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DATE: January 17, 2018
REVISED:
NAME: Inventory of Newer 3XX Fields that Lack Subfield $3 in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format
SOURCE: Music Library Association (MLA)
SUMMARY: This paper looks at the new 3XX descriptive fields in the MARC21 Bibliographic Format that lack a defined Subfield $3—fields 377 (Associated Language), 380 (Form of Work), 381 (Other Distinguishing Characteristics of Work or Expression), and 383 (Numeric Designation of Musical Work)—and discusses which fields could be improved by having a defined subfield $3 available for use.
KEYWORDS: Field 377 (BD); Associated Language (BD); Subfield $3, in field 377 (BD); Field 380 (BD); Form of Work (BD); Subfield $3, in field 380 (BD); Field 381 (BD); Other Distinguisthing Characteristics of Work or Expression (BD); Subfield $3, in field 381 (BD); Field 383 (BD); Numeric Designation of Musical Work (BD); Subfield $3, in field 383 (BD); Materials specified (BD)
RELATED: 2016-07; 2017-02; 2016-DP01; 2016-DP29; 2017-FT01
STATUS/COMMENTS:
01/17/18 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.
Subfield $3 (Materials specified) is currently defined for use uniformly across many MARC fields in the Bibliographic format. This includes the presence of subfield $3 in Fields 300 (Physical Description), 336 (Content Type), 337 (Media Type), 338 (Carrier Type), 340 (Physical Medium), 344 (Sound Characteristics), 346 (Video Characteristics), 347 (Digital File Characteristics), 348 (Format of Notated Music), 385 (Audience Characteristics), 386 (Creator/Contributor Characteristics) and 388 (Time Period of Creation). Most recently, Subfield $3 was defined for field 382 (Medium of Performance) in 2016, and fields 370 (Associated Place) and 384 (Key) in 2017.
The purpose of the Subfield $3 is to allow catalogers to better associate metadata with specific pieces of the bibliographic description. In music cataloging, catalogers often are confronted with work- or expression-level metadata that applies to only one part of a bibliographic resource. The $3 can be used not only to specify which physical part of the item a given MARC field applies to, but also to specify certain pieces of ideational content, such as specific works or expressions within a compilation. The subfield is already used by the cataloging community across many MARC fields. Among the different cataloging constituencies, the music cataloging community is one that has shown strong support for using the subfield. The Music Library Association’s Best Practices for Music Cataloging Using RDA and MARC21 condones its use, and employs examples of the Subfield $3 that demonstrates its use to refer to both physical pieces of a resource and ideational components of a compilation.
This paper looks at the new 3XX descriptive fields in the MARC21 Bibliographic Format that lack a defined Subfield $3 (fields 377, 380, 381, and 383), and discusses which fields could be improved by having a defined subfield $3 available for use.
All of the 3XX fields mentioned above have a Subfield $8 defined as “field link and sequence number.” The subfield allows a cataloger to codify a certain relationship between one MARC field and another, and by using the field link type of ‘c” for “constituent item,” the subfield $8 could be used to link these MARC fields to their constituent units. However, for several reasons, the $8 subfield proves to be a limited tool to express relationships within a MARC record.
Though subfield $8 is useful for creating unambiguous machine-readable links between fields, the strings used to provide the linkage would prove incomprehensible to most patrons if they were displayed without some machine processing to render them more meaningful. By contrast, subfield $3 can be better suited for creating human-readable labels for metadata identification. MARC fields where the subfield $3 is employed could be presented to patrons with little to no manipulation and still result in useful displays
For subfield $8 to function, it requires that the information to be linked be described in discrete MARC fields. Subfield $3 lacks this limitation. One can easily use it to specify that a certain 3XX field applies to “Preface” or “2nd work” or “accompanying CD,” even if those logical or physical components are not described in individual MARC fields that could be linked. Of course, a cataloger could also use subfield $3 to provide a label that would relate discrete data elements to information expressed formally in access points.
To the above arguments we add some practical considerations. Subfield $8 has not been embraced by catalogers in North America. Encoding subfield $8 can be a time-consuming and exacting process, and the authors of this paper are not aware of input tools to assist a cataloger in the task. Nor are we aware of OPACs or discovery layers that have been designed to take advantage of subfield $8.
For these technical and practical reasons, we seek to validate subfield $3 in the fields below. Many of the examples below show the use of subfield $3 as well as subfield $8. Some of these uses show how the subfields share some parallel functions, but also how they differ.
