MARC Standards

Introduction

The MARC 21 formats are prepared by the Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Library of Congress, in cooperation with Standards, Intellectual Management Office, Library and Archives Canada and the National Bibliographic Service, British Library. The Library and Archives Canada is responsible for translating the formats into French and also for publishing and distribution of English and French formats to Canadian clients.

• How to order MARC 21 formats
  

MARC 21 supersedes the 1994 edition of Canadian MARC Communication Formats and its updates published between 1994 and 1998. Update number six of the bibliographic format contained the changes to CAN/MARC required to align with USMARC. With this update, the specifications contained in the CAN/MARC and USMARC formats were identical. The 1994 edition superseded the 1988 edition and its seven updates issued between 1988 and 1991. The 1988 edition of the bibliographic format was produced by amalgamating separately issued CAN/MARC formats for monographs and serials.

Changes to the MARC 21 formats are based upon proposals considered by the ALA ALCTS/LITA/RUSA Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information Committee (MARBI), the Canadian Committee on MARC (CCM) and by the Book Industry Communications/Bibliographic Standards Technical Subgroup (BIC/BSTS).

Related MARC information:

• The MARC 21 Formats: Background and Principles www.loc.gov/marc/96principl.html
• Guidelines for Coding Electronic Resources in Leader/06: www.loc.gov/marc/ldr06guide.html
• MARC 21 Format for Holdings Data - Chronology and Enumeration Types with Code Patterns: www.loc.gov/marc/chrono_patterns.html
• Understanding MARC bibliographic Authority Records:
  Machine-Readable Cataloging: www.loc.gov/marc/uma/
• Understanding MARC bibliographic: Machine-Readable Cataloging: www.loc.gov/marc/umb/
• British Library's MARC web site
  www.bl.uk/services/bibliographic/exchange.html
• Library of Congress' MARC web site
  http://www.loc.gov/marc
• MARBI Discussion Papers
  http://www.loc.gov/marc/marbi/list-dp.html
• MARBI Proposals
  http://www.loc.gov/marc/marbi/list-p.html
• MARC Records Distribution Service (MRDS)
  Provides information on this service and other online sources relating to cataloguing records.
• MARC 21 specifications for record structure, character sets and exchange media
• Standard Terminology for the MARC 21 Actions Note Field
• Guidelines for the use of Field 856
• MARC harmonization and its impact on the CAN/MARC bibliographic and authority formats -- June 1997
• Symbols and Interlibrary Loan Policies in Canada
  As of May 21, 2004, the National Library of Canada (NLC) and the National Archives of Canada (NAC) became Library and Archives Canada (LAC).
• UNIMARC:
  IFLA-CDNL Alliance for Bibliographic Standards
  www.ifla.org/VI/7/icabs.htm
  IFLA UNIMARC core activity
  www.ifla.org/VI/8/up.htm
  UNIMARC document archive
  www.ifla.org/VI/3/ubcim-archive.htm
• USEMARCON Universal MARC Record Convertor
  www.bl.uk/services/bibliographic/usemarcon.html