PROPOSAL NO.: 2001-03

DATE: December 15, 2000
REVISED:

NAME: Identification of Source in Field 015 (National Bibliography Number) and Field 017 (Copyright Registration Number) in the Bibliographic Format

SOURCE: Russian State Library

SUMMARY: This paper proposes defining subfield $2 (Source) in field 015 (National Bibliography Number) and field 017 (Copyright Registration Number) to identifying the source of the number. It also proposes making field 015 repeatable for multiple numbers from different sources.

KEYWORDS: Copyright Registration Number; Field 015; Field 017; National Bibliography Number; Source; Subfield $2, in field 015; Subfield $2, in field 017

RELATED:

STATUS/COMMENTS:

12/15/00 - Forwarded to the MARC Advisory Committee for discussion at the January 2001 MARBI meetings.

01/14/01 - Results of the MARC Advisory Committee discussion - Approved.

02/01/01 - Results of LC/NLC review - Approved.


PROPOSAL NO. 2001-03: Identification of Source in Field 015 (National Bibliography Number) and Field 017 (Copyright Registration Number) in the Bibliographic Format

1. BACKGROUND

This proposal suggests changes to field 015 (National Bibliography Number) and field 017 (Copyright Registration Number) to better meet the needs of the larger MARC 21 user community. The changes will improve the identification of the source of data in these fields and make it consistent with the content designation of other fields where the source of the information is recorded. It also suggests making 015 repeatable to avoid confusion when multiple bibliography numbers from different sources must be recorded.

2. DISCUSSION

Field 015 and field 017 contain bibliography and copyright registration numbers, respectively. These are numbers associated with a bibliographic item, but not always printed (or otherwise contained) in it. Generally, numbers are assigned by national libraries and also appear in bibliographic sources such as national bibliographies and legal deposit lists which those national libraries make available in print or online. As currently defined, neither field 015 or 017 provides a subelement for recording information about the bibliographic source(s) from which a number comes. Field 017 includes subfield $b (Source (Assigning agency)), but this subelement is intended to contain only an identification of the agency that assigned a number, not the published or online source in which the number appears.

Field 015 has been part of the MARC Bibliographic format since it was first developed in the late 1960s. The identification of numbers in field 015 has never been standardized. In the past, LC made use of a list of prefixes which helped to identify the country in whose national bibliography a number appeared, but the list was never publicly available and is no longer maintained. National libraries usually collect some materials from other countries, particularly when the items relate to the collecting country (e.g., books about France published outside of France would be of interest to the collections of the National Library of France). The inclusion of these materials in a national library database gives rise to the need to record multiple national bibliography numbers, from different sources, in the same record. At present, these numbers must be recorded in a single occurrence of field 015.

Field 017, on the other hand, can be repeated for multiple numbers from differing assigning agencies. Unfortunately, it is only possible to identify a number by the assigning agency, not the source publication or listing. The Russian State Library (RSL), a MARC 21 user, has found this to be inadequate, in cases where they prefer to record the resource in which the number appears (e.g., a legal deposit listing). Legal deposit numbers are particularly important because legal deposit publications are often the most authoritative sources of information available about the country's bibliographic production.

The changes suggested in will allow the RSL to replace a locally-defined data element with a standard MARC 21, non-repeatable subfield $2 that can be used and understood by all MARC 21 users. The proposal also suggests making field 015 repeatable for multiple numbers from different sources since it is not desirable to repeat subfield $2 in the same field.

2.1. Examples

015 ##$a79-1652$2kn [code "kn" is for Knizhnaíà letopis']
015 ##$a84-3117$2bnf [code "bnf" is for Bibliographie national française]
015 ##$a67-A14-54$2dnb [code "dnb" is for Deutsch Nationalbibliographie]
015 ##$a67-6$2ob [code "ob" is for Österreichische Bibliographie]
017 ##$a99-263$b BwMiBKP$2[code for the registration list of the Belorussian Book Chamber]
017 ##$a99-7356$bRuMoRKP$2[code for the registration list of the Russian Book Chamber]

3. PROPOSED CHANGE

In field 015 (National Bibliography Number) in the MARC 21 Bibliographic format:

In field 017 (Copyright Registration Number) in the MARC 21 Bibliographic format:


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