Houghton,Andrew wrote:
>> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
>> [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Karen Coyle
>> Sent: 27 May, 2007 10:14
>> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
>> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] MARC vs XMLMARC
>>
>> (MARCXML does not solve other
>> problems, like running out of subfield codes when you have
>> exhausted a-z, 0-9).
>>
>
> Actually MARC does allow subfield codes beyond a-z, 0-9. LC
> has never authorized them for the MARC-21 standards.
Thanks, Andrew. I fell into the usual trap of "MARC=MARC21" or "MARC as
we know it." As we often find ourselves delineating, there are many
different aspects to the thing we often refer to as "MARC" -- from the
structure (IS 2709) to the MARC "instance" of that structure (which I
suppose is only defined in the document you cited), and MARC21
(previously "US MARC"), which includes all of the tags as well as the
rules for input.
My guess is that expansion to characters beyond a-z, 0-9 is hindered by
the fact that in many systems humans actually input the codes or read
the coded data, and thus the various punctuation characters would be
expected to be especially error prone. (Especially the "$") There is
also the fact that for some characters (like underscore) the MARC-8
character set did not include the ASCII character for many years of its
existence. It's less clear to me why the standard is unable to
accommodate upper case A-Z, but not having been around when that
decision was made (maybe 40 years ago) I don't know the reasoning behind
it. Anyone?
--
-----------------------------------
Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596 skype: kcoylenet
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
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Received on Sun May 27 2007 - 18:05:26 EDT