Catalogers frequently encounter manifestations with multiple languages, and music catalogers in particular often are faced with compilations of musical works in several languages, or pieces of vocal music that have been translated into other languages. While the MARC Bibliographic format currently has several ways to record and encode language, which include the 008/35-37 bytes (Language), the 041 field (Language Code), and the 546 field (Language Note), none of these allow for a cataloger to easily record which language element applies to a specific part of the resource.
By defining subfield $3 in the 377 field (Associated Language), catalogers would be able to more easily distinguish which languages apply to which parts of the bibliographic record. This is not possible within the other language fields – the 008/35-37 bytes can only record the MARC code for a single language, rendering it largely useless for multilingual manifestations. The 041 field lacks a way to indicate that a language only applies to part of the manifestation. The 546 field is a free text field, and does not utilize the MARC Code List for Languages, and can be cumbersome to read when applied to large compilations.
If subfield $3 were available in field 377, catalogers would be able to record the language of different parts of the manifestation in a concise, granular fashion. For a compilation of works in multiple languages, the language information would no longer have to be crammed into a single field. Instead, each MARC language code could be recorded in a respective 377 with a subfield $3 to indicate to which part of the record it applies.
One of the drawbacks to defining the field in this capacity is that the large number of currently existing bibliographic records without this data makes it unlikely that one could retroactively add appropriately encoded 377 fields with granularly recorded language data, possibly dissuading catalogers from using this field moving forward. That said, field 377, established in 2011, is still fairly new to the MARC Bibliographic format. Making the field more capable to express complex relationships could encourage catalogers to employ the field more frequently in new cataloging.
Define new subfield $3 in field 377 of the MARC 21 Bibliographic format:
$3 - Materials specified (NR)
Part of the described materials to which the field applies.
An illustration of a compilation of musical works that are performed in different languages. In this case, the 041 field cannot specify which language codes apply to which works, and the 546 field does not contain codes from the MARC Code List for Languages. The cataloger has added 377 fields to granularly encode which language code applies to which work. Catalogers would not always supply added access points for large compilations such as this one, so with no internal fields to link to, supplying $8 as well would not be an option.
041 1# $d ger $d eng $d fre $d ita $h ger $h rus $h eng $h fre $h ita $g eng $g fre $g ger $h eng
245 00 $a Britten the performer $h [sound recording] / $c [Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Fauré].
546 ## Sung in German (1st, 5th and 6th works), English (2nd, 4th and 8th works), French (7th work), or Italian (3rd work); the Tchaikovsky translated from Russian.
377 ## $3 1st work $a ger
377 ## $3 2nd work $a eng
In this example, the resource contains multiple pieces of supplemental text in a variety of languages. The cataloger has used the 377 field to specify which pieces of supplemental text are in which language.
500 ## $a Preface in German and English; critical commentary in German.
377 ## $3 Preface $a ger $a eng
377 ## $3 Critical commentary $a ger
The 380 field (Form of Work) was established in the MARC Bibliographic format in 2010 in order to accommodate the RDA element “Form of work,” a core element when needed to distinguish one work from another. Unlike the 655 field (Index Term-Genre/Form), the 380 field specifically applies to the WEMI level of the work, and thus is not appropriate for recording LCGFT terms that apply to other WEMI entities.
To demonstrate one common application of the 380 field, since the official approval of musical terms in the Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms in early 2015, music catalogers have been using LCGFT terms in the 380 field in order to record the genre of musical works in bibliographic records. Music catalogers frequently catalog compilations of material that contain multiple kinds of musical works, and there is no easy way to indicate which genre/form term applies to which musical work. Some terms might apply to the entire compilation, while others may only apply to a selection of works within the compilation. Often times there may be a compilation of works with multiple forms – such as a compilation of selected works of Beethoven that contains a symphony, a concerto, and a sonata.
In defining the subfield $3 in field 380 as “Materials specified,” catalogers would be able to indicate which work within a compilation has a certain form, and would allow catalogers to provide the form of each work in a granular fashion. Because of the growing usage and continuing expansion of LCGFT in many cataloging communities, as well as the move toward faceted vocabularies in general, this is deemed one of the fields most in need of the subfield $3.
Define new subfield $3 in field 380 of the MARC 21 Bibliographic format:
$3 - Materials specified (NR)
Part of the described materials to which the field applies.
These two examples show compilations of musical works in several different forms. The cataloger has used multiple 380 fields to indicate which LCGFT term applies to which work in the compilation.
245 04 $a The Baroque violin collection : $b 9 pieces by 9 composers : for violin and piano.
