[WEB4LIB] Re: About MARC

[Bigwood, David]

Another interesting MARC site is:

Tag of the month at: http://www.fsc.follett.com/libraries/data/marctags/

We use MARC (and AACR2 and ISBD) because it is a standard.  As such it
allows interoperatibility and saves time and effort.

MARC allows records to be exchanged and thus saves each library
recataloging every item in their collections.  Also training is reduced.
 As person trained in MARC can work in any cataloging center with little
additional training.  Libraries do not have to have a in house system,
it is possible to buy a library system for as little as a few hundred
dollars.  Some nice systems are well within the budgets of elementary
school, church, and small business libraries.  This would not be the
case if each library had to develop their own systems.

Having a standard allows tools to be developed to work on the records.
There are spelling checkers, ISBD fixers, MARC to SGML converters,
content verifiers and many other special programs designed to work on
MARC.  This would not be the case if there were not such a large base of
records in this format.

It is possible to search other catalogs using Z39.50.  If the structure
of the records were up each institution, it would not be possible.

These are just a few of the benefits deriving from MARC.  I may well
have left many important ones.  MARC is not perfect.  But, it is very
good.  It is possible to use a MARC record created in 1970 on a MAC,
UNIX or PC today.  Not many electronic files created in 1970 can claim
the same degree of interoperability and backward compatibility.  The
folks who invented MARC left us all in their debit.

Sincerely,
David Bigwood
bigwood at lpi.jsc.nasa.gov
Lunar & Planetary Institute


>----------
>From: 	Christopher Handy[SMTP:charta at inetdirect.net]
>Sent: 	Sunday, May 02, 1999 12:01 PM
>To: 	Multiple recipients of list
>Subject: 	[WEB4LIB] Re: About MARC
>
>At 11:33 AM -0500 on 5/2/99 you wrote to me, stating:
>
>|>why do we use MARC?
>|>what is the importance of MARC?
>|>where can i find the official site of MARC?
>
>The Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office
>maintains an extensive web site devoted to the subject. See especially the
>page "The USMARC Formats: Background and Principles" located at URL:
>
><http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/96principl.html>
>
>You'll also find there a link back to the USMARC Home Page, which provides
>information on many other aspects of the MARC standard, both administrative
>and technical.
>
>Chris Handy
>Indianapolis, IN
><mailto:charta at inetdirect.net>
>
>
>