Codes

#    Not modified

d    Dashed-on information omitted

o    Completely romanized/printed cards romanized

r     Completely romanized/printed cards in script

s    Shortened  [Not used]

x    Missing characters  [Not used]

u    Unknown  [LAC use only]

Description/Instructions

The modified record code indicates whether any data on a bibliographic record is a modification of information that appeared on the item being cataloged or that was intended to be included in the machine-readable record.  Such modifications include:  the romanization of data that originally appeared in a non-roman script; substitutions of characters available for those characters that could not be converted to machine-readable form; the omission of data given on catalog cards in a "dashed-on" format; and shortening of records because the amount of data exceeded a system imposed maximum allowable length.

A record is not considered to be modified when romanizing fields in the record that are not transcriptions of data from the item (e.g., headings, complete nonquoted fields, subscription address, etc.).  MARC 21 equivalents for certain letters used in lesser known languages using the Roman alphabet are also not considered to be modified.

Codes are assigned a priority that determines which code is input when more than one code applies to an item.  The priority is indicated by the order of the code list above.  Code # is the highest priority.

DEFAULT CODE:  #

Code definitions

#    Not modified.

Code "#" indicates that the record has not been modified in any way (e.g., it is not shortened and it contains no characters that could not be converted to machine-readable form).

d    Dashed-on information omitted.

Code "d" indicates that the MARC 21 record does not contain "dashed-on" information found on the corresponding manual copy, either because the "dashed-on" information was input as a separate record, recorded in a note, or because it was omitted.  "Dashed-on" information is generally the brief description of material related to a main item being cataloged that is not considered important enough to catalog separately.  Code "d" is used for records input through retrospective conversion.

o    Completely romanized/printed cards romanized.

Code "o" indicates that the bibliographic data in the MARC 21 record is completely romanized and that any printed cards produced are also in romanized form.  This code is used by Library of Congress for serials in Cyrillic alphabet languages, South Asian languages, and Greek because the printed cards also appear in romanized form (since Sept. 1979).

r     Completely romanized/printed cards in script.

Code "r" indicates that the bibliographic data in the MARC 21 record is completely romanized but the printed cards are available in the original (vernacular) script.  Code "r" is used by the Library of Congress on romanized records for serials in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Persian, Yiddish because the printed cards appear in the original script.

s    Shortened.

Code "s" indicates that some of the data intended for inclusion in the bibliographic record was omitted because the data exceeded the maximum length allowed by the system involved.  In some systems length of data is restricted at the field and/or record level.  MARC 21 bibliographic records distributed on tape have a maximum length of 99,999 characters.  Code "s" is rarely used in current records and is not used in CONSER records.

x    Missing characters.

Code "x" indicates that the record contained characters that could not be converted to machine-readable form (e.g., incidental nonroman characters on predominantly roman alphabet records, mathematical symbols, etc.)  Code "x" has not been used by LC since the implementation of AACR2 in 1981.  If one field (or a portion of a field) among fields 245-260, 4XX has "incidental" nonroman or special characters, etc., LC romanizes the nonroman characters, describes special symbols by a word or phrase, etc. and uses code # in 008/38.

Related fields, etc.

008/38  (MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data)

See also:

Leader/006/008

Section E.  MARC 21 Format for Serials as Applied Within CONSER

CONSER Editing Guide:  Contents