380 ## $3 1st, 5th and 7th works $a Concertos $2 lcgft
380 ## $3 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 9th works $a Sonatas $2 lcgft
380 ## $3 7th work $a Chaconnes $2 lcgft
505 0# $a Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 / Johann Sebastian Bach ; edited and with fingering by Eduard Herrmann -- Sonata in D minor, op. 5, no. 12 : "La folia" / Arcangelo Corelli ; edited and with fingering by Leopold Lichtenberg -- Sonata in D major, HWV 371 / George Frideric Handel ; edited and with fingering by Adolfo Betti -- Sonata in D major, op. 9, no. 3 / Jean-Marie Leclair ; edited and with fingering by Leopold Lichtenberg -- Concerto in E minor / Pietro Nardini ; arranged by Miska Hauser ; edited and with fingering by Sam Franko -- Sonatina in A major / Georg Philipp Telemann ; edited and with fingering by Rok Klopčič -- Concerto in G major / Giovanni Battista Viotti ; edited and with fingering by Ferdinand David -- Ciaccona in G minor / Tommaso Vitali ; arranged by Ferdinand David ; edited and with fingering by Henry Schradieck -- Concerto in E major, RV 269 : "Spring" / Antonio Vivaldi.100 1# $a Arnold, Malcolm.
240 10 $a Instrumental music. $k Selections
245 10 $a Symphony no. 5 ; $b Divertimento no. 2 ; Machines ; Sarabande & polka ; The belles of St. Trinians / $c Malcolm Arnold.
380 ## $3 Symphony no. 5 $a Symphonies $2 lcgft
380 ## $3 Divertimento no. 2 $a Suites $2 lcgft
380 ## $3 Machines $a Art music $2 lcgft
380 ## $3 Sarabande & polka $a Sarabandes (Music) $a Polkas (Music) $2 lcgft
380 ## $3 The belles of St. Trinians $a Motion picture music $2 lcgft
The 381 field (Other Distinguishing Characteristics of Work or Expression) was created in the MARC Bibliographic format in 2010. Its purpose is to provide a place to record any characteristic that serves to characterize a work or expression that is not already accommodated in a special field. RDA’s definitions of “Other Distinguishing Characteristic of a Work” and “Other Distinguishing Characteristic of an Expression” are broad, and these elements are core only when needed to distinguish works and expressions from similar entities.
In music, this field is largely used to record expression-level elements that do not fit the definition of the 380 field, such as indicating an arrangement of a work. However, there is some potential for this field to be used more broadly for works whose authorized access point necessitate some sort of distinguishing element. However, the relative rarity of works and expressions that require this distinguishing element means that it is unlikely that the 381 field would ever reach widespread usage.
A subfield $3 for the 381 field could be used in compilations where multiple works have distinguishing characteristics that cannot be recorded granularly apart from their authorized access points. One possible example is a DVD with several choreographers’ versions of the same ballet – in this case, the works are distinguished by using the name of the choreographer. One could indicate which choreographer was associated with which work using the 381 field and the $3 subfield. Another example comes from musical works without any defining thematic catalog or opus number – in these cases, music catalogers often use manuscript numbers to distinguish one work from another. It could be possible to use the 381 field to record the distinguishing manuscript number and use the subfield $3 materials specified to indicate which manuscript number applies to which work.
What would probably be a more common usage would stem from the distinguishing characteristics of expressions. A compilation may have multiple expressions of one work, and these expressions may be distinguished only by the name of their translator, or the name of the edition. These are distinguishing elements of the expression, not the work, and therefore do not fall under the definition of the MARC 380 field. However, a cataloger could use the 381 field to record this information, and the subfield $3 to distinguish to which expression the field is referring. To cite a particular example, musical compilations often have several pieces, one of which may be an arrangement; a cataloger could use the 381 to indicate that a piece is an arrangement, and the subfield $3 could be used when it is necessary to indicate that only some pieces of a compilation are arrangements.
As the cataloging world moves away from including all distinguishing information for works and expressions in authorized access points, it is possible that the 381 field could become more important, and the $3 subfield more necessary. However, due to the lack of usage that the 381 field currently receives, it is questionable whether a $3 subfield would currently receive any widespread usage in the North American cataloging community.
Define new subfield $3 in field 381 of the MARC 21 Bibliographic format:
$3 - Materials specified (NR)
Part of the described materials to which the field applies.
In this example, the resource contains several choreographers’ versions of the Nutcracker ballet. The choreographers’ names are included in the authorized access points for each choreographic work; however, the cataloger has also utilized the 381 field to indicate which choreographer is associated with which work. This example shows how $8 could be employed for machine linking.
