There’s A LOT Still Happening in MARC : Some Updates on MARC Formats

I am pleased to announce that MARC Format Transition Interest Group is holding a session during the Core IG Week on Wednesday, March 8th at 1pm(ET)/noon(CT)/10am(PT).

session title: "There's A LOT Still Happening in MARC : Some Updates on MARC Formats" 
session description: The MARC Format Transition Interest Group is pleased to hold a session on what is happening to the MARC Format while Linked Data initiatives are intensifying and progressing. The IG is fortunate to hear from three groups on their latest activities and reports:

• By Thurstan Young, British Library about MARC/RDA Working Group
• By Ben Abrahamse, MIT, Co-Chair about PCC Task Group on MARC Simplification for BIBFRAME Conversion
• By Jackie Shieh, Smithsonian, Co-Chair and Steve McDonald, Tufts, Co-Chair about PCC SCA Task Group on Enhancing Metadata and Practices in MARC Bibliographic Records

Whether your institutions will transition to Linked Data in the near future or not, It seems MARC will co-exist in the library world for a long time to come. So what do we need to be aware of in the MARC format's transition?

MARC/RDA Working Group

RDA and MARC 21 Development : Report on the MARC RDA Working Group and Wider Community Initiatives

The MARC RDA Working Group was first set up at the end of 2019 in order to consider the issues around implementing changes which arose from the RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign (3R) Project. This report provides an overview of the MARC RDA Working Group's activities and accomplishments over its lifetime between 2019 and 2022. It also summarizes the work of the wider community in making RDA related changes to the MARC 21 formats during this period. The report goes on to consider outstanding issues and the lessons learned from the process of aligning MARC 21 with RDA.

Thurstan Young is a Collection Metadata Analyst working at the British Library.

PCC Task Group on MARC Simplification for BIBFRAME Conversion

BIBFRAME to MARC Conversion: the Current State of Play

The PCC Task Group on MARC Simplification for BIBFRAME Conversion was created in February 2022 by the PCC Policy Committee, and given a charge to develop a simplified set of MARC fields to support the conversion of data created in BIBFRAME to functional MARC records. The membership of the Task Group consisted of thirteen cataloging and metadata librarians, representing a variety of institutions and metadata specializations. We examined existing BIBFRAME to MARC 21 conversion specifications, and evaluated their alignment with existing metadata application profiles, as well as the MARC format. The collaborative effort lasted through the summer, and the final report was issued in October 2022. I will share some of the accomplishments of this Work Group, which include a preliminary repertoire of MARC fields suitable for BIBFRAME-to-MARC conversion, as well as the identification of challenges that remain for data conversion from BIBFRAME to MARC.

Ben Abrahamse is a Cataloging and Metadata Librarian at the MIT Libraries.

PCC SCA Task Group on Enhancing Metadata and Practices in MARC Bibliographic Records

Linked Data in MARC: Report of the Task Group on Enhancing Metadata and Practices in MARC Bibliographic Records

The Task Group on Enhancing Metadata and Practices in MARC Bibliographic Records was charged in July 2022 to make recommendations on changing descriptive practices and non-access MARC fields to take advantage of linked data. The task group submitted its final report in January 2023. The report is scheduled to be discussed by the PCC Policy Committee in March 2023. The co-chairs will present the background, methodology, and resulting report of the task group.

Steve McDonald is a Digital Initiatives Librarian at Tufts University.

Jackie Shieh is a Descriptive Data Management Librarian at Smithsonian Libraries