MARC
From Wikistandards
MARC is an acronym for MAchine-Readable Cataloging. It is a 'communications standard [for] exchanging bibliographic, holdings, and other data among libraries. It defines a bibliographic data format that emerged from a United States Library of Congress-led initiative that began in the 1970s. It provides the protocol by which computers exchange, use, and interpret bibliographic information. Its data elements make up the foundation of most library catalogs used today.
The MARC Standards Office is part of the Library of Congress.
The record structure of MARC is an implementation of ISO 2709, also known as ANSI/NISO Z39.2.
The future of the MARC formats is a matter of some debate in the worldwide library science community. On the one hand, the formats are quite complex and are based on outdated technology. On the other, there is no alternative bibliographic format with an equivalent degree of granularity. The huge user base, billions of records in tens of thousands of individual libraries (including over 50,000 belonging to the OCLC consortium) alone, also creates inertia.
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