lis512 lecture 5
the MARC format control fields
MARC variable fields
• MARC fields have names that are, in fact,
numbers.
• Each field name has three digits.
• It is always quoted with all three of them.
• So we say “field 005”, not “field 5”.
MARC subfields
• Each variable field can have a number of
subfields. Each subfield has a name that is a
lowercase letter or number.
• So we say “subfield b of field 453”.
MARC special variable fields
• Fields that start with 00 are for fields that are
called “control fields”.
• Fields that start with 0 but not with 00 are
called “numbers and code fields”.
• Fields that do not start with 0 are the main
field we study in cataloging.
field indicators
• Each variable field other than those starting
with 00 can have zero, one or two field
indicators.
• The field indicator says something additional
about the field.
control freakism
• Studying all the parts of the control fields will
leave us to become control freaks.
• Therefore I will mention here only those fields
that are required for a full record, but US
national requirements.
• http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/nlr/
field 001 “control number”
• This is the record identifier assigned to the
MARC record by the organization that creating
using or distributing the record.
• When you get a record from elsewhere you
are allowed to move the 001 contents to fields
– 035 system control number
– 010 LoC control number
– 016 National Bibliographic Agency control number
• and place your own number in 001
field 003 “control number identifier”
• This is the MARC code for the organization
whose control number is in 001.
• You can find codes at http://www.loc.gov/mar
c/organizations/.
• When you change 001, you have to change
003 too!
• I produce the record for CW Post as of 201009-29 on the next slide.
CW Post record
•
•
•
•
id: 12678
code: NGvP, normalized: ngvp
name: C. W. Post Center of Long Island University
Variant name(s) : C. W. Post College
Long Island University, C. W. Post Center
Post Center
• Address: Northern Blvd.
Greenvale, New York 11548
United States
• record created: 1984-08-13 00:00:00
• record modified:
our record
• I have applied to the Library of Congress for
the record for the Palmer School.
• I read nothing from them and the record
appears not to have been created.
• Therefore we use “lis512” as our code for our
organization.
• In FRBR terms, we are an organization.
005 “date & time of last transaction”
• This is the time of the last transaction on the
record, of the form yyyymmddhhiiss where
– yyyy is the year
– mm is the month
– dd is the day
– hh is the hour
– ii is the minute
– ss is the second
• optionally, there can be a ‘.’ with fractions of a
second. No time zone indication appears.
fields 006 and 007
• These two fields
– 006  “Fixed-Length Data Elements - Additional
Material Characteristics”
– 007  “Physical Description Fixed Field”
• are optional even in a full record, according to
my interpretation of the national level full and
minimal requirements
• I am leaving out further discussions of these.
field 008
• This field has mandatory components but the
mandatory nature depends on what type of
material it is.
• I will first review mandatory fields for all types
of materials.
• Bytes in a field are often reported as field/byte
and we follow that here.
field 008 byte 0–5
• It is the date “Date entered on file”.
• It is a six-character numeric string date, using
the pattern using yy for the year, mm for the
month and dd for the day.
• It indicates the date the MARC record was
entered into the file. It is therefore never
changed.
• When you enter a record into the catalog,
change it.
008 byte 07–10 and byte 11–14
• These are two dates, referred to as date 1 and
date 2.
• Both of these dates are simple year numbers,
i.e. following pattern yyyy.
• What they mean is encoded in the preceding
byte, 008 byte 06 or 008/6 in short notation.
008/6 values, slide 1
• ‘b’  Neither date1 nor date2 are given
because one of them is a B.C. date
• ‘c’  both dates are for a continuing resource
currently published. Here “Currently
published” is defined as an item for which an
issue has been received within the last three
years. You enter the start date as date1 and
9999 as date2.
008/6 values, slide 2
• ‘d’ ‘continuing resource ceased publication’
 date1 is for the start year and date2 is for
the end year.
• ‘e’  ‘detailed date’  date1 contains the
year and date2 contains month and day, in
that order. If the day in unknown, “uu” is
used, if the day is not indicated “ ” is used for
the day.
008/6 values, slide 3
• ‘m’  ‘inclusive dates for a collection’  date1 is
for the start year and date2 is for the end year.
They may be the same year.
• ‘k’  ‘Range of years of bulk of collection’ 
date1 contains the year and date2 contains a year
in which most of the collection lies in.
• ‘n’  ‘unknown dates’  date1 and date2 are
not known.
• ‘p’  ‘date of distribution/release/issue and
production/recording session’ in years.
008/6 values, slide 4
• ‘q’  ‘questionable date’  date1 and date2
contain a start and end year range for a date
of the item.
• ‘r’  ‘reprint/reissue date and original date’
 date1 is for the reprint and date2 is for the
year of the original. If not known it is ‘uuuu’.
• ‘s’  ‘unknown dates’  date1 and date2 are
not known.
008/6 values slide 5
• ‘t’  ‘Publication date and copyright date’ 
date1 contains the publication year and date2
contains the copyright year.
• ‘u’  ‘continuing resource status unknown’ 
date1 is for the start of the resource and
date2 is ‘uuuu’.
