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DATE: May 27, 2016
REVISED:
NAME: Define a Code to Indicate the Omission of Non-ISBD Punctuation in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format
SOURCE: OCLC and PCC ISBD and MARC Task Group
SUMMARY: This paper discusses the need for an additional code in Leader/18 of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format to indicate that non-ISBD punctuation has been omitted.
KEYWORDS: Descriptive cataloging form (BD); Leader/18 (BD); Non-ISBD punctuation (BD); Punctuation (BD)
STATUS/COMMENTS:
05/27/16 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.
06/26/16 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: The paper was converted to a proposal and approved with the following amendments: 1) The label and definition of value # (blank) in Leader Byte 18 will not be changed. This is to avoid widespread reprocessing and recoding of legacy data. 2) A new value ‘n’ will be defined to indicate that non-ISBD punctuation has been omitted from the bibliographic record. This will achieve the paper’s main objective of specifying that punctuation has been omitted from subfield boundaries.
08/10/16 - Results of MARC Steering Group review - Agreed with the MAC decision to convert to and approve as a proposal.
Discussion Paper 2010-DP01 outlined the need to include a code in MARC bibliographic records to indicate that ISBD punctuation would not be carried at the end of subfields. When the MARC format was developed, punctuation previously appearing in manual catalog records was routinely included as found in corresponding MARC bibliographic records. When ISBD punctuation was introduced into cataloging practice, it was also included in MARC bibliographic records. The discussion paper reflected the interests of the German and Austrian cataloging communities in the use of MARC 21 with the omission of ISBD punctuation. The subsequent Proposal No. 2010-07 resulted in the implementation of code c (ISBD punctuation omitted) in Leader/18. However, no similar code exists to indicate the omission of non-ISBD punctuation.
The final report of the PCC ISBD and MARC Task Group was completed in 2011 (www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/sca/documents/isbdmarc.docx). The report was tabled during the implementation of RDA, but in late 2015 the PCC requested that report be revised with the goal of implementing its recommendation, i.e., the omission of most punctuation from MARC bibliographic records. That revision is currently underway.
One potentially significant obstacle to a timely implementation of the recommendation in the report is the lack of a code to indicate the omission of non-ISBD punctuation.
The current codes in Leader/18 (Descriptive cataloging form) are:
# - Non-ISBD
a - AACR2
c - ISBD punctuation omitted
i - ISBD punctuation included
u - Unknown
Codes c and i are paired in that both indicate use of ISBD as the basis for the descriptive cataloging with one code indicating the inclusion of punctuation and the other code indicating the omission of punctuation.
Code # (blank) simply indicates that the basis for the description is a non-ISBD standard. There are no paired codes to indicate the inclusion or omission of non-ISBD punctuation. Such a pair of codes would be useful in processing pre-ISBD records. The presence of a code indicating the omission of punctuation could allow programs to supply appropriate display punctuation as needed.
The existing code # (blank) could be redefined as:
# - Non-ISBD punctuation included
Descriptive portion of the record does not follow International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) cataloging and punctuation provisions.
And, a new code could be defined as:
n - Non-ISBD punctuation omitted
Descriptive portion of the record does not follow International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) cataloging and punctuation provisions, and punctuation is not present at the end of a subfield.
The implementation of such coding would allow for easy identification of pre-ISBD and non-ISBD records where punctuation has been omitted or removed.
Record with non-ISBD punctuation included:
LDR 01052cam##2200325###4500
001 4098134
003 OCoLC
005 20151021134220.6
008 780731t19551950nyu###########000#0#eng##
010 ## ###55006710#
100 1# $aBrittain, Robert Edward,$d1908-
245 10 $aPunctuation;$ban easy method of learning to punctuate correctly.
260 ## $aNew York,$bBarnes & Noble$c[1955, ©1950]
300 ## $a89 pages$c21 cm.
490 0# $aEveryday handbook series,$v253
Same record with non-ISBD punctuation omitted:
LDR 01052cam##2200325#n#4500
001 4098134
003 OCoLC
005 20151021134220.6
008 780731t19551950nyu###########000#0#eng##
010 ## ###55006710#
100 1# $aBrittain, Robert Edward$d1908-
245 10 $aPunctuation$ban easy method of learning to punctuate correctly
260 ## $aNew York$bBarnes & Noble$c[1955, ©1950]
300 ## $a89 pages$c21 cm
490 0# $aEveryday handbook series$v253
While data in BIBFRAME tends not to include punctuation and leave it open to the cataloger, an indication in the MARC record about punctuation may make it easier to translate the data to MADSRDF and BIBFRAME (titles, name/titles).
5.1. Is a code indicating the omission of non-ISBD punctuation useful?
5.2. Are there other options for indicating the omission of ISBD or non-ISBD punctuation?
5.3. Are there other issues related to use of codes in Leader/18 to indicate inclusion or omission of punctuation?
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