Re: Don't Monkey with the MARC

[Doug Kariel <dougk@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

In case people have a concern about how MARC works or has suggestions 
for changes, they can contact the MARC committee responsible in their 
own country, at least in the UK, Canada, and the US.  In the Canada, the 
Canadian Committee on MARC is based out of the National Library of 
Canada.  In the U.S., people should likely contact MARBI, and I don't 
know the responsible group in the UK.

Cheers,

Doug

Ericsson, Paul wrote:

>Elizabeth --
>
>You, and Paul Burry in reply to the previous posting re: dealing with 490's, state this principal so well. A simple, but ever so important rule of thumb. Don't monkey with MARC. 
>
>The screen mapping and index mapping should do everything that we need to deal with the seemingly unusable data that finds its way into MARC records. 
>
>BTW ... I see enormous potential for posters that we can hang in our Tech Services offices.  Don't monkey with MARC  ...
>
>Paul
>	___________________________________________
>
>	Paul Ericsson
>	Adult Services Supervisor / Automation Coordinator
>	Concord Public Library    http://www.onconcord.com
>	45 Green St.     Concord, NH 03301     603 230-3697
>	pericsson@xxxxxxxxxx
>	___________________________________________
>		
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Elizabeth Thomsen [mailto:et@xxxxxxxxxx]
>Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 8:01 PM
>To: innopac@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Don't Monkey with the MARC
>
>
>On Fri, 19 Sep 2003, Paul Burry wrote:
>
>  
>
>>One rule of thumb I have learned: don't monkey with the MARC to overcome 
>>systems limitations unless absolutely unavoidable.
>>    
>>
>
>This is a such an important rule I decided it needed its own subject line.  
>Systems change, and libraries change systems.  Your MARC database is
>likely to be shared in various ways, and anything non-standard that you do
>now is likely to cause problems some time in the future.
>
>I'd add one thing...if you must monkey with the MARC for some reason, be 
>sure that you document what you did, and why, and, most importantly, 
>provide some means to undo what you did. You (or your successor) will be 
>glad that you did!
>
>  
>

-- 
*********************************************************************
Doug Kariel				E-mail: dougk@xxxxxxxxxx
Head, Technical Services and Systems	Phone:  (780) 675-6261
Athabasca University Library		Fax:	(780) 675-6477
1 University Drive
Athabasca, Alberta
Canada  T9S 3A3
*********************************************************************


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