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Concise Formats - 2008 Archive >> Classification >> Multiscript Records

Multiscript Records

This is an ARCHIVED VERSION of the 2008 electronic edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats.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.

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, with most coded data 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 in one or more scripts. There may be unlinked 880 fields.

Model B

Simple multiscript records. All data are 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 Appendix A: Control Subfields; specifications for character sets and repertoires for scripts are found in MARC 21 Specifications for Record Structure, Character Sets, and Exchange Media.

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

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). However, the cataloging agency provides transliteration of the Latin script into Cyrillic script (Russian language).

The following example of a multiscript record follows Model A. In this example, field 153 is expressed in both Hebrew and Latin scripts. Note that the second 880 field is not linked to an associated field. The occurrence number here is 00.

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 the textual portions of the record is Russian (Cyrillic script). However, the language of the coded information is English (Latin script).