Alternatively, of course, you do the logical thing and not stroe punctuation
as data at all, but sully it by program at output time, thus making life
easier for cataloguers and reducing the quantity of data being stored and
pushed round at any given time.

YYou'll find the process elegantly explained in the UK MARC format, but I
understand the US representatives in MARC harmonisation have rejected it.

Pity...

Malcolm Jones

73 Oxford Road
Moseley
Birmingham
B13 9SG
UK

Phone +44 121 449 7139
Fax   +44 870 284 4088
Mobile phone: 07802 754270

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-----Original Message-----
From: MARC [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of J. McRee Elrod
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 5:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Punctuation in MARC records


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/
  ___} |__ \__________________________________________________________