A follow up reminder of the available MAC papers and the opportunity to provide feedback that I can convey to MAC.
I am particularly interested in responses to Discussion Paper 2023-DP01. To be frank, I am deeply troubled by the underlying thought processes to justify what it proposes for consideration and the potential implications for our work. Your perceptions, either validating my underlying concern or providing perspective to ease them, are welcome.
John Myers, Catalog & Metadata Librarian
CC:DA Liaison to MAC
Schaffer Library, Union College
Schenectady NY 12308
518-388-6623
pronouns: he/him/his
Colleagues,
Attached is the agenda and papers for the MARC Advisory Committee (MAC) meetings that will take place January 31-February 2, 2023. For your benefit, I have interspersed some descriptive language after each paper. All of the papers touch on matters of descriptive cataloging to some degree, although some are less applicable in the realm of standard Anglo-American cataloging than others. Particularly contentious was the reception of the previous discussion paper that led to the current 2023-DP01, concerning the development of a new subfield for field 264 for recording collective (that is, unsubfielded) statements for the data normally parsed into $a$b$c. I would very much welcome your feedback on that paper.
The MAC chair has requested feedback from liaisons by January 25. In order to meet that deadline, I ask for your comments by January 20.
John
John Myers, Catalog & Metadata Librarian
CC:DA Liaison to MAC
Schaffer Library, Union College
Schenectady NY 12308
518-388-6623
pronouns: he/him/his
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Proposal 2023-01 would define a new field for the recording of archive and access information for online archives across all formats. Specifically, it would define new field 857 and its associated subfields to support recording the various elements to be recorded (persistent identifier, location, content date range, completeness of the archive, and the provider). It builds on the concepts explored in 2022-DP02 and 2022-DP06, pursuing MAC consensus that such information warranted a field distinct from the existing 856 field. In particular, it streamlines some choices and elements that currently exist in the 856 field as not applicable to online archives and adds some additional elements that are specific to online archives.
Proposal 2023-02 would add subfield $3 to existing field 041 of the bibliographic format. It builds on concepts explored in 2022-DP07. In particular, once field 041 was made repeatable in order to support the recording of language codes from differing standards, it then was deployed in a repeatable fashion to record the language codes associated with distinct included works. To improve the utility of the repeated fields in this context, a "materials specified" element is warranted, which is elsewhere recorded in $3.
Proposal 2023-03 would add various control subfields to fields 720 and 653 of the bibliographic format. Specifically, it would add subfields $0, $1, $2, and $5 (respectively: authority/control number, real world object URI, source of standard number/URI, and institution to which the field applies). While fields 720 and 653 are articulated in terms of uncontrolled terminology, as linked data is implemented across bibliographic data structures including MARC, there is a growing need to provide linkages to non-traditional sources that nonetheless deploy control numbers and real world object URIs.
Proposal 2023-04 would define a new field for the structured recording of ownership and custodial history across all formats. Specifically, it would define new field 361 and its associated subfields to support recording the various elements to be recorded. It builds on concepts and options explored in 2022-DP09 (and 2010-09). For those wishing to deploy it, the new field would support enhanced engagement with authority records and controlled vocabularies than currently available in the free-text field 561, with possible linked data applicability.
Discussion Paper 2023-DP01 explores the addition of a new subfield to field 264 of the bibliographic format for the recording of otherwise unsubfielded data. To that end, it suggests the use of a new $s for this purpose. It explores further the concepts initially presented in 2022-DP10. While emergent from dynamics discovered in BibFrame-MARC conversion, it has wider applicability.
Discussion Paper 2023-DP02 explores the addition of $0 and $1 to field 658 (Index Term-Curriculum Objective) of the bibliographic format. There are emergent thesauri of such terms with control numbers and URIs that should be supported with these subfields.
Discussion Paper 2023-DP03 explores the renaming and redefinition of field 368 $d of the authority format. Field 368 $d is presently defined as "Title of Person" – royalty, nobility, ecclesiastical rank, or religious vocation – to support the scope in the early development of RDA. Subsequent refinements expanded the concept to incorporate other terms of rank, honor, or office. The current "Official RDA" explicitly labels the element as "Term of Rank or Honor or Office." It is necessary then to update the MARC format to align with the RDA-MARC mapping and current practice.
Discussion Paper 2023-DP04 explores a mechanism for recording various attributes of families. To that end, it proposes new and revised fields and subfields for accommodating address of family, field of activity of family, and occupation of family, and considers two options for recording other attributes of families in the MARC 21 Authority Format. It explores various options to address the means to record additional attributes of families.
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