CC:DA/MARBI Rep/2008/1

January 12-13, 2008

Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access

Provided below are summaries of the proposals and discussion papers to be considered by MARBI at the ALA 2008 Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The report in its present form is intended for the benefit of CC:DA members at the above conference. Coverage of items of particular interest to CC:DA will be expanded in the final report submitted to the committee following this conference.

Complete text of the MARBI proposals and discussion papers summarized below is available from the MARC Advisory Committee web page: http://www.loc.gov/marc/marbi/marcadvz.html

Proposal No. 2008-01: Representation of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) System in MARC 21 formats Source: Dewey editorial team, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, LC, and OCLC Summary: This paper proposes changes in the provisions for the DDC across the MARC 21 formats, in order to improve representation of classification information for the purposes of data communication, application, and retrieval. Related MARBI Documents: Discussion Paper No. 2007-DP06 (June 2007) MARBI action taken:

Proposal No. 2008-02: Definition of field 542 for information related to copyright status in the MARC 21 bibliographic format Source: California Digital Library Summary: This paper proposes the addition of a new field 542 to carry information relating to copyright status determination. The information included are the primary ones used by Berne Convention signatories when making a copyright assessment of a work. The purpose of the data elements is to save the time of users when pertinent facts are known to the cataloging agency, and to avoid duplication of effort in the gathering of information on the part of the library or archive. Related MARBI Documents: Discussion Paper No. 2006-DP04 (June 2006); Discussion Paper No. 2007-DP05 (May 2007) MARBI action taken:

Proposal No. 2008-03: Definition of first indicator value in field 041 (Language code) of the MARC 21 bibliographic format Source: British Library Summary: This paper proposes defining a new first indicator value for "Unspecified/unknown" in field 041 (Language code) of the MARC 21 bibliographic format when there is no indication of whether a resource is a translation or includes a translation. Related MARBI Documents: None. MARBI action taken:

Discussion Paper No. 2008-DP01: Identifying headings that are appropriate as added entries, but are not used as bibliographic main entries Source: ARLIS/NA, VRA Summary: This discussion paper explores three alternatives to identifying headings that are appropriate as added entries, but are not used as bibliographic main entries. Related MARBI Documents: Proposal No. 2007-06/11 (May 2007) MARBI action taken:

Discussion Paper No. 2008-DP02: Making field 440 (Series Statement/Added Entry--Title) obsolete in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format Source: Program for Cooperative Cataloging Summary: This paper suggests making field 440 obsolete in favour of using 490 (Series Statement) and the 8XX Series added entry fields. This would simplify practice and the need for systems to look multiple places in the records for the authorized series heading. Related MARBI Documents: None. MARBI action taken:

Discussion Paper No. 2008-DP03: Definition of subfield $3 for recording information associated with series added entry fields (800-830) in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format Source: CONSER Summary: This paper discusses the need for indicating the part of a series, via date or volume information to which a particular responsible body or title was applicable to a resource. It suggests defining subfield $3 (Materials specified) to designate the part of the resource to which the information applies in the 8XX series fields. Related MARBI Documents: None. MARBI action taken:

Discussion Paper No. 2008-DP04: Encoding RDA, Resource Description and Access data in MARC 21 Source: Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA (JSC) Summary: This paper discusses the issues related to encoding RDA using MARC 21. JSC is presenting these issues for consideration and direction regarding what changes may be required to MARC 21 Bibliographic and Authority formats to encode RDA data. Related MARBI Documents: None. MARBI action taken:

Everett Allgood,
MARBI Representative to CC:DA