January/February 2006
Demystifying MARC
Sandra Q. Williams
For years, librarians used cards in drawers to provide access to collections. With the move to computer automated systems, catalogers needed to develop a standardized system to enable catalog records to be interpreted or read by the computer, a machine. In the 1960s, the Library of Congress (LC) developed the MARC format for use with its collections. Since proving useful for the millions of records held at LC, MARC has become the standard format that all libraries now use to enter their bibliographic records into a computer.
MARC stands for Machine Readable Cataloging and as its name implies, the use of this format allows a computer to “read” the cataloging information the librarian enters. Inputting the bibliographic information with the correct MARC format means that catalog users will be able to retrieve that same bibliographic information. Also, records in the MARC standard provide inter-operability since records can be used by any automation system.
MARC is really quite simple to apply once a user becomes familiar first with the framework of its components and the vocabulary used to describe these parts and secondly with ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description) punctuation. The MARC framework determines the contents of the fields; ISBD specifies the punctuation used.
MARC Structural Framework
The second column of this series explained the importance of cataloging rules to standardize records. Library media specialists familiar with that work will remember that according to AACR2 (Joint Steering Committee 2002) rules, the cataloging information for describing an item falls into eight main areas: Title and statement of responsibility, Edition, Material type, Publication details, Physical description, Series, Notes, and Standard number and terms of availability.
Each of these eight areas is assigned to a “field” within the MARC framework and each field has been given a 3-number code called a “tag.” For example, three common tags and their fields are 100 for Author, 245 for Title, and 600 or 650 for Subjects. Some MARC fields are divided into “subfields,” which are preceded by a special mark called a “delimiter.” The delimiter and the subfield code are always used together to mark divisions within the field. The symbol used for the delimiter is not mandated by the MARC format but rather varies from system to system. This column will use the number sign symbol (#) for the delimiter, but a look at the MARC record from the Library of Congress catalog shows that LC uses a vertical line as its delimiter.
After each tag, there is a spot for up to two codes called “indicators,” which are numbers used to give extra instructions to the computer. Not every field uses indicators and the ones that do sometimes have only one indicator defined.
An examination of the title field will show how MARC works. The title field is always given the tag of 245, no matter the format of the item – a book, a videotape, or an Internet site. If The Tale of Despereaux, Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, And a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo (2003) needs to be cataloged, the title will be given the tag of 245. The title field uses two indicators. The first of these indicators (either a “Ø” or a “1”) tells the computer whether it needs to create an added entry record for this title. For example, as noted in column 2 of this series on cataloging, an editor of a compilation is never regarded as the author. Therefore, a compilation of short stories or poems with an editor or compiler will use the title as the main entry and the first indicator of “Ø” (a zero; indicators are always numbers) will denote this information to the computer. In the case of The Tale of Despereaux, the author will be the main entry, so the appropriate indicator for the title field, 245, would be a “1.”
The second indicator tells the computer how many “nonfiling” characters to ignore in order to make sure that this title falls in its appropriate place in an alphabetized list of titles. Knowledge of grammar and the “article” is needed to correctly assign this indicator. Most English speakers are familiar with the English articles (a, an, and the) but unless media specialists have studied a foreign language, they might not recognize la, das, los, det, or os as articles in other languages. AACR2 (Joint Steering Committee 2002) includes a handy list of articles in many languages in Appendix E. Since The Tale of Despereaux begins with an article, the second indicator will be a 4. This number accounts for one digit for each letter in the article and another one for the space between the article and the second word in the title. The title field tag (245) and indicators (1, 4) can be seen on the sample MARC record.
The information transcribed from the item being cataloged comes after the indicators, and the first subfield code used is the lowercase letter “a,” preceded by the delimiter. The first subfield in the title field, #a, is the first part of the title, or The Tale of Despereaux. The subtitle, Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, And a Spool of Thread, is entered as #b. The next subfield (#c) is for the statement of responsibility, which lists the contributors to the work.
ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description) Punctuation in MARC
The title page of our book, The Tale of Despereaux, Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, And a Spool of Thread, does not show a colon, but according to the rules for International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD), a colon must be inserted between the title and the subtitle. The colon is set off by a space in front of it and a space behind it. A space before and after each subfield code is also required according to ISBD. The #b subfield for the subtitle follows the colon, and each word of the title and subtitle, with the exception of proper nouns, is written in lowercase letters. The next subfield (#c), the statement of responsibility, is preceded by a diagonal slash set off by spaces. The 245 field must end with a question mark, an exclamation point, or a period (known as a “full stop” in AACR2 to reflect the “Anglo” influence). The MARC format record for the title field of our example is now complete and looks like this:
245 14 #a The tale of Despereaux : #b being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread / #c Kate DiCamillo ; illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering.
If this item were a video instead of a book, there would be two major differences in the description of this title field. Since a video has many people responsible for its existence, according to AACR, the main entry is almost never given to one person. This means the title would be the main entry, which would change the first indicator in field 245 to a Ø. Also, immediately following the title proper, the media specialist would insert the subfield code #h, general material designator or GMD, to designate the medium of the work. The terms allowed for use in this subfield are listed in Rule 1.1C1 of AACR2 (Joint 2002). In the catalog record, these terms are enclosed in square brackets. In the case of a video, the subfield code would be “#h.”
Keeping up with the specifics of MARC coding and ISBD punctuation can seem like a daunting task for busy library media specialists, but several excellent books have been written to guide librarians through the maze of MARC. (See list of MARC resources). There are also websites devoted to the elucidation of the MARC format. The school library media specialist should not feel intimidated by AACR2 or the MARC format. The AACR2 rules are so complex in places that media specialists should just smile at the explanations and realize that many, many rules will never apply to the school library. Keep in mind too that the rules and the MARC format are not meant to be memorized. However, after working with these tools for an extended period of time, librarians sometimes begin to take perverse pleasure in the realization that they can completely catalog simple, straightforward materials without having to look up a rule or a format code. In order to capitalize on this situation, it would make sense for a library media specialist to focus on cataloging as many items as possible in a short period of time. If the work is done while the information is fresh, the media specialist will be able to make efficient use of his or her time and new skills, and the task will not seem so difficult.
It was stated at the beginning of this column that the Library of Congress devised the MARC format for use with its records. LC is now working with other groups to develop new systems to carry bibliographic information. METS (Metadata Encoding & Transmission Standard) and MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema) are both being studied as new systems for handling the metadata of cataloging. The demise of MARC has been predicted for several years (Tennant 2002), but an understanding of the MARC record, which is the basis for the new developments, will enable a library media specialist to adapt and change as needed in order to keep up with always changing technology.
The next column will discuss subject analysis and classification analysis, two subsets of cataloging that will help media specialists complete the bibliographic record.
Works Cited
DiCamillo, Kate. 2003. The Tale of Despereaux, Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, And a Spool of Thread. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick.
Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, Anglo-American Cataloging Rules. 2nd ed, 2002 rev. Chicago: American Library Association.
Tennant, Roy. 2002. "MARC Must Die." Library Journal, 127(17), 26-28.
Additional Resources about MARC
Fritz, Deborah A., and Richard J. Fritz. 2003. MARC21 For Everyone: A Practical Guide. Chicago: American Library Association.
Furrie, Betty. 2003. Understanding MARC Bibliographic: Machine-readable Cataloging. McHenry, IL: Follett Software Co.
Piepenburg, Scott. 2002. Easy MARC: A Simplified Guide to Creating Catalog Records for Library Automation Systems. San Jose, Calif.: F & W Associates.
Additional Resources about New Cataloging Systems
Coyle, Karen. 2004. "MODS." Computers in Libraries. 24(2), 21.
Tennant, Roy. 2002. "MARC Exit Strategies." Library Journal. 127(19), 27-28.
Tennant, Roy. 2002. "Metadata as if Libraries Depended on it." Library Journal. 127(7), 32-34.
Tennant, Roy. 2004 "Metadata Leadership." Library Journal. 129(13), 27.
Glossary of terms:
Added entry: The second and subsequent points of identification a user will see when looking for an item in a card catalog or automated system. Added entries may be listed for important people who contributed to the work (i.e. illustrators) or key titles or title information associated with the item (ex. a famous short story in a published volume of short stories). MARC Fields: 505, 7xx (name/title or title added entries).
Compilation: A compilation is a work produced by many people with one person (or several) as the “editor”. Compilations normally have the title listed as the main entry (See also glossary entry “Main entry”).
