In article <[log in to unmask]>, you
>Is there a publication that defines the correct punctuation to be used in
>MARC records? Usually the examples given in MARC 21 Concise Format are a
>good guide, but complex fields such as 610 and 611 can be difficult to
>punctuate correctly.

Most libraries in the English library world use AACR2, but of course it
gives only punctuation and not subfield codes.

Bibliographic utilities give examples in their manuals, e.g., OCLC's
"Bibliographic Formats and Standards".  We still find best for variable
fields CATSS' "MARC Coding Manual for Bibliographic Data", although the
system is no more.  (Their fixed fields were not standard MARC.)  You
could phone their successor AG-Canada at 1-800-684-8184 and perhaps
arrange to purchase photocopies of the pages with examples for certain
fields. (To know how to punctuate and code 610 and 611 you would want
the pages for 110 and 111; the coding is the same.)

   __       __   J. McRee (Mac) Elrod ([log in to unmask])
  {__  |   /     Special Libraries Cataloguing   HTTP://www.slc.bc.ca/
  ___} |__ \__________________________________________________________