How full is a Full MARC Record?

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A: Full, as in FULL MARC RECORD, has become a relative but important term.

We all know that "Gone with the wind" should go into the 245 field, "Mitchell, Margaret" in the 100 field. Add a call number and a barcode number for local information. Also, an LCCN or an ISBN and/or publisher with publication date will make the record refer to a specific edition. So maybe that’s a minimal MARC record.

But it’s everything after this that makes a MARC record FULL. For the patron who is thinking, "All I can remember is, the hero’s name is Scarlett or Rhett," a good note field will be a real namedropper. The premise here is that a keyword search explores most or all the fields without your having to know where something is and it serves well in 95% of cases. There might even be an argument that a verbose note field that talks about the Civil War, Atlanta, Reconstruction, and romance can, to a degree, replace subject headings and provide the searcher with interesting, readable text and "access points" that allow patrons to find items in your collection that they wouldn’t find otherwise.

This is especially true on compilations, anthologies, collections, etc. Your patrons want to be able to find a short story in a collection or a musical selection on a CD. With keyword searching, extensive note and subject contents in the 500 and 600 fields mean more access points.

But, these days, there’s still more to be added to a FULL MARC record, things like grade level, reading levels, review sources, Web Links.

And, in the future? Think about it. Why should I have to search for "dinosaurs" in the catalog, then do it again in the encyclopedia, then in the newspaper or magazine databases, finally on the Web? Why can’t I search once and sweep them all?

Already, some library system producers allow Facts of File or SIRS to be searched from within your local catalog. And they’re all now providing software so your catalog can be searched from the world on the Web. But much more merging is to come. If big note fields are important now, could the future allow for the whole text of the book? Have you seen the Gutenberg or Bartleby Projects on the Web? Or the 650,000 pages on the Making of America project at the University of Michigan?

The next five to ten years will bring an incredible tide of detailed data that’s directly useful to the user – not just indexes or cards to look it up. Today, our MARC records can’t be big enough. If you think libraries are vying with the Internet for information accessibility, this is no small issue.

URLs to sites mentioned:

http://www.gutenberg.net/

http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/etc/collect.htm

http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/index.html

http://www.umdl.umich.edu/moa/