MARC 21 Concise Authority: Multiscript Records

This is an ARCHIVED VERSION of the 2001 electronic edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats. Please see
www.loc.gov/marc/concise/ for the most up-to-date version of the electronic MARC 21 Concise Formats.

This section 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.

Multiscript Record Models

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.

Example Conventions

Although the data in the following records is taken from actual authority records, these records are included for illustration only and are not necessarily usable for authority purposes. The creator of the authority data is not specified in these sample records. Escape sequences are not included in the example records.

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MODEL A - VERNACULAR AND TRANSLITERATION

The following example of a multiscript record follows Model A. In this example, the language of cataloging is English (Latin script) and the language of the name heading is Russian (Cyrillic script). The cataloging agency provides transliteration of some Cyrillic script data into the Latin script and prefers to carry only Latin script in the regular fields, with Cyrillic script data in occurrences of field 880. The notes are in English.

The following example of a multiscript record follows Model A. In this example the language of cataloging is English (Latin script) and the heading is provided in English (Latin script), Hebrew (Hebrew script) and Russian (Cyrillic script).

The directionality of the Hebrew text in the examples is right-to-left within each subfield, but the subfields themselves have been recorded left-to-right. The actual input of all the data is in logical order (first-to-last), parts of which may be displayed in various directions depending upon the script and the display interface.

MODEL B - SIMPLE MULTISCRIPT RECORDS

This example is a multiscript record that follows Model B. In this example the language of cataloging is English (Latin script), thus the notes are in English, however, the established form of the name in the authority record and source citations are given in the original vernacular (Cyrillic) script.

This example is a multiscript record that follows Model B. In this example the language of cataloging is Russian (Cyrillic script). The established form of the name in the authority record is also given in the Cyrillic script.

This example is a multiscript record that follows Model B. In this example, the language of cataloging is English (Latin script), thus the notes are in English. The established form of the name in the authority record is in the vernacular (Arabic) script. This authority record comes from a file that has established forms for names in the vernacular (non-Latin) script and the Latin script. The equivalent Latin script form of heading is shown in a 7XX heading linking entry field.

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