeal‐Schuman Publishers,#cc2008.# #axvii, 365 p. :#bill. ;#c23 cm.# 

#aIncludes bibliographical l references (p. 327‐353) 353) and index.#0 #0#aIntroduction ti ‐‐ Current 

standards ‐‐ Schemas : structure and semantics ‐‐ Schemas : syntax ‐‐ Metadata records ‐‐ 

Metadata services ‐‐ Metadata quality measurement and improvement.# 0#aMetadata.#1 

#aQin, Jian,#d1956‐#41#3Table of contents 

only#uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0816/2008015176.html## 

l#htt l / tdi /t / i l##

MARC leader 

• The first 23 characters of the raw MARC record 

• Specify type of material, bibliographic level, type of 

description, i etc. 

• Defines lengths of directory fields

MARC Leader 

012345678901234567890123 

01271cam2200277a45000010009000000050017000090080041000269060045000679250044 

001129550166001560100017003220200038003390200035003770400018004120500022004 

300820014004521000029004662450046004952600049005413000035005905040064006255 

05018500689650001400874700002200888856008300910#15258260#20090831125647.0#00#0 













l#htt l / tdi /t / i l## 

http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/ecbdlist.html

MARC Directory 

• After the leader (starts at the 24 th character) 

• Every chunk of 12 numbers defines a field to be found 

in the record 

• 3 digits for the field tag (e.g., 245 for title) 

• 4 digits for the length 

• How long is the information for that field 

• 5 digits for starting position 

• Where in the record you can find information for that field


0123456789012345678901234 23456789012123456789012123456789012123456789012… 

01271cam2200277a45000010009000000050017000090080041000269060045000679250044 

001129550166001560100017003220200038003390200035003770400018004120500022004 

123456789012123456789012 

300820014004521000029004662450046004952600049005413000035005905040064006255 

05018500689650001400874700002200888856008300910#15258260#20090831125647.0#00#0 
















• the 245 field (Title) is 0046 characters long and starts at 

position 00495 in the record 

• the 260 (Publication) field is 0049 characters long and 

starts at 00541 

• Makes sense since 

• 495 + 46 = 541 

• Which means the next field should start at position 

• 541 + 49 = 590 

• Let’s check!!! 

http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/


01271cam2200277a45000010009000000050017000090080041000269060045000679250044 

001129550166001560100017003220200038003390200035003770400018004120500022004 

123456789012123456789012 

300820014004521000029004662450046004952600049005413000035005905040064006255 

05018500689650001400874700002200888856008300910#15258260#20090831125647.0#00#0 















MARC for Different Users 

• MARC records have different appearances depending 

on the tool used for display: 

• http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um11to12.html 

/ / h l 

• Each format provides different levels of detail: 

• Communications format: field lengths for the computer 

• Local system record: fields are named to aid entry 

• OPAC displays: named fields, MARC is hidden

MARC fields, indicators, subfields 

• Each field has a three digit number which identifies which 

information is in the field 

• 245 is for “title” tte 

• Fields may have additional numbers (field level indicators) 

indicating additional information 

• 245 00 

• first number after the field tag indicates whether to add entry for 

title 

• second number indicates whether to skip articles when filing 

• Items like $s, $c represent additional information about the 

field (subfield level indicators) 

• e.g. 245 10 $a Metadata tdt / $c Marcia Lei Zeng and Jian Qin. 


MARC Parts 

Tag 

Indicator(s) 

Subfield(s) 


Some Important MARC Fields 

• 050 –LCC 

• 082 – DDC 

• 100 ‐ Main Entry 

• 245 ‐ Title and Statement of Responsibility 

• Start of Description 

• 250 ‐ Edition 

• 260 ‐ Publisher 

• 300 ‐ Physical Description 

• 490 –Series 

• 504 : notes 

• End of Description 

• 650 ‐ Subject headings 

• 700 –Names

Access Points 

• Access points represent the intellectual content of an 

item 

• These may include Author, Title, Editor and Series as 

well as Subject Headings 

• They always contained in the 

• 1xx : Main Entry 

• What used to be at the top of the catalogue card 

• 6xx : Subjects 

• 7xx : Added entries 

• 700: personal name, 710: corporate name, etc.) 

• 8xx : Series entries 


Subject Headings 

• From a controlled vocabulary 

• Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) 

• Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) 

• Used to index items by topic 

• Classification i systems also index by topic 

• use combinations of numbers or letters rather that 

words 

• Call numbers are built from a classification system

Sample Record with Access Points 

How libraries must comply with the Americans With Disabilities 

Act (ADA) / compiled and edited by Donald D. Foos and Nancy 

C. Pack. – Phoenix : Oryx Press, 1992. – xxii, 168 p. ; 23 cm. – 

Foreword by Gerald Jahoda. Includes bibliographical references 

and index. – ISBN 0‐89774‐760‐7. 

1. Libraries and people with disabilities‐‐United States. 2. People 

with disabilities‐‐Legal status, laws, etc.—United States. 

I. Foos, Donald D. II. Pack, Nancy C. III. Jahoda, Gerald. 

027.663 

Z711.92.H3 .H6 1992 

LCCN 92‐003796 (added by library of congress)

Subject Headings in MARC 

• Subject headings are 650 fields 

• The number (indicator) after 650 indicates which 

controlled vocabulary (CV) was used 

• There are multiple sources of CV 

• LCSH (Library of Congress Subject Headings) 

• MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) 

• Repertoire de vedettes‐matière (from Library and Archives of 

Canada) 

• Etc. 

• One item can have multiple subjects from any number of 

CV sources 


Deciphering i MARC 


Making MARC

GMD (General Material Designator) 

• Describe the medium or form of the item 

• AACR2: placed in square brackets after title 

• MARC: subfield $h 

• Examples of GMDs include: 

[ t i i l] [b ill ] [ h t] [ l t i ] 

• [art original], [braille], [chart], [electronic resource], 

[flash card], [game], [kit], [microform], [picture], 

[realia], [sound recording], [toy], [videorecording], 

[videorecording (DVD)], etc.

GMD Example: A Board Game 

• AACR2 Area 1: 

• Professor Davensteev's library adventure [game] : the 

fun way to learn / [developed d by Steve Savitsky and 

David Savitsky]. 

• MARC: 

• 245 00 Professor Davensteev's library 

adventure$h[game] :$bthe fun way to learn 

/$c[developed d by Steve Savitsky and David Savitsky].

GMD Example: Toys in OPACs 

• Middle Country Public Library 

• Search "By Subject" for Toys in 

• http://www.mcpl.lib.ny.us/ 

• Cuyahoga County Library 

• Search for toy collection in 

• http://www.cuyahoga.lib.oh.us/

The Future of MARC 

• MARCXML 

• A way to convert from MARC to XML and back 

• Conversion toolkit 

• Style sheets (for display) 

• MODS 

• Metadata Object Description Schema 

• Takes part of MARC 

• Uses more intuitive textual element names 

• As opposed to number codes 

• Allows for creation of new records 

• Some see this as the new library encoding standard 

• http://lccn.loc.gov/2008015176

OCLC Assignment 

• OCLC is known and used by all librarians 

• MARC Practice 

• Contains answers

Next Week 

• Readings 

• Taylor Ch. 8 

• Sections 1‐3 of Hodge 2000 

• Descriptive Cataloguing Assignment 

• Part 1: Technical Reading of a Book 

• Part 2: AACR2 and MARC of an object

Descriptive Cataloguing 2 - MARC.pdf - The Study Stream

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