Marc Records

Brief Summary of Chapter 12 (Inter,S.,& Weihs,J.(2007):


· Computer encoding/ computer markup
· MARC codes means same thing
· MARC 21- Current standard for US & Canada
· Five MARC formats (bibliographic data, authority data, holdings data, classification data and community information)
· Contains all information in a catalogue record plus information needed for computer processing
· Divided into Fields (tags) and Subfields (subfield codes)
· Fields contain indicators (computer instructions and other symbols)
· Content indicators (names and symbols used by the format to encode the record content other than the content itself)

Fields
Each element of the catalog has a corresponding field. A specific Tag identifies the element. Tags are 3 digit numbers, e.g. 250.
Catalogers learn the tags. 250 means an edition statement

Subfields
Fields are further subdivided into subfields. E.g. 245 a – title proper. Delimiters precede all subfield codes (≠ or $). Subfields are either single letters or numbers.

Process of encoding or marking up a catalog record in MARC referred to as:
Coding
Tagging
Content Designation (formal name)

Other Markup Languages: Metadata

· Dublin Core (DC)
· Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS),
· VRA (Visual Resources Association)
· Encoded Archival Description (EAD)

This chapter was clearer to me than Chapter 5. Perhaps I am making more sense of all the fields and subfields. But please don't ask me to make a MARC record at this point! Next, I think I will try to identify some fields and subfields, not necessarily in metadata language, but more in the language of cataloguing.