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
Intellectual form
Book
Printed
book
E-book
(computer file)
Physical forms
Audio
book
(e.g. on CD)
Abstract => Concrete
Movie
DVD
Intellectual form
Film
strip
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
???
User interfaces
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?”
Voyager Staff Client
Staff see two
“format” choices:
• Medium
• Type
Huh? Whaa? Why?
MARC Record
Leader and
Control Fields
(mainly fixed-position fields)
Variable Fields
MARC Record
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)
Count Voyager “Type” limit
Count Voyager “Type” limit
Count of bib records per Leader/06-07 combination
(UT Arlington Library - Voyager ILS)
Count Voyager “Type” limit
Count Voyager “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.
Reports.mdb
Voyager Indexing
BIB_TEXT.BIB_FORMAT
• 2-character field
• value is Leader/06-07
MARC Record
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
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
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.
What do we know so far?
“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 in
regards to format limits.
How about
discovery tools?
AquaBrowser
“This looks better!”
It is better.
two lists
But not as quite as
good as it appears.
Full selection of format limits
How can they do that?
Discovery
tool
ILS
MARC
data
ingest
MARC
records
MARC
records
export
The data is the same…
…but the indexing
is more granular.
Format
1st criteria
2nd criteria
Format configuration matrix
Format
1st criteria
2nd criteria
Format configuration matrix
Field
Format
[Position(s)]
2nd criteria
1st criteria
and
Format configuration matrix
Code snippet from VuFind (SolrMarc)
format-mapping algorithm
E.g.: Checking the
first two positions of
the MARC 007 field
…more VuFind format mapping code:
MARC
record
MARC 245 Title Statement
Subfield $h Medium
Variable fields tend to be… well, variable
A keyword search in UT Arlington’s WebVoyage OPAC for
"dvd videorecording" (sans quote marks) yielded these
245 h variations -- within the first 10 search results:
Human readable, and useful for retrieval via keyword
searching. However non-normalized variable fields are
problematic for indexing purposes and therefore for
utilization in limits and facets.
When MARC records are imported
into Voyager, these are the values
that get indexed as “format”.
Terms like this also get indexed.
However (in Voyager),
they get indexed as
keywords, not as formats.
MARC 008 Fixed-Length Data Elements
One character position is “Form of item”
008 positions 18-34 definitions determined by “Form of material”
Character position 23 for:
• Books
• Computer files
• Music
• Continuing resources
• Mixed materials
Character position 29 for:
• Maps
• Visual materials
The 008 field itself is mandatory for all records
and the “Form of item” position is mostly
mandatory for National Level Full records*.
* National Level Full and Minimal Requirements, Control Fields
http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/nlr/nlr00x.html
MARC 008 Fixed-Length Data Elements
Values for “Form of item”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Books
Maps
Music
Continuing Resources
Visual Materials
Mixed Materials
Computer files
MARC 008 Fixed-Length Data Elements
008 positions 18-34 definitions determined by “Form of Material”
Form of Material Level I
And “Form of Material Level I” is defined by?
…our old friend, Leader positions 06-07*
* 008 - Fixed-Length Data Elements-General Information
http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd008.html
Form of Material… continued
+07
15 Level II forms
get collapsed into
7 Level I forms
Format Integration: http://www.loc.gov/marc/formatintegration.html
Form of Material… continued
15 Level III forms.
But varies from the
15 Level II forms.
… and additional
granularity with
007/02 (and 04)
Count of bib records per 008/23 value
for “Books” Form of Material
(UT Arlington Library - Voyager ILS)
(1,079,587 + 22,371) / 1,369,004 x 100 = 80%
For most items, we only really know what it’s not.
MARC 006 Additional Material Characteristics
(Repeatable field)
Because the 008 is not repeatable and is
dependent on the Leader 06 and 07 for its
definition, only one 008 can be included in a
record…. The 006 field was created, as part of
“format integration”, to record “additional
aspects of an item”. [1]
[1] For details see: “Format integration and its effect on the USMARC bibliographic format”
/ Library of Congress. Network Development and MARC Standards Office
MARC 006 Additional Material Characteristics
Count of bib records per 006/00 value
What else have we learned?
• Discovery tools employ a
more sophisticated format
mapping, but are still
dependent on the underlying
MARC data
• Format data exists in MARC
variable fields as well as
control fields
MARC… and other records
Voyager records
Bib
MFHD
MFHD
MFHD
Item
Item
Item
MARC… and other records
Voyager records
We’ve been looking at
Is there format
designation at
this level?
Bib
Holdings
MFHD
MFHD
MFHD
 Yes
Items
Item
Item
Item
???
MFHD Records
(MARC Format for Holdings Data)
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field
007/00 Category of material
007/01 Specific material designation
Bib
 Yes
MFHD
 Yes
007/04 Videorecording format
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field
MFHDs
MFHD 007 is not going to be very useful!
MARC 007 Physical Description Fixed Field
Count of MFHD records per 007/00
(UT Arlington Library - Voyager ILS)
No “Mandatory if applicable”
requirements for
MFHD 007 categories
MFHD 007 Physical Description Fixed Field
Indexing in Voyager
However, not aware of Voyager utilizing the
MFHD 007 for any WebVoyage functionality.
Can holdings with different formats be
attached to the same bibliographic record?
Bib
??????
Sure!
MFHD
MFHD
MFHD
print
electronic
microform
Are they? And should they be?
(for your library)
Voyager - Item Record Level
Voyager uses item-record-level item
types for circulation purposes.
Ability to effectively search and
retrieve by the desired format.
Is dependent on how formats
are designated in MARC records.
And how well the MARC format
data is mapped and indexed.
Cataloging practice
Cataloging records
Catalog
Hat tip to Allyson Carlyle
FRBR/RDA will make search
and retrieval by the desired
format simple and easy.
 True
 False
Clip art credit: http://clairc-artstuff.deviantart.com/
Voyager OPAC before FRBR/RDA
Patrons see two
“format” choices:
• Type
• Format
Voyager OPAC after FRBR/RDA
Patrons see five
“format” choices:
• Type
• Format
• Content
• Media
• Carrier
Three new “format” choices
The End
doran@uta.edu