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- General Information MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging), developed by the Library of Congress in the mid-1960's, is a standardized method of storing cataloging information so that it can be easily processed by computer. In addition to the original book format, the Library of Congress has developed formats for serials, maps, music, manuscripts, and audio-visual materials (films).
- Fields Each piece of data, or data element, in a catalog record is assigned a three digit label called a tag, which precedes the field. The tag for a personal author, for example, is 100.
- Subfields Each field may contain one or several data elements of related information. For example, the author field may include, besides the author's name, his/her title, qualifying information, and/or dates of birth and death. Each bit of information is contained in what is called a subfield.
- Indicators For some fields, the tag and the subfield codes are all that is needed to completely identify the information in the field. Other fields, though, require more identification. For example, there is more than one type of call number: a local call number assigned to a book can be Library of Congress classification, or Dewey. The CAT has no way of knowing which type of local call number may appear in an 090 field unless we use indicators to indicate to the CAT the type of call number that is being used.
- MARC Record Screen
MARC was initially designed as a means of communicating cataloging information electronically amongst libraries; however, libraries (including the Pennsylvania State University Libraries) have adopted it as a means of storing information as well. The Pennsylvania State University Library's in-house catalog is called The CAT, which is a part of LIAS (Library Information Access Services).
Some computer programs use the fixed field approach to data storage, in which each field is a specified number of characters in length. This approach works well with some databases (such as mailing lists) in which there is an obvious limit to the length of each field, as well as some fields which are always the same length (such as zip codes). With cataloging information, though, there is no way to predict how much space should be alloted to each piece of information; an author's name, for instance, could be 8 characters long, or more than 30 characters long. If each author field were more than 30 characters long, the unused spaces would take up a tremendous amount of wasted space in the Cat.
To deal with variable length data, the Library of Congress uses a variable field approach. Each cataloging record is free format, with no wasted space.
100 1# Doyle, Arthur Conan.
This method allows us to insert any number of fields into a cataloging record, with each field being of any desired length (with the exception of the 008/fixed fields).
Each subfield is assigned a two character code which consists of the delimiter symbol (in The CAT, a vertical bar, also called the pipe sign) and a lowercase letter or a number for the subfield code. In the following example, the author's name is in subfield |a, his title in subfield |c, and dates of birth and death in subfield |d.
100 1# [|a]Doyle, Arthur Conan,|cSir,|d1859-1930.
In The CAT, the default delimiter for the first subfield is |a, since |a is almost always the first subfield. When it is |a, it does not display on the screen.
Indicators are located between the field number and the first subfield. In the following example, the first indicator (0) tells The CAT that the call number is Library of Congress classification, and the second indicator (1) tells The CAT that the call number is the same as the one assigned by the Library of Congress.
090 01 RC489.C63|bC646 1984
The first indicator in the next example (1) tells The CAT that the number is Dewey, and the second indicator (0) tells The CAT that the call number is NOT the same as the one assigned by the Library of Congress.
090 10 133.8|bR318d
Indicators for different fields have different meanings. Some fields have two indicators; some have one indicator (in which case the other indicator is blank); and some have no indicators at all (both indicators are blank). Fields with only one indicator can have the indicator in either position.
LCCN :010 85082138
ISBN :020 0448106809
Cataloging source :040 PSt|cPSt|dWaOLN
Personal Author :100 1 Roth, Harold.
Title :245 10 Autumn days /|cHarold Roth.
Publication info :260 New York :|bGrosset & Dunlap,
|cc1986.
Physical descrip :300 [12] p. :|bcol. ill. ;|c17 cm.
Series :490 0 Babies love
Series :490 1 Babies love photo board books
General Note :500 Cover title.
Local note :590 Description based on surrogate.
Subject :650 0 Seasons|vJuvenile literature.
Subject :650 0 Autumn|vJuvenile literature.
Added title :740 0 Babies love autumn days.
Series :800 1 Roth, Harold.|tBabies love
photo board books.
Holdings :949 QB637.4.R68
1986|wLC|i000021317668|mYORK|d07
/08/1999|kSWARTZ|lSWARTZ|rY|sY|t
JUVENILEBK
Held by :596 YORK
Below is an example of a MARC record displayed without tags in The CAT. This format somewhat resembles a catalog card and is the screen usually seen by the public.
| Personal Author: | London, Jack, 1876-1916. |
| Uniform title: | [Selections. 1990] |
| Title: | The call of the wild, White Fang, and other dog stories / Jack London ; edited with an introduction by Earle Labor and Robert C. Leitz, III. |
| Publication info: | Oxford [England] ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1990. |
| Physical descrip: | xxx, 362 p., [1] p. of plates : ill. ; 19 cm. |
| Series Title: | World's classics |
| ISBN: | 019282709X : $2.95 (est.) |
| Bibliography note: | Includes bibliographical references. |
| Subject: | Dogs--Fiction. |
| Added author: | Labor, Earle, 1928- |
| Added author: | Leitz, Robert C., 1944- |
Below is the same record viewed in WorkFlows in tagged format. Note that all of the field tags, subfield delimiters (except the first |a), and indicators can now be seen. There are also fields in the tagged format in WorkFlows that do not show in the default display above from The CAT, such as 010, 050, and others, though viewing options can be set to see all fields and tags, as well.
Also note that field 008 does not contain subfield codes. Unlike all of the other fields, which are variable, the 008 field is fixed (all of its subfields are of a specific length).
Fixed Fields
Rec_Type:a Bib_Lvl :m Enc_Lvl :8 Desc :a TypeCtrl:
Entrd :910226 Dat_Tp :s Date1 :1990 Date2 : Ctry :xxk
Lang :eng Mod_Rec : Source :d Illus : Audience:
Repr : Cont :b GovtPub : ConfPub :0 Festschr:0
Indx :0 Fiction :0 Biog :
001 LIAS1545609
010 90006879
019 MARS
020 019282709X :|c$2.95 (est.)
040 |cPSt|dWaOLN
050 00 PS3523.O46|bA6 1990
100 1 London, Jack,|d1876-1916.
240 10 Selections.|f1990
245 14 The call of the wild, White Fang, and other dog
stories /|cJack London ; edited with an
introduction by Earle Labor and Robert C. Leitz,
III.
260 Oxford [England] ;|aNew York :|bOxford University
Press,|c1990.
300 xxx, 362 p., [1] p. of plates :|bill. ;|c19 cm.
440 0 World's classics
504 Includes bibliographical references.
650 0 Dogs|vFiction.
700 1 Labor, Earle,|d1928-
700 1 Leitz, Robert C.,|d1944-
949 PS3523.O46A6
1990|wLC|i000017606080|mUP-PAT|d07/08/1999|kPATTEE-3
|lPATTEE-3|rY|sY|tBOOK
596 UP-PAT
Here is a description of some of the tagged fields used in the MARC record example:
| Fixed Fields: | |
| Entrd: | Date the record was initially entered |
| Dat_Tp: | Date type |
| Date1: | Beginning date |
| Date2: | Ending date |
| Lang: | Language of item |
| 010 | Library of Congress control number |
| 020 | International Standard Book Number (ISBN) |
| 050 | Library of Congress call number |
| 090 | Local call number |
| 100 | Main entry [in this case, personal author] |
| 240 | Uniform title |
| 245 | Title |
| 260 | Imprint |
| 300 | Physical description |
| 440 | Series |
| 504 | Bibliography note |
| 650 | Subject |
| 700 | Added entry |