MARC 21 for Everyone: A Practical Guide / Edition 1

by Richard J. Fritz, Deborah A. Fritz

Overview

Evolving from paper card catalogues, MARC (MAchine Readable Catalog) records make the vast network of information-sharing, interlibrary loans, system and consortia data communication possible. MARC records, created in tandem with the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, hold the keys to information for librarians and library users alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780838908426
Publisher:	American Library Association
Publication date:	01/14/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)

Editorial Reviews

Until this publication, most books about MARC were too detailed for anyone who wasn't a cataloger. Walt Crawford's MARC for Library Use (o.p.), Deborah Byrne's MARC Manual (Professional Media, LJ 4/15/00), and Deborah Fritz's Cataloging with AACR2R and USMARC (ALA, 1998) are all fine volumes, but MARC21 for Everyone is exactly what its title implies-for everyone. The authors, who co-own a company that offers MARC training, software, and database services for librarians, don't detail how to create a MARC record but rather concentrate on explaining where this powerful record format fits in the larger world of the catalog. After an overview of the basics of librarianship, the Fritzes discuss MARC's relationship to the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2d ed. (AACR2) and where MARC records come from and their connection to online catalog displays. They also include helpful self-assessment tools such as quizzes, tables, and examples of tags and subfields. As the authors note in their introduction, their guide is "for those who really don't care about MARC, don't think it is important, can't see why they should have to know anything about it, really don't want to know anything about it, but still, after all is said and done, realize that they do need to know something about it." Bottom line: this book is a must for anyone who works in, or plans to work in, a library and doesn't understand MARC records.-April Bohannan, Virginia Beach P.L. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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