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Concise Formats - 2008 Archive >> Authority >> Introduction

Introduction

This is an ARCHIVED VERSION of the 2008 electronic edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats. Please see loc.gov/marc/concise/ for the most up-to-date version of the electronic MARC 21 Concise Formats.

The MARC 21 Format for Authority Data is designed to be a carrier for information concerning the authorized forms of names, subjects, and subject subdivisions to be used in constructing access points in MARC records, the forms of these names, subjects, and subject subdivisions that should be used as references to the authorized forms, and the interrelationships among these forms. A name may be used as a main, added, series, or subject access entry.

The term name refers to:

The term subject refers to:

A subject may be used only as a subject access entry.

The MARC 21 Format for Authority Data also provides for information concerning the authorized forms of node labels. A node label is not assigned to documents as an indexing term.

Kinds of Authority Records

MARC authority records are distinguished from all other types of MARC records by the presence of code z (Authority data) in Leader/06 (Type of record). The formulation of a name, subject, subject subdivision, or node label heading in an authority record is based on generally accepted cataloging and thesaurus-building conventions (e.g., AACR 2, LCSH). The content of the remainder of the authority records follows the practice of the organization creating the record.

The MARC 21 Format for Authority Data identifies seven kinds of authority records in 008/09, (Kind of record):

• Established heading (code a) - An authority record in which field 100-155 contains an established name or subject. An established heading record may also contain tracing fields for variant and related headings and notes recording such information as the sources used to establish the heading and series treatment.
• Subdivision (code d) - An authority record in which the 18X field contains the authorized form of a general, chronological, genre/form term, or a geographic name that may be used only as a subject subdivision portion of an established heading.
• Established heading and subdivision (code f) - An authority record in which the 15X field contains an established name or subject that may also be used as a subject subdivision portion of another established heading. (An organization may choose instead to create separate records for the established name or subject heading and the subdivision.)
• Reference (code b or c) - An authority record in which field 100-155 contains an unestablished name or subject. A reference record also contains either field 260 (Complex See Reference−Subject), field 664 (Complex See Reference−Name), or field 666 (General Explanatory Reference−Name) to guide the user to the established form. Separate codes are defined in 008/09 for traced and untraced reference records. The distinction depends upon whether the heading in the 1XX field in the record is also given as a see from tracing in a 4XX field in another authority record.
• Reference and subdivision (code g) - An authority record in which the 15X field contains an unestablished name or subject that may also be used as a subject subdivision portion of an established heading. (An organization may choose instead to create separate records for the reference and the subdivision.)
• Node label (code e) - An authority record in which field 150 contains an unestablished term that is the authorized form used in the systematic section of a thesaurus to indicate the logical basis on which a category has been divided.

Typographical Conventions

Throughout this document, the following typographical conventions are used:

• 0 - The graphic 0 represents the digit zero in tags, fixed-position character positions, indicator positions, and other places numerics are used. This character must be distinguished from an uppercase letter O in examples or text.
• # - The graphic symbol # is used for a blank in coded fields and in other special situations where the existence of the character blank might be ambiguous. (In most textual examples, the blank is represented in the conventional way, by the absence of a character.)
• $ - The graphic symbol $ is used for the delimiter portion of a subfield code. Within the text, subfield codes are referred to as subfield $a, for example.
• / - Specific character positions of the Leader, Directory, field 008, and subfield $w are expressed using a slash and the number of the character position, e.g., Leader/06, $w/0.
• 1 - The graphic 1 represents the digit one (hex 31). This character must be distinguished from a lowercase roman alphabet letter l (hex 6C) and uppercase alphabetic letter I (hex 4C) in examples or text.
• | - The graphic | represents a fill character in MARC examples. When this mark appears in the left margin, it indicates areas of the text of this document where changes have been made.