245 00 $a San Francisco Ballet : $b fiftieth anniversary gala performance / $c conceived, produced and directed by Michael Smuin ; in collaboration with Cal Anderson, Merrill Brockway, Marge Champion, Paul Seiko Chihara, Robert Gladstein, Whitney Green, Russell Hartley, Gene Kelly, Willa Kim, Laura Leivick, Michael Ritchie, Cobbett Steinberg, Drew Takahashi, Tony Walton.
381 ## $3 1944 Nutcracker $8 1\c $a Christensen, W.
381 ## $3 1954 Nutcracker $8 2\c $a Christensen, L.
505 0# $a Part I. [Introduction] / by Gene Kelly and Janet Reet -- Overture / composed by Paul Seiko Chihara -- Film prologue / director, Whitney Green ; producer, Drew Takahashi ; special consultant, Michael Ritchie.
505 8# $a Nutcracker (Act II, Trepak) (1944) / choreography, Willam Christensen ; music, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky.
505 8# $a Nutcracker (Act II, Waltz of the flowers) (1954) / choreography, Lew Christensen ; music, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky ; scenery and costumes, Robert O'Hearn.
730 02 $8 1\c Nutcracker (Choreographic work : Christensen, W.)
730 02 $8 2\c Nutcracker (Choreographic work : Christensen, L.)
This example illustrates a compilation of musical works, some of which have been arranged for a different medium of performance. The cataloger has recorded this expression-level element in the 381 field, and used the subfield $3 to indicate the pieces to which the term “arranged” applies. $8 is also used, in this case providing a machine-actionable link between the element in field 381 and the access points to which it applies.
245 04 $a The du Pré legacy : $b seven solo pieces for cello and piano / $c edited by Marion Feldman ; featuring the Elgar Concerto with fingerings and bowings by Jacqueline du Pré.
381 ## $3 2nd, 3rd, and 6th pieces $8 1\c $8 2\c $8 3\c $a arranged
505 0# $a Allegro appassionato, op. 43 / Camille Saint-Saëns -- Arioso (from Cantata No. 156) / Johann Sebastian Bach ; arranged by Merle J. Isaac -- Concerto in E minor, op. 85 / Edward Elgar ; fingerings and bowings by Jacqueline du Pré -- Elégie / Gabriel Fauré -- Fantasiestück, op. 73 / Robert Schumann -- Kol nidre, op. 47 / Max Bruch -- Sicilienne / Maria Theresia von Paradis.
700 12 $i Container of (work): $a Saint-Saëns, Camille, $d 1835-1921. $t Allegro appassionato, $m cello, piano.
700 12 $8 1\c $i Container of (expression): $a Bach, Johann Sebastian, $d 1685-1750. $t Ich steh' mit einem Fuss im Grabe. $p Sinfonia; $o arranged.
700 12 $8 2\c $i Container of (expression): $a Elgar, Edward, $d 1857-1934. $t Concertos, $m cello, orchestra, $n op. 85, $r E minor; $o arranged.
700 12 $i Container of (work): $a Fauré, Gabriel, $d 1845-1924. $t Elegy, $m cello, piano, $n op. 24.
700 12 $i Container of (work): $a Schumann, Robert, $d 1810-1856. $t Fantasiestücke, $m clarinet, piano.
700 12 $8 3\c $i Container of (expression): $a Bruch, Max, $d 1838-1920. $t Kol nidrei; $o arranged.
700 12 $i Container of (work): $a Dushkin, Samuel, $d 1891-1976. $t Siciliana, $m violin, piano.
In this example, a manuscript number from the RISM publication is needed to distinguish one work from another. These manuscript numbers are recorded in the 381 field, with a $3 to indicate to which work the information applies. Subfield $8 could have also been employed to give machine linkages.
245 00 $a Trumpet concertos / $c J. Chr. & J.W. Hertel.
381 ## $3 1st work $a RISM A/II 240.002.421
381 ## $3 6th work $a RISM A/II 240.002.420
505 0# $a Sinfonia for 3 trumpets, timpani, 2 violins, viola and basso continuo, no. 3, D major / Johann Christian Hertel (7:24) -- Concerto no. 3, for trumpet, strings and basso continuo, D major (9:13) ; Concerto no. 2, for trumpet, strings and basso continuo, E flat major (10:29) ; Concerto for trumpet, oboe, strings and basso continuo in E flat major (13:20) ; Concerto no. 1 for trumpet, strings and basso continuo, E flat major (12:03) / Johann Wilhelm Hertel -- Sinfonia for 3 trumpets, timpani, 2 violins, viola and basso continuo, no. 1, D major / J. Christian Hertel (9:52).
