Scope of the Bibliographic Data Format (Introduction)

The MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data is designed to be a carrier for bibliographic information about printed and manuscript textual materials, computer files, maps, music, serials, visual materials, and mixed materials. Bibliographic data commonly includes titles, names, subjects, notes, publication data, and information about the physical description of an item. The bibliographic format contains data elements for the types of material listed below.

Specifications for Types of Material:

The MARC 21 Bibliographic Data Format contains content designators for data elements for the following seven kinds of items:

Books (BK) specifications

Computer files (CF) specifications

Maps (MP) specifications

Music (MU) specifications

Serials (SE) specifications

Visual materials (VM) specifications

Mixed materials (MX) specifications

The following designator codes (associated with the seven material types listed above) are used in written MARC documentation and sometimes in this MARC Help to represent the designations above: BK, CF, MP, MU, SE, VM, MX.

Components of a MARC bibliographic record:

A MARC bibliographic record consists of three main components: the Leader , the Directory , and the Variable Fields . There are two types of variable fields: Variable control fields and Variable data fields . More detail is provided in MARC 21 Specifications for Record Structure, Character Sets, and Exchange Media. For additional information, see Components of a MARC Record .

See also:

Bibliographic Data Format: Introduction