Page 126 - Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians, 2nd Edition

112 Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians

adopted by bib lio graphic util i ties and indi vid ual librar ies that cat a log
on com put ers.

MARC 21: A con tin u a tion of USMARC and CAN/MARC (MARC
standards used by Cana dian librar ies) that is a harmonized for mat of
the two, with differences between the two formats elim inated.

PREMARC: The 4.2 million older records (pre-1968) filmed from
the Library of Con gress shelflist and con verted to the MARC for mat
by Carrolton Press. Also called REMARC.
subfield: Each field in the MARC record contains sev eral related
pieces of data, and each piece of data is called a subfield. Each
subfield is pre ceded by a delimiter, such as $ or ≠ , and by a subfield
code, such as a or b.
tag: A string of three-digit num bers indi cating the dif ferent fields,
such as 100 for author, 245 for title.
USMARC: The MARC records cre ated, used, and dis tributed by the
Library of Con gress. Libraries in the United States follow its spec ified
standards. Ori ginally called LC MARC in the 1960s, and USMARC
until 1999, MARC 21 is the revised identification.

INTRODUCTION

Now in the twenty-first century, most li braries ei ther have con verted
or are con verting to com puter cat aloging. The card catalog is no lon ger
a com mon sight. As a li brary tech nician whose job in volves cat alog-
ing, chances are that you will be work ing at a computer ter minal. Your
work will con sist of copy cat aloging mostly, but occasionally you will
have to do some orig inal cat aloging. When per forming copy cat alog-
ing, you will pull up re cords from the da tabase that match the materials
you are cat aloging and sim ply add your li brary’s sym bol to them. With
original cat aloging, how ever, you will pull up a blank MARC work
form on the com puter and in put data into each field, ac cording to the
specified rules ex plained in Chapters 4, 5, and 6. Be cause the in for-
mation to be re corded via the com puter is the same as that which
would be typed onto a catalog card, and be cause the method of ex -