MARC 21 Concise Formats

2002 Edition

Network Development and MARC Standards Office
Library of Congress

The 2002 edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats is now available from the Library of Congress. In a single publication, the MARC 21 Concise Formats provides a quick reference guide to the content designators defined in each MARC format. It provides a concise description of each field, each character position of the fixed-length data element fields, and of the defined indicators in the variable data fields. Descriptions of subfield codes and coded values are given only when their names may not be sufficiently descriptive. Examples are included for each field.

This new publication supersedes the 2001 edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats. It includes changes from the 2002 update (Update No. 3) and is current with all five full editions of the MARC 21 formats.

Major changes in this edition include:

• Addition of field 026 (Fingerprint identifier) in the bibliographic format
• Addition of subfield $u (Uniform resource identifier) in fields 506 and 540 in the bibliographic format
  
• Addition of field 065 (Other classification number) in the authority format
• Addition of subfields $n (Pattern note) and $p (Number of pieces per issuance) in fields 853-855 of the holdings format
• Addition of field 563 (Binding information) in the bibliographic and holdings format
• Addition of field 748 (Index term -- Chronological) in the classification format
• There have also been numerous editorial changes made to the publication

MARC 21 Concise Formats (ISBN 0-8444-1079-9) text is available with the binder and tabs for $50 (North America) and $60 (outside North America). The text, not including the binder and tabs, is also available for $40 (North America) and $50 (outside North America).

Ordering information is available from:

The MARC 21 Concise Formats are also available online at: www.loc.gov/marc/concise/

April 10, 2003

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