The Library of Congress >> Especially
for Librarians and Archivists >> StandardsThe Library of Congress >> Especially
for Librarians and Archivists >> Standards
HOME >> MARC Development >> Discussion Paper List
DATE: December 9, 2015
REVISED:
NAME: Media Type and Carrier Type in the MARC 21 Authority Format
SOURCE: German National Library
SUMMARY: This paper proposes a way of coding the RDA Media Type and Carrier Type in the MARC Authority format.
KEYWORDS: Media Type (AD); Field 337 (AD); Carrier Type (AD); Field 338 (AD)
RELATED: 2008-DP04; 2008-05/3; 2009-01/2
STATUS/COMMENTS:
12/09/15 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.
01/10/16 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: The Committee discussed this paper and its possible implications. Concerns were raised that physical level information may cause confusion in an authority record, and that a bibliographic and/or holdings record should be created to cover media type and carrier type information. Others expressed the advantages of describing a singleton in an authority record, to provide the functionality of a subject relationship. The paper may return as a proposal or as another discussion paper.
When four large authority files used in German speaking countries were merged into one "Integrated Authority File" ("Gemeinsame Normdatei" or "GND") in 2012, MARC 21 was chosen as the format for cataloging, with some additions and modifications, based on cataloging traditions in German speaking countries. On the level of the exchange format, librarians have encountered the use of several local fields and subfields. After three years of consolidation, these elements have been evaluated to determine their potential appeal as part of the MARC 21 communication standard. Based on the evaluation results, the German National Library presents a series of discussion papers.
The GND contains nearly 4,000 authority records for the entity type coded as "wis", meaning "Schriftdenkmäler", or literally "script monument". These are unique resources; only one exemplar exists worldwide. Examples are papyri, codices, books for religious services, manuscripts and autographs of literary and musical works. Each single "Schriftdenkmal" is represented by one authority record in the GND. Up to now these authority records are used to control subject headings, i.e. when a work is written about a unique resource. We can imagine expanding the usage of these records to do authority control, e.g. for digitized versions.
Describing the unique resources by creating a bibliographic record (and using MARC fields 337 and 338) is not an option, as this would not provide the authority control functionality. Only the holding institution creates a bibliographic record to describe the unique resource.
When in 2008 and 2009 new elements were defined for RDA Content Type, Media Type and Carrier Type, the fields 337 (Media Type) and 338 (Carrier Type) were approved for the MARC Bibliographic and MARC Holdings formats only, but not for the MARC Authority format. From a FRBR and RDA perspective, only a manifestation or an item can be assigned a Media Type and a Carrier Type. As the examples show, the unique resources have designated type information: Most, if not all of these resources are of the RDA media type "unmediated" ("ohne Hilfsmittel zu benutzen" in German), but they cover a variety of RDA carrier types.
We suggest the definition of the two fields, 337 (Media Type) and 338 (Carrier Type) as defined in the MARC Bibliographic format, including the recent addition of a subfield $0 "Authority record control number or standard number", in the MARC Authority format as well.
Field 337 is currently defined in the Bibliographic format as follows:
Field Definition and Scope:
Media type reflects the general type of intermediation device required to view, play, run, etc., the content of a resource. Used as an alternative to or in addition to the coded expression of Media type in field 007/00 (Category of material). Field 337 information enables indication of more specific media types and media types from various lists.Multiple media types from the same source vocabulary or code list may be recorded in the same field in separate occurrences of subfield $a (Media type term) and subfield $b (Media type code). Terms from different source vocabularies are recorded in separate occurrences of the field.
Field 338 is currently defined in the Bibliographic format as follows:
Field Definition and Scope:
Carrier type reflects the format of the storage medium and housing of a carrier in combination with the media type (which indicates the intermediation device required to view, play, run, etc., the content of a resource). Used as an alternative to or in addition to the coded expression of carrier type in field 007/01 (Specific material designation). Field 338 information enables indication of more specific carrier types and carrier types from various lists.Multiple carrier types from the same source vocabulary or code list may be recorded in the same field in separate occurrences of subfield $a (Carrier type term) and subfield $b (Carrier type code). Terms from different source vocabularies are recorded in separate occurrences of the field.
024 7# $ahttp://d-nb.info/gnd/4419833-4$2uri
100 0# $aHomerus$dca. v8. Jh.$tIlias$xHandschrift$xMailand $xBiblioteca Ambrosiana$xCod. F 205 Inf.
336 ## $aText$btxt$2rdacontent
337 ## $aohne Hilfsmittel zu benutzen$bn$2rdamedia
338 ## $aBand$bnc$2rdacarrier
024 7# $ahttp://d-nb.info/gnd/4048098-7$2uri
130 #0 $aQumrantexte
336 ## $aText$btxt$2rdacontent
337 ## $aohne Hilfsmittel zu benutzen$bn$2rdamedia
338 ## $aRolle$bna$2rdacarrier
451 ## $aQumran$xSchriftrolle
451 ## $aQumran$xBuchrolle
670 ## $aInternet$bStand: 09.04.2014$uhttp://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/
024 7# $ahttp://d-nb.info/gnd/1058839934$2uri
130 #0 $aVäterbuch$sFragment 9$gStiftsbibliothek Göttweig$nCod. 130
336 ## $aText$btxt$2rdacontent
337 ## $aohne Hilfsmittel zu benutzen$bn$2rdamedia
338 ## $aBlatt$bnb$2rdacarrier
380 ## $0(DE-101)040232875$0(DE-588)4023287-6$aHandschrift$2gnd
530 #0 $0(DE-101)041873076$0(DE-588)4187307-5$aVäterbuch$94:werk$wr$iWerk
670 ## $bStand: 07.10.2014$uhttp://www.handschriftencensus.de/1873
679 ## $a1 ehemaliges Vorsatzblatt in loser Fragmentensammlung + 1 Längsstreifen eines Blattes im Falz der ersten Lage der Hs. Weiteres Bruchstück: Berlin, Staatsbibl., mgf 757, Bl. 43
While this is a change to the MARC Authority format, the BIBFRAME model converts all of the title and name title MARC Authority records to BIBFRAME Work descriptions. No impact if the carrier type is unconstrained in BIBFRAME.
5.1. Is the need of designating RDA media type and carrier type clearly given?
5.2. Is carrying over the 337 and 338 fields from the MARC Bibliographic format to the MARC Authority format a feasible solution?
5.3. Are there any potential problems that should be taken into account?
HOME >> MARC Development >> Discussion Paper List
| The Library of Congress >> Especially
for Librarians and Archivists >> Standards ( 03/03/2016 ) |
Legal | External Link Disclaimer | Contact Us |