Related MARBI Documents: DP 98 (Dec. 1996); 97-11 (May 1997)

Source: Library of Congress; OCLC CORC

Summary: Proposes that $c (ISO code) in field 043 be defined to allow for the use of an ISO 3166 country code. Also proposes that $c (ISO identity code) in field 044 be redefined as ISO code to allow for the use of an ISO 3166 country code as well as an ISO subentity code.

MARBI Action Taken: This proposal provides for the use of non-MARC country codes, specifically codes from ISO 3166: Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions - Part I: Country codes. ISO 3166 is employed in several metadata schemes and it is desirable to provide a place in MARC 21 to encode it. The proposal was unanimously approved.

Related MARBI Documents: None

Source: Library of Congress; OCLC CORC

Summary: Discusses four different approaches to using non-MARC language codes in MARC 21 bibliographic and community information records.

MARBI Action Taken: This discussion document explored a number of approaches to provide for other standard types of language codes in MARC records. As a result of MARBI’s deliberations, this issue will come back to the committee at Annual as a proposal that features the following characteristics: use of a repeating 041; use of repeating subfields "a" through "h"; use of a second indicator value 7 to indicate when non-MARC codes are used in the 041; and the use of subfield "2" to specify the language code scheme. The proposal will also suggest that the stacking of language codes (engfreger) be completely eliminated in favor of using separate subfields to indicate each language used in an item. This approach of repeating 041s in combination with “unstacking,” would apply to both MARC and non-MARC language codes. As this will result in a major change in coding practice that will affect catalogers across the board, I will give CC:DA a “heads up” when this proposal becomes available so this group can review it and give me any comments you might have.

Related MARBI Documents: 2000-08 (May 2000)

Source: Florida Center for Library Automation

Summary: Proposes adding subfields $c and $z to field 754 to designate the taxonomic hierarchy of the data in subfield $a and to provide a public note. Likewise, $a is redefined to contain the taxonomic name only.

MARBI Action Taken: This proposal was approved and modified slightly: subfield "a" is redefined to contain the taxonomic name only; subfield "c" is defined to contain the taxonomic category; subfields "a" and "c" are made repeatable; subfield "z" is defined to contain a non-repeatable public note; another subfield, perhaps "x", is defined to contain a non-public note; add another subfield TBD is defined to contain a common or alternative name.

Related MARBI Documents: None

Source: Oakville Public Library

Summary: Discusses the possibility of changing the scope of fields 508 and 511 to end confusion and standardize practice for the coding of “Narrator.”

MARBI Action Taken: MARC 21 documentation currently instructs catalogers to list on-screen narrators in field 511 and voice-over narrators in field 508. In actual practice, this distinction is impractical and results in inconsistent cataloging. This discussion paper proposes to eliminate the confusion by providing instruction that all narrators be recorded in 511. Because this is simply involves changing descriptive information in the documentation, it doesn’t require a proposal.

Related MARBI Documents: 98-04; 98-07

Source: Library of Congress; OCLC CORC

Summary: Reviews the different types of dates for electronic resources that are used as qualifiers in Dublin Core and how they correspond with defined MARC 21 fields. Discusses whether some specific types of dates which do not have an accurate mapping to MARC 21 are important for bibliographic description, and, if so, alternatives for providing appropriate fields/subfields to encode them.

MARBI Action Taken: The purpose of this discussion paper is to help the MARC community to consider whether the format has sufficient data elements to distinguish types of dates important for electronic resources that perhaps have not been necessary to identify for other types of material (e.g., Date modified, date valid, etc.). The result will be another discussion paper that abandons the focus on mapping from DC to MARC that was at the heart of DP 2001-03 and rather focuses on the use of field 046 (Special Coded Dates) to accommodate not only dates for e-resources but for a variety of dates that might need to be encoded by other communities.

Related MARBI Documents: None

Source: Russian State Library

Summary: Proposes defining subfield $2 (Source) in fields 015 and 017 to identify the source of the number. Also proposes making field 015 repeatable for multiple numbers from different sources.

MARBI Action Taken: Approved with no changes.