code4lib wiki on working with MARC.  Includes tools and programming libraries

"The MARC data format was created early in the history of digital computers. In this article, the author entertains the notion that viewing MARC from a modern technological perspective leads to interpretive problems such as a confusion of "bibliographic data" with "catalog records." He explores this idea through examining a specific MARC interpretation task that he undertook early in his career and then revisited nearly four years later. Revising the code that performed the task confronted him with his own misconceptions about MARC that were rooted in his worldview about what he thought "structured data" should be and helped him to place MARC in a more appropriate context."

"This report presents the evidence gathered and analyzed by an RLG Partnership working group about MARC tag usage to inform library metadata practices, with a focus on machine applications. The working group offers a set of factors to consider when making decisions about local MARC metadata practices. The report includes recommendations for enhanced library data mining. The working group also offers its views on MARC's future."

"MARC 21 Updates 9 and 10 include all changes approved through in 2008 and 2009, and in particular all changes related to the use of RDA with MARC. At the end of February 2010, the Network Development and MARC Standards Office will publish Update 11, which will incorporate all changes approved in January 2010, again including several changes relating to RDA usage."

Some interesting statistics about how MARC usage has changed in recent OCLC cataloging--perhaps due to the influx of non-US cataloging

R2's commissioned report for the Library of Congress

This document lists MARC 21 format changes that have been approved to accommodate Resource Description and Access (RDA) since the 2008 Update (No.9) to MARC 21. The draft additions to the Bibliographic, Authority, and Holdings formats are linked to this page. This document is intended to facilitate experimentation by providing information that will be published in the 2009 (No. 10) format update.

Tool for catalogers allows searching for MARC tags; assigning cutters; etc.

An online tutorial based on "Understanding MARC Bibliographic"

Describes and illustrates models for recording data in multiple scripts in MARC records. One script may be considered the primary script of the data content of the record, even though other scripts are also used for data content.(Note: ASCII is used for the structural elements of the record, and most coded data are also specified within the ASCII range of characters.) The general models for multiscript data that are followed with MARC 21 are described below.

* Model A: Vernacular and transliteration. The regular fields may contain data in different scripts and in the vernacular or transliteration of the data. Fields 880 are used when data needs to be duplicated to express it in both the original vernacular script and transliterated into one or more scripts. There may be unlinked 880 fields.

* Model B: Simple multiscript records. All data is contained in regular fields and script varies depending on the requirements of the data. Repeatability specifications of all fields should be followed. Although the Model B record may contain transliterated data, Model A is preferred if the same data is recorded in both the original vernacular script and transliteration. Field 880 is not used.

"The Library of Congress today announced the next phase of its investigation into the creation and distribution of bibliographic data in U.S. and Canadian libraries. The Library has commissioned a study to research and describe the current marketplace for cataloging records in the MARC format, with primary focus on the economics of current practices, including existing incentives and barriers to both contribution and availability. The study will be carried out by R2 Consulting LLC of Contoocook, N.H."

Interactive tutorial from OCLC

This paper is aimed at three audiences:

• Administrators who need to understand what FRBR is, how it benefits library users, and why trends towards increased digitization are making FRBRization even more important
  
• Researchers interested in automatic methods for FRBRizing MARC records
  
• Users of the FRBR Display Tool

"Solrmarc can index your marc records into apache solr. It also comes with an improved version of marc4j that improves handling of UTF-8 characters, is more forgiving of malformed marc data, and can recover from data errors gracefully. This indexer is used by blacklight (http://blacklight.rubyforge.org) and vufind (http://www.vufind.org/) but it can also be used as a standalone project."

A rant against MARCXML:

"MARCXML isn't as much XML as it is MARC; it's really MARC with a bad hairdo"

From Glenn E. Patton:

"To get a sense of which MARC data elements are used in the various indexes for WorldCat, take a look at "Searching WorldCat Indexes" (http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/searching/searchworl
dcatindexes/). Click on "List of Fields and Subfields Indexed in Tag Order" in the navigation bar on the left of the screen to see a list of MARC elements and the indexes in which they are used."

This is a refinement of their earlier program: Cyril.

Apparently adds 880s for Cyrillic based on the existing transliterated fields.

baltimoresun.com

Scrapping of traffic-congestion plan urged - Proposal tilts too heavily toward highways, mass-transit advocates say

By Michael Dresser

Sun Reporter

August 29, 2007

A coalition of mass-transit advocates urged the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board yesterday to scrap its $8.7 billion draft plan for traffic congestion relief over the next 28 years, contending that the proposal is heavily skewed in favor of highway projects.

The advocates are attacking a potential blueprint for what the region's transportation system would look like in 2035. They say the draft Transportation Outlook 2035, prepared by local governments and the transportation board's staff, directs too much money to road projects, including many that would encourage sprawl and violate the state's Smart Growth policies.

At a public hearing last night, speakers almost unanimously turned thumbs down on a plan that critics described as lacking in regional vision.

Advocates demanded a roughly even split of the funds to finance a full regional rapid transit network and MARC system improvements.

The Greater Baltimore Committee expressed disappointment that the draft didn't include a Metro system extension to Morgan State University and Good Samaritan Hospital.

Gregory Schaffer, president of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, asked why the East Baltimore campus, with more than 6,300 employees, had been left out of plans for a new transit line and a MARC system upgrade.

Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction, Drama, Etc., 2nd edition, was published in 2000. The Guidelines constitute a recommendation for national standard practice in the provision of genre and subject access to individual works of fiction, drama, poetry, humor, and folklore in all formats.

The files can be downloaded from the GSAFD Site at Northwestern University. 

Roy Tennant sampled 856 fields in MARC records to see whether there is a reliable method of determining the availability of the full text access based on the coding the the 856.  His results show wide variablity in the coding, and he argues for one consistant method to code for full text.

Sally McCallum's presentation at the RLG Forum (August 06).   Sound file of the presentation also available: http://www.rlg.org/en/downloads/Sally_McCallum.mp3 (View the slides while listening is best)

Follow-up article to "MARC must die"