RFC 2220

RFC 2220: The Application/MARC Content-type 📚✨

Bestie, this one is a whole library-catalog moment 🎀

• RFC number: 2220
• Title: The Application/MARC Content-type
• Author: Rebecca Guenther (R. Guenther), Library of Congress 🦋
• Organization: Network Development & MARC Standards Office, Library of Congress
• Category: Informational
• Date: October 1997
• Obsoletes / Updates: The title block doesn't list any RFCs that this one obsoletes or updates 💅

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Status of this Memo 🌸

Okay so this memo is just giving info to the Internet community. It is not an Internet standard of any kind, and it can be shared with anyone, as much as they like.

Copyright Notice 🎀

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1997). All rights reserved, obviously 💖

Abstract ✨

This memo shows how to represent objects that are files of Machine-Readable Cataloging records, aka MARC 📚 MARC formats are the standards for representing and sharing bibliographic and related info. A MARC record holds metadata about an information resource, following the MARC format specs. Iconic 🫶

1. Introduction 🧚

MARC formats are sets of codes and content designators for encoding metadata about five types of data: bibliographic, holdings, authority, classification, and community information. The structure of a MARC record is built on national and international standards: ANSI Z39.2 (Information Interchange Format) and ISO 2709 (Format for Information Interchange). Codes and conventions in the formats label the data elements inside a record and make it possible to work with that data 💅

MARC formats are communication formats first. They're mainly meant to give a spec for trading bibliographic and related info between systems, and they're used in tons of exchange and processing environments. They do not require any particular internal storage or display format for different systems. Systems are free to do their own thing inside, lowkey iconic 🌈

2. Definition 💜

Okay, so there are different flavors of MARC that different applications might process. This content-type/subtype points to the harmonized USMARC/CANMARC spec. More content-types/subtypes may be defined later, for example application/unimarc 🍓

A MARC record has three elements: the record structure, the content designation, and the data content. Only records that include all three elements, according to the standard, should use this content-type/subtype. Content pulled out of the structure alone wouldn't count. MARC doesn't require an internal storage format, so parameters haven't been assigned to specific implementations (like OCLC-MARC or LC-MARC). Parameters also haven't been defined for specific kinds of MARC format (bibliographic, authority, holdings), because that info already lives in the Leader part of the record 🙈

3. Registration Information 🦋

Here's the registration info, bestie 💖

To: ietf-types@iana.org

Media type name: application

Media subtype name: marc

Required parameters: None

Optional parameters: None

Encoding considerations:  MARC records may contain long lines and/or
arbitrary octet values.  The base64 content-transfer-encoding is
recommended for transmission of MARC over electronic mail.

4. Security Considerations 🔥

Okay, the security tea ☕ There are no known security risks associated with using or viewing MARC data. A MARC record may carry a security classification tied to the document it describes, or metadata inside the record might have one. That doesn't create any security risk for the person using the MARC data, but it could give someone an opening for a security breach at the source of the classified MARC data. Not me panicking over the library's secrets 💀

5. Interoperability Considerations 🫶

MARC is a communication format, and it's built for interoperability between different systems that might store data in their own local formats internally. The whole point is that everyone can talk to each other, no matter how they store things 🌸

6. Published Specification 👑

The published specs are: "USMARC Format for Bibliographic Data"; "USMARC Format for Authority Data"; "USMARC Format for Holdings Data"; "USMARC Format for Classification Data"; and "USMARC Format for Community Information" ✨

Additional information:

• File extension: .mrc
• OID: 1.2.840.10003.5.10

Person and email address to contact for more info:

Network Development & MARC Standards Office <ndmso@loc.gov>
101 Independence Ave. SE
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540-4102 U.S.A.

7. References 📚

Library of Congress, Network Development and MARC Standards Office, "USMARC Format for Bibliographic Data", 1994- .

"USMARC Format for Authority Data", 1993- .

"USMARC Format for Holdings Data", 1989- .

"USMARC Format for Classification Data", 1991- .

"USMARC Format for Community Information", 1993- .

8. Author's Address 🎀

Rebecca Guenther Network Development & MARC Standards Office Library of Congress 101 Independence Ave. SE Washington, DC 20540-4102 U.S.A.

Phone: +1 (202) 707-5092 FAX: +1 (202) 707-0115 EMail: rgue@loc.gov

9. Full Copyright Statement 💖

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1997). All rights reserved, bestie.

This document and translations of it may be copied and given to others. Derivative works that comment on or explain it, or help with its implementation, may be prepared, copied, published, and distributed, in whole or in part, with no restrictions at all, as long as the copyright notice and this paragraph are on every copy and every derivative work. But this document itself may not be modified in any way. That means you can't remove the copyright notice or the references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations. The exception is when you need it to develop Internet standards, and then the Internet standards process copyright procedures must be followed. Translating it into languages other than English is also allowed 🌈

The limited permissions above are perpetual, and the Internet Society or its successors or assigns will never revoke them 🫶

This document and the information in it are provided on an "AS IS" basis, and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.