07 MARC must die? Developing a shared vision for the future of bibliographic metadata.
Sally Chambers
Intended audience: Metadata specialists, cataloguers, library technologists, programmers. Anyone who comes into contact with MARC records in his or her daily work.
Abstract:
In 2002, Roy Tennant, sentenced MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloguing) to death in his famous article, MARC must die, in the Library Journal. Almost 10 years later, bibliographic records, in a variety of MARC-based formats, still form the core of our library catalogues. Currently there are no concrete proposals for a replacement in sight.
In a recent Code4Lib article, Interpreting MARC: Where’s the Bibliographic Data?, Jason Thomale puts the real problem on the table: ‘library catalogers and programmers clash (often passionately) about what constitutes "good library metadata"’. According to Thomale, during these passionate clashes ‘too often both sides speak vaguely’ and ‘very little actual communication seems to happen.’
The aim of this workshop is to try and make actual communication between metadata specialists and library technologists happen with a view towards developing a shared vision of how we would like library bibliographic metadata to evolve.
Workshop Outcomes:
- Attendees will gain a better understanding of why library technologists want to kill MARC
- Attendees will gain a better understanding of the value that cataloguers see in MARC records
- A shared vision of how we would like library bibliographic metadata to evolve
References
Henriette D. Avram (1968), The MARC Pilot Project: Final Report:
Lukas Koster (2009) Who needs MARC?
Roy Tennant (2002) MARC must die
Jason Thomale (2010) Interpreting MARC: Where’s the Bibliographic Data?
Karen Coyle (2009), Metadata Mix and Match
Understanding MARC bibliographic: Machine Readable Cataloging