Delimiter: A keyboard character used to separate structural elements in a MARC record. Some library automation systems use a “$”; others use a “|” (ex. The big fish : $b a book about fish ).
Edition: The numeric or written publishing sequence for a work. When an item is first published, it is a “first edition” (ex. 1st ed.) MARC Field: 250.
Field: The structural framework of a MARC record (See glossary entries “Fixed field” and “Variable field”).
Fixed field: The alpha-numeric “box” located at the top of a MARC record containing important codes and other information.
Indicators: A symbol found immediately following a MARC tag used to identify important details associated with that field (ex. 245 14 – the “1” means the item is filed with the author as the main entry; the “4” means that the title begins with “The”, and the computer or card filing system will ignore these letters and file the item under the word following the initial article.
ISBD: International Standard Bibliographic Description. ISBD describes the punctuation to be used in formatting MARC records. Refer to Table of ISBD(G) from Lois Mai Chan -- see outline and chart.
Main entry: The first point of identification a user will see when looking for an item in a card catalog or automated system. Most items have an “author” main entry; other items produced by many people (See also glossary entry “Shared responsibility’) have the title as the main entry. MARC Fields: 1xx, 245.
MARC Authority Record: The form of MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging) used to set the pattern for certain parts of a MARC Bibliographic record (ex. Forms of names, series titles, subject headings, etc.).
MARC Bibliographic Record: The form of MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) used to describe books, videos, magazines, kits, and other items found in a school library media center.
Material type: The term used to represent the item’s form (ex. [videorecording]); it is usually listed next to the title (See also glossary entry “General Material Designator – GMD) MARC Field: 245.
Notes: Information which the cataloger feels will be useful to identify the item in greater detail (ex: 504 #a Bibliography: p. 252-260.). MARC fields: 5xx
Physical description: Any visual information which will help the user identify the item (ex. Number of pages, size, physical form, etc. (ex. 25 p. : col. ill. ; 25 cm.) MARC field: 300.
Publication details: The location, name and date associated with an item (ex. #a New York : #b Simon & Schuster, #c ©2000). MARC Field: 260.
Series: A group of items related mostly by subject and publication by a particular publisher or producer (ex. Harry Potter). Some series may be “traced” or “untraced” (See also glossary entries “Traced series” and “Untraced” Series). MARC Fields: 4xx, 8xx
Shared responsibility: An item produced by the efforts of many people (ex. Videos which have writers, producers, directors, etc. associated with them. Most works produced by more than three people have the title as the main entry (See also glossary entry "Main entry").
Standard Number: A number used to identify the item in an item group, warehouse or other situation (ex. ISBN – International Standard Book Number, Videorecording Number, etc.) MARC fields: 010, 020, 024, 028, 035, etc.).
Statement of responsibility: The listing of the item's "creator" or "creators". In most cases, the main creator is also the main entry and entered in a MARC field 1xx (See also glossary entry "Main entry"). According to AACR, up to three creators may be listed in MARC field 245 $c. One creator is the main entry, and the other creators may be listed in multiple MARC field 7xx's; this is an example of "shared responsibility" (See also glossary entry "shared responsibility").
Subfield: A subdivision of a MARC field; subfields are usually identified by letter and contain specific information related to a particular tag (ex. 245 #a, 245 #b, etc.).
Tag: The 3-number code for each MARC field (ex. 245, 250, etc.).
Terms of availability: Any information used by a teacher-librarian and school library media center staff to use in acquiring or purchasing an item. MARC Fields: 020, 270 - Address, etc.
Title: The main identification element for all works; for some items, the title may also be the “main entry” (See also glossary entries “main entry” and “shared responsibility”). Parts of the title may also be identified for use in keyword searching. MARC Fields: 245, 246, 5xx, 7xx.
Traced series: A series statement for which an authority record has been created. MARC fields: 440, 490/830.
Untraced series: A series statement for which an authority record has not been created. MARC Field 490.
Variable field: Often called the “body of the MARC record,” this is the area where the tags and their contents are found. There are no rules that govern the length of the variable field.
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Sandra Q. Williams is a professor in Learning Resources & Technology Services and the Center for Information Media at St. Cloud State University. She is the government documents librarian, has taught cataloging in the CIM graduate program for 15 years, and has a special interest in children's literature. She co-coordinates the annual Children's Literature Workshop at SCSU, which celebrated its 26th year in summer 2005.
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