• ‘|’  ‘no attempt to code’  the cataloguer is
lazy.
what to do when we have choices
• Single part/multipart items complete in
one year, use ‘b’, ‘r’, ‘e’, ‘s’ , ‘p’, ‘t’, ‘q’, ‘n’
as the order of preference.
• Collections/multipart items complete in
more than one year use ‘b’, ‘i’, ‘k’, ‘r’, ‘m’,
‘t’, ‘n’ as the sequence of preference.
008 bytes 15–17 place
• This is the place of publication, production, or
execution.
• Use the codes that are in http://www.loc.gov/
marc/countries/
• If the code has only two positions, you fill the
remaining position with a blank.
• If unknown use ‘xx ’, yes, with a blank.
• Use ‘vp ’, yes, with a blank for various places.
008 byte 35–37 language
• Three-character alphabetic code that indicates
the language of the item.
• Choose codes from http://www.loc.gov/marc
/languages/, or write
– ‘|||’  no coding
– ‘zzx’  no linguistic contents
– ‘mul’  multiple, no predominant language
– ‘sgn’  sign language
– ‘und’  undetermined
008 byte 38 modified record
• It’s a code that indicates whether any data in a
bibliographic record is a modification of
information that appeared on the item being
cataloged or that was intended to be included
in the MARC record.
008/38 code values slide 1
• ‘ ‘  ‘Not modified’  no modification
• ‘o’  ‘Completely romanized/printed cards
romanized’  the bibliographic data in the MARC
record is completely romanized and any printed
cards produced are also in romanized form.
• ‘r’  ‘completely romanized/printed cards in
script’  bibliographic data in the MARC record is
completely romanized but the printed cards are
available in the original script.
008/38 code values slide 2
• ‘d’  ‘dashed-on information omitted’ MARC
record does not contain “dashed-on” information
found on the corresponding printed record,
either because
– the dashed-on information was input as a separate
record
– recorded in field 500 (notes, to be seen later)
– or because it was omitted. “Dashed-on” information is
generally the brief description of material related to a
main item being cataloged that is not considered
important enough to catalog separately.
• The "dashed-on" technique is rare.
008/38 code values slide 3
• ‘s’  ‘shortened’  some of the data was
omitted because the data exceeded a
maximum character length
• ‘x’  ‘Missing characters’  the record
contained characters that could not be
converted to machine-readable form. Since
most cataloguers prefer to romanize, value ‘x’
is rare.
• ‘|’  ‘No attempt to code’  cataloger lazy
008/39 slide 1
• Byte 39 is the “cataloging source”. It indicates
the original cataloging source of the record.
Values are
– ‘ ’ “National bibliographic agency”  creator of
the original cataloging data is a national
bibliographic agency
– ‘c’  “Cooperative cataloging program”  the
creator of the cataloging data is a participant in a
cooperative cataloging program.
008/39, slide 2
• More allowed values are
– ‘d’  “other”  the creator of the cataloging data
is a national bibliographic agency nor a participant
in a cooperative cataloging program.
– ‘u’  “Unknown”
– ‘|’  “No attempt to code”  cataloger is lazy.
008 bytes 18–34
• What is in those bytes depend on the form of
the material. Within each form, there is a
different coding.
• Since books are the most common, I cover all
bytes required for a full record.
• For the other types, I only cover those bytes
required for a minimal record. For computer
files and mixed materials nothing is required
for a minimal record.
008 byte 18–34 for books
• A book is when leader 06 contains code ‘a’ or
‘t’ and leader 07 is ‘a’, ‘c’, ‘d’, or ‘m’.
• Required for a full record are
– 22 Target audience
– 23 Form of item
– 28 Government publication
– 33 Literary form
– 34 Biography
008 byte 22 for books
• This is the audience code. Values are
– ‘ ‘  “unknown or not specified”
– 'a'  “preschool” , age 0–5
– 'b'  “primary”, age 6–8
– 'c'  “pre-adolescent”, age 8–13
– 'd'  “adolescent”, age 13–17
– 'e'  “adult”
– 'f'  “specialized” (a special case of adult)
– 'g'  “general” (a special case of adult)
– 'j'  “juvenile”, age 0 – 15
– '|'  “no attempt to code”
008 byte 23 for books
• This is the form of the item code. Values are
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
‘ ‘ none of these
'a'  Microfilm
'b'  Microfiche
'c'  Microopaque
'd'  Large print
'f'  Braille
'r'  Regular print reproduction (e.g. photocopy)
's' Electronic
'o'  Online (special case of 's')
'q'  Direct electronic (special case of 's')
'|'  No attempt to code
008 byte 28 for books (slide 1)
• This is the government publication field.
Allowed values are
– ‘ ’  Not a government publication
– ‘a’  Autonomous or semi-autonomous
component
– ‘c’  Multilocal
– ‘f’ Federal/national
– ‘i’  International intergovernmental
008 byte 28 for books (slide 2)
• More allowed values are
– ‘l’  Local
– ‘m’  Multistate
– ‘o’  Government publication-level undetermined
– ‘s’ State, provincial, territorial, dependent, etc.
