The Library of Congress >> Especially for Librarians and Archivists >> Standards
HOME >> MARC Development >> Proposals List
DATE: December 22, 2020
REVISED:
NAME: Renaming Field 348 and Defining New Subfields for Form of Musical Notation in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format
SOURCE: Music Library Association
SUMMARY: This paper proposes changing the name of field 348 from "Format of Notated Music” to “Notated Music Characteristics” and defining new subfields to record form of musical notation terms and codes. It also proposes replacing existing field 348 examples demonstrating the use of subfield $b (Format of notated music code), which employ placeholders rather than codes, with specific examples that clarify its use. Finally, it proposes adding instructions to field 546 (Language Note) indicating a preference for recording form of musical notation terms in field 348.
KEYWORDS: Form of Musical Notation (BD); Field 348 (BD); Format of Notated Music (BD); Notated Music Characteristics (BD); Field 546 (BD); Language Note (BD); RDA Value Vocabularies (BD); Vocabulary Encoding Schemes (BD); Recording Methods (BD); Linked Data (BD); RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign Project; RDA
RELATED: 2020-DP12
STATUS/COMMENTS:
12/22/20 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.
01/26/21 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: Approved as submitted, subject to subsequent editorial cleanup and revision, particularly in regard to the examples in the paper.
04/28/21 - Results of MARC Steering Group review - Agreed with the MAC decision.
This proposal was originally presented at the June/July 2020 MAC meeting as Discussion Paper No. 2020-DP12. The paper presented two options for accomplishing its goal of permitting the encoding of form of musical notation terms in a way that could support linked data applications, which its current encoding in field 546