MARC 21 Concise Bibliographic: Multiscript Records

This is an ARCHIVED VERSION of the 2002 electronic edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats.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.

Information for Translators and Other Users
Items highlighted in red indicate changes made after the 2001 edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats was published and are included in the 2002 printed edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats.

Multiscript Record Models

Model A: Vernacular and transliteration.

The regular fields may contain data in different scripts and in the vernacular or transliterated 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.

Model A data in the regular fields is linked to the data in 880 fields by a subfield $6 that occurs in both of the associated fields. Specifications for field 880 are under that field; description of subfield $6 is in the Control Subfields section; specifications for character sets and repertoires for scripts are found in MARC 21 Specifications for Record Structure, Character Sets, and Exchange Media .

Example Conventions

Although the data in the following records are taken from actual bibliographic items, these records are included for illustration only and are not necessarily usable for bibliographic purposes. The creator of the bibliographic 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 language (Latin script) and the language of the bibliographic item is Russian (Cyrillic script). The cataloging agency provides transliteration of some Cyrillic script data into the Latin script; notes, subjects, etc. are in English; and prefers to use Latin script in the regular fields.

The following example of a multiscript record follows Model A. In this example the language of cataloging is English language (Latin script) and the language of the bibliographic item is Hebrew (Hebrew script). The cataloging agency prefers to use the Latin script in the regular fields.

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.

The last example of a multiscript record also follows Model A. In this example the language of cataloging and the bibliographic item is Arabic (Arabic script). The cataloging agency prefers to use Arabic in the regular fields.

The directionality of the Arabic text in the example 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.

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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, subjects, etc. are in English. The bibliographic item is a mixed Russian language (Cyrillic script) and Arabic language (Arabic script) text.

This example is a multiscript record that follows Model B. In this example the language of cataloging is Russian (Cyrillic script) and the bibliographic item is mixed Russian language (Cyrillic script) and English language (Latin script) text.

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