Dan Matei asks:
> Beside MARCview, I do not know a user interface which allows searching
> within MARC subfields. I suppose there are more,
> but I don't see that in WorldCat or LC search interface, for instance.
>
> OK, the UNIMARC subfields are used to generate the ISBD punctuation.
> But in MARC 21 case, what is the real need for
> marking-up a field with subfield codes ? Does its usefulness justify
> the effort ?
Yes, there are a number of systems that take advantage of MARC subfields. For instance, many systems allow title searching in subfield t in 7XX fields and 505 formatted contents notes. Most systems also allow you to display or not display specific subfields. For instance, it might not display the subfield h of 245, instead replacing it with a graphic. Some systems allow you to set up "scopes", so that users can automatically select material only in a specific language, or material type, or dates, or many other choices. In many systems, you could set up a search on the ISSN of a 440 or 490 field.
Even more important, subfields are critical for proper data maintenance. If a name authority changes, you need to change only the name portion of a name-title field 7xx field. If you need to create a list of records with a form of Bibliography, you need to search the subfield v of 6xx. I have created several scripts to aid in cataloging and data maintenance. They do such things as check whether the item is an electronic resource (245 subfield h), check whether there is accompanying material (300 subfield e), check the publication date (260 subfield c), check whether it should be considered oversize (300 subfield c), and check whether the record was cataloged in English (040 subfield b). To do this, these pieces of data must be kept separate, in easily identifiable locations. In other words, in distinct fields. MARC does this by making them into subfields of larger entities. There are other ways of organizing it, but it all boils down to distinct fields for distinct t!
ypes of information. Even LibraryThing uses distinct fields for distinct types of information. It just doesn't have as many differentiations of types of information as MARC has.
Steve McDonald
Steve.mcdonald_at_tufts.edu
Received on Fri Jun 04 2010 - 10:23:50 EDT