The Application/MARC Content-type

Status of this Memo

This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright © The Internet Society (1997). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This memorandum provides a mechanism for representing objects which are files of Machine-Readable Cataloging records (MARC). The MARC formats are standards for the representation and communication of bibliographic and related information. A MARC record contains metadata for an information resource following MARC format specifications.

1. Introduction

The MARC formats are sets of codes and content designators defined for encoding metadata for five types of data: bibliographic, holdings, authority, classification, and community information. The structure of MARC records is an implementation of national and international standards, ANSI Z39.2 (Information Interchange Format) and ISO 2709 (Format for Information Interchange). Codes and conventions in the formats identify and characterize data elements within a record and support the manipulation of those data.

MARC formats are communication formats, primarily designed to provide specification for the exchange of bibliographic and related information between systems. They are widely used in a variety of exchange and processing environments. They do not mandate internal storage or display formats to be used by different systems.

2. Definition

Since there are different flavors of MARC which would be processed by different applications, this content-type/subtype refers to the harmonized USMARC/CANMARC specification. Additional content- types/subtypes may be defined in the future (e.g. application/unimarc).

MARC records involve three elements: the record structure, content designation, and data content. Only those records that contain all three elements according to the standard would use this content- type/subtype, i.e. content extracted from the structure would not. Since MARC does not mandate an internal storage format, parameters have not been assigned to specific implementations (e.g. OCLC-MARC, LC-MARC, etc.). In addition, parameters have not been defined for the specific type of MARC format (e.g. bibliographic, authority, holdings), since the information is contained in the Leader portion of the record.

3. Registration Information

   To: ietf-types@iana.org

Media type name: application

Media subtype name: marc

   Required parameters: None
   
   Optional parameters: None
   
   Encoding considerations:  MARC records may contain long lines and/or
   arbitrary octet values.  The base64 content-transfer-encoding is
   recommended for transmission of MARC over electronic mail.

4. Security Considerations

There are no known security risks associated with the use or viewing of MARC data. A MARC record may have security classification associated with the document it describes or metadata in that record. Although this does not present any security risk to the user of MARC data, it may provide an opportunity for a security breach for the source of classified MARC data.

5. Interoperability Considerations

MARC is a communication format and is designed for interoperability between different systems that may store data in local formats internally.

6. Published Specification

   "USMARC Format for Bibliographic Data"; "USMARC Format for Authority
   Data"; "USMARC Format for Holdings Data"; "USMARC Format for
   Classification Data"; "USMARC Format for Community Information".

Additional information:

      File extension: .mrc
      OID: 1.2.840.10003.5.10

Person & email address to contact for further information:

Network Development & MARC Standards Office <ndmso@loc.gov> 101 Independence Ave. SE
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540-4102 U.S.A.

7. References

Library of Congress, Network Development and MARC Standards Office, "USMARC Format for Bibliographic Data", 1994- .

"USMARC Format for Authority Data", 1993- .

"USMARC Format for Holdings Data", 1989- .

"USMARC Format for Classification Data", 1991- .

"USMARC Format for Community Information", 1993- .

8. Author's Address

Rebecca Guenther
Network Development & MARC Standards Office
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20540-4102 U.S.A.

   Phone: +1 (202) 707-5092
   FAX: +1 (202) 707-0115
   EMail: rgue@loc.gov

9. Full Copyright Statement

Copyright © The Internet Society (1997). All Rights Reserved.

This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implmentation may be prepared, copied, published andand distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than English.

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