– ‘u’  Unknown if item is government publication
– ‘z’  Other
– ‘|’ No attempt to code
008 byte 33 for books (slide 1)
• This is the form of the literary form code.
Values are
– ‘0’ Not fiction (not further specified)
– ‘1’ Fiction (not further specified)
– ‘d’  Dramas
– ‘e’ Essays
– ‘f ‘ Novels
– ‘h’  Humor, satires, etc.
008 byte 33 for books (slide 2)
• More values are
– i - Letters
– j - Short stories
– m - Mixed forms
– p - Poetry
– s - Speeches
– u - Unknown
– | - No attempt to code
008 byte 34 for books
• This is the bibliography code. Values are
– ‘ ’  No biographical material
– ‘a’  Autobiography
– ‘b’ Individual biography
– ‘c’ Collective biography
– ‘d’  Contains biographical information
– ‘|’  No attempt to code
18–34 for maps
• Used when leader 06 is ‘e’ or ‘f’.
• Byte 25 for the type of cartographic material is
required there. It can take value
• ‘a’  “Single map”
• ‘b’  “Map series”, i.e., the item described is
a series of maps
008 byte 25 for maps
• Other codes are
– ‘c’  “map” serial Issued in successive parts
bearing a numeric succession code.
– ‘d’  “globe”
– ‘e’  “Atlas” (Includes atlas series, and serially
issued atlases)
– ‘f’ Separate supplement to another item
008 byte 25 for maps
• Other codes are
– ‘g’  “Bound as part of another work”
– ‘u’  “Unknown”
– ‘z’  “Other”  None of the other defined codes
are appropriate.
– ‘|’  “No attempt to code”  cataloger lazy.
18–34 for music
• Used when leader byte 6 is ‘c’, ‘d’ , ‘i’ or ‘j’.
• 008/20, “Format of music” is require for a
minimal record. It takes the following values
– ‘a’  “Full score”
– ‘b’  “Full score, miniature or study size”
– ‘c’  “Accompaniment reduced for keyboard”
– ‘d’  “Voice score”
– ‘e’  “Condensed score or piano-conductor
score”
– ‘g’  “Close score”
008/20 values
• 008/20 take the following value
– ‘h’  “Chorus score”
– ‘i’  “Condensed score”
– ‘j’  “Performer-conductor part”
– ‘m’  “Multiple score formats”
– ‘n’  “Not applicable”
– ‘u’  “Unknown”
– ‘z’  “Other”
– ‘|’  “No attempt to code”
18–34 for continuing resources
• It means that leader byte 6 contains is ‘a’ and
leader 07 is ‘b’, ‘i’, ‘s’.
• 008/34 the “entry convention” is required in a
minimal record. It can take the values as
follows
– ‘0’  “Successive entry”  New bibliographic
record is created each time
• a title changes
• a corporate body used as main entry or uniform title
qualifier, changes
This is the AARC2 way to do things.
008/34 values
• ‘1’  ‘Latest entry’  Cataloged under its latest
(most recent) title or issuing body. This is preAARC.
• ‘2’  Integrated entry  Cataloged under its
latest (most recent) title and/or responsible
person or corporate body. This is used for
integrating resources and electronic serials that
do not retain their earlier titles. A new record is
made only when there is a major change in
edition or it is determined that there is a new
work, and for title mergers and splits.
• ‘|’ - No attempt to code
18–34 for visual materials
• This is applicable when leader byte 6 is ‘g’, ‘k’,
or ‘r’
• Here, 008/33 “Type of visual” material is
required. It can take values
– ‘a’  “Art original”
– ‘b’  “Kit” Mixture of components from two or
more categories, that is, sound recording, maps,
filmstrips, etc., no one of which is the
predominant constituent of the item.
– ‘c’  “Art reproduction”
008 byte 33 for visual materials
• field 33 can take more values
– ‘f ‘  “Filmstrip”
– ‘g’  “Game”
– ‘i’  “Picture”
– ‘k’  “Graphic” Used for original or historical
graphic material.
– ‘l’  “Technical drawing”
– ‘m’  “Motion picture”
– ‘n’  “Chart”
008 byte 33 for visual materials
• field 33 can take more values
– ‘o’  “Flash card”  Card or other opaque material
printed with words, numerals, or pictures and
designed for rapid display.
– ‘p’ “Microscope slide”  Transparent mount,
usually glass, containing a minute object
– ‘q’  “Model”  Three-dimensional representation
of a real thing
– ‘r’  “Realia”  Includes
• all other three-dimensional items not covered by the other
codes (e.g., clothing, stitchery, fabrics, tools, utensils)
• naturally occurring objects.
008 byte 33 for visual materials
• byte 33 can take more values
– ‘s’  “slide transparent”
– ‘t’  “Transparency”
– ‘v’  “Videorecording”
– ‘w’  “Toy”
– ‘z’  “Other”
– ‘|’  No attempt to code