Michele,
   Here's what the RLG Best Practice Guidelines recommend for mainagency 
code:

Use a repository code supplied by the Library of Congress, the
National Library of Canada (MARC Code List for Organizations), the
Historical Manuscripts Commission in the United Kingdom
(ARCHON), other code assigned by OCLC, by RLG, or by a national
authority. The code should be formulated according to ISO 15511. If
no appropriate national authority exists, a unique identifier of the host
system must be developed using ISO 15511.

I don't know if the listed order is an order of preference, but it's
suggestive that the MARC code list comes first.

Hope this helps,
Mary


On Mon, 9 Apr 2007, Michele Combs wrote:

> Hello all *
> 
> Would like to survey the Collective Wisdom on the maingencycode attribute of the EADID element.  Are most people using the OCLC code for this or the MARC-21 code?  For example for us the OCLC code is SYB but the MARC code is NSyU.  Just wondered whether there's a good reason to go one way or the other.  Obviously to get records into OCLC we would have to use the OCLC code, but I'm wondering if there are any other pros or cons to using one or the other.
> 
> Thanks * 
> 
> Michele
> 
> 
> -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
> Michele R. Combs
> [log in to unmask]
> Manuscripts Processor
> Special Collections Research Center
> Syracuse University Library
> 222 Waverly Avenue
> Syracuse, NY 13244
> (315) 443-2697
> -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
> 

Mary Lacy
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
(202)707-8799 fax (202)707-6336
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