The need to be able to use ISO 639-1 and 639-3 language codes was recognized by the MARC community some time ago (actually in 2001), and there is a mechanism to record them in field 041, e.g.

041 07 $a en $a fr $2 iso639-1

I’m not sure how widely implemented it is. Subfield $2 contains the source of the code and the sources are in the list at http://www.loc.gov/standards/sourcelist/language.html. At the time, the RFCs were being used (and as you can see from the list of source codes, they were revised a lot). BCP 47 could be added to the source code list so that it could be used in MARC records for now.

Rebecca

Rebecca Squire Guenther
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On Dec 14, 2017, at 2:48 AM, Osma Suominen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Most existing MARC data incorporates use of the language codes found in ISO 693-2/B. While the codes in this standard are useful, it may be necessary in implementation to accommodate the codes from ISO 639-1 (2-letter codes) and ISO 639-3 as well.

Adhering to BCP 47 would already provide a mechanism for expressing ISO 639-1 and 639-3 language codes, so I don't see why the implementation-level consideration is not simply to use BCP 47 as was already stated under General considerations.


-Osma




Robert J. Rendall kirjoitti 13.12.2017 klo 22:30:

Colleagues -
The ALA/ALCTS Committee on Cataloging: Asian and African Materials (CC:AAM) has voted to approve a Statement in Support of the Internationalization of BIBFRAME, containing recommendations on character encoding, the representation of original script and romanization, normalization, and language tags:
http://connect.ala.org/node/271553
Robert Rendall
Chair, CC:AAM 2017-2018
http://www.ala.org/alcts/mgrps/camms/cmtes/ats-ccscataa
Robert Rendall
Principal Serials Cataloger
Original and Special Materials Cataloging, Columbia University Libraries
102 Butler Library, 535 West 114th Street, New York, NY 10027
tel.: 212 851 2449  fax: 212 854 5167

--
Osma Suominen
D.Sc. (Tech), Information Systems Specialist
National Library of Finland
P.O. Box 26 (Kaikukatu 4)
00014 HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Tel. +358 50 3199529
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http://www.nationallibrary.fi