The internationalization of MARC. Part I: the emergence and divergence of MARC

Abstract

Surveys the evolution and development of MARC formats for the digital encoding of bibliographic data from their beginnings in 1968 at the Library of Congress to the present time, with particular emphasis on the development of 17 national formats. Examines the reasons for the divergence of MARC formats from each other as well as the early and recent trends in the development of national MARC formats.

History of information science

“…It seems that historians of information science have yet to explore that field's identity puzzle by looking directly at the nature and power of professional organizations. A few of the accumulating historical works do give us hints at professional status, arguing that the major information science organizations seem to have played a role in setting some technical standards (Kokabi, 1996; McCallum, 2002; Spicher, 1996). But historians have yet to show the influence of organizations such as ASIST or those representing other practitioners (information brokers or indexers and abstractors) in such activities as accrediting academic programs, setting certification standards, establishing and enforcing standards of professional conduct, controlling job markets, and forming and enforcing codes of ethics (Rubin, 2000).…”

From MARC to MARC 21 and beyond: some reflections on MARC and the Arabic language

“…Since MARC I was restricted to book materials only, an immediate need was felt for``the design of one format structure capable of containing bibliographic information for all forms of material, such as: books, serials, maps, music, journal articles, etc.'' (Kokabi, 1995). MARC (also known as LC MARC) evolved into USMARC in 1983, and became the US national standard format for the representation of bibliographic information in machine-readable form.…”

“…Influenced by the success of MARC, national libraries and bibliographic agencies of many other countries started to develop their own national formats based on MARC, such as AUSMARC, KORMARK, JAPAN/MARC, Chinese MARC. Kokabi claims that``there are nearly 30 national MARC formats throughout the world'' (Kokabi, 1995) and, like USMARC, they form the basis of library automation systems in those countries. However, Arab libraries have failed since the early 1980s to make any breakthrough in their efforts to develop ARABMARC, a regional MARC format.…”