And, of course, the embedded punctuation is largely what makes converting from
and to MARC 21 so appallingly difficult compared with MARC formats which do not
have embedded punctuation. Never mind, the increasingly wide use of Z39.50 will
ensure that we all use MARC 21 in the future so no conversions will be
necessary.
Brenda Young (Betamax video owner and user of UKMARC)
-----Original Message-----
From: Bernhard Eversberg <[log in to unmask]> at Internet
Sent: 28 November 2000 08:16
To: [log in to unmask] at Internet
Subject: RE: Punctuation in MARC records
Mac writes,
>
> Most libraries in the English library world use AACR2, but of course it
> gives only punctuation and not subfield codes.
>
USMARC was/is, from the POV of database programming, a muddle. The
descriptive fields, like 245, 260, and others, contain both
punctuation AND subfield codes. The latter would be sufficient,
with display software replacing codes by punctuation marks.
(That way, display conventions might be changed painlessly, without
bothering the cataloger. The way things are, this would be much more
difficult.)
UKMARC used to be "cleaner" (having only the subfield codes), but the
ongoing "harmonziation" will do away with that. (I almost wrote, it
will drag them into the muddle.)
The "muddle" goes back to the old days when programmers (in assembly
language!) found it much easier that way: just strip out the subfield
codes and have the whole descriptive text string ready for line
breaking! Seasoned catalogers still don't even notice this as the
anachronistic disgrace it is, so much is it ingrained in their
routine. Like the way you shift gears (as Mac once remarked), not
giving any thought to it. But they *had* to learn it first, when in
fact it was unnecessary.
Yes, hold it, I know, it is impossible to change all those myriad
systems and programs adapted to having subfields codes AND
punctuation. But it remains an anachronistic disgrace nonetheless,
sorry.
Regards, B.E.
Bernhard Eversberg
Universitaetsbibliothek, Postf. 3329,
D-38023 Braunschweig, Germany
Tel. +49 531 391-5026 , -5011 , FAX -5836
e-mail [log in to unmask]
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