700 12 $i Container of (work): $a Hertel, Johann Christian, $d 1697-1754. $t Sinfonie, $m trumpets (3), string orchestra, $r D major (RISM A/II 240.002.421)
700 12 $i Container of (work): $a Hertel, Johann Wilhelm, $d 1727-1789. $t Concertos, $m trumpet, string orchestra, $n no. 3, $r D major.
700 12 $i Container of (work): $a Hertel, Johann Wilhelm, $d 1727-1789. $t Concertos, $m trumpet, string orchestra, $n no. 2, $r E♭ major.
700 12 $i Container of (work): $a Hertel, Johann Wilhelm, $d 1727-1789. $t Concertos, $m oboe, trumpet, string orchestra, $r E♭ major.
700 12 $i Container of (work): $a Hertel, Johann Wilhelm, $d 1727-1789. $t Concertos, $m trumpet, string orchestra, $n no. 1, $r E♭ major.
700 12 $i Container of (work): $a Hertel, Johann Christian, $d 1697-1754. $t Sinfonie, $m trumpets (3), string orchestra, $r D major (RISM A/II 240.002.420)
The 383 field (Numeric Designation of Musical Work) was created in the MARC Bibliographic format in 2010. This element is core in RDA when needed to differentiate one work from another, or when a work has a title that is not distinctive. The element applies to serial numbers, opus numbers, or thematic index numbers, all of which are heavily used by both music catalogers and the larger music community to identify a specific musical work that may lack any sort of distinctive title.
It is not uncommon for a compilation to be published that contains several works, each with their own numeric designation. While some authorized access points for works include this information in a subfield $n, it is not information that is guaranteed to appear. The 383 field can be used to record the numeric designation even when it is not included in an authorized access point. However, currently there is no easy way to indicate which numeric designation applies to which work in a compilation. As a result, multiple numeric designations simply float in 383 fields with nothing tying them to the work entities with which they are associated.
By defining the subfield $3 for the 383 field, music catalogers would be able to easily indicate to which portion of a compilation a specific numeric designation applies. This could be used not only to indicate which work is associated with which number, but also in cases where a compilation has multiple physical components, such as multiple volumes or audio discs, each containing works within a separate series of numeric designations. The addition of a subfield $3 for this MARC field would make the field much more useful for music catalogers, and the common appearance of numeric designations for musical works makes the addition of the subfield $3 here a high priority for the music cataloging community.
Define new subfield $3 in field 383 of the MARC 21 Bibliographic format:
$3 - Materials specified (NR)
Part of the described materials to which the field applies.
This example is of a resource that includes multiple compact discs. The cataloger has used the 383 field to indicate the numeric designations of the pieces that are included on each disc. This and the following example could not also employ $8 to link unambiguously to a single work to which the element applies within field 245.
245 10 $a Brandenburgische Konzerte / $c Bach.
300 ## $a 2 audio discs (94 min., 29 sec.) : $b digital, stereo. ; $c 4 3/4 in.
383 ## $3 disc 1 $c BWV 1046 $c BWV 1047 $c BWV 1048 $d Schmieder $2 mlati
383 ## $3 disc 2 $c BWV 1049 $c BWV 1050 $c BWV 1051 $d Schmieder $2 mlati
The compilation in this example has several works with opus numbers that are not recorded elsewhere in the bibliographic record. The cataloger has used the 383 field to record the specific opus numbers that apply to specific works in the compilation. If subfield $8 were used to link field 245 with fields 383 in this example, the subfield $3 possibly could provide a so far unexplored complementary role to clarify what would be an ambiguous linkage.
100 1# $a Stravinsky, Igor, $d 1882-1971.
240 10 $a Orchestra music. $k Selections
245 10 $a Feu d'artifice ; $b L'oiseau de feu : suite ; Symphony no. 1 ; Scherzo fantastique / $c Stravinsky.
383 ## $3 Feu d'artifice $a op. 4
383 ## $3 Symphony no. 1 $a op. 1
383 ## $3 Scherzo fantastique $a op. 3
Difficult to convert from MARC because of textual nature.
4.1. Is there a demonstrated need for defining the $3 subfield for one or more of the MARC Bibliographic fields listed above?
4.2. Are there certain work- and expression-level attributes which are more important to granularly record than others?
4.3. As we move away from an environment in which large amounts of work-level data are included in an authorized access point, will the 38X fields take on increased importance in bibliographic records?
4.4. As we move toward a linked data environment, how important is it to include work- and expression-level information in bibliographic records, as opposed to authority records?
4.5. This discussion paper only looks at subfield $3 in these fields within the Bibliographic format. Are there any situations in which subfield $3 for the above fields could be useful in an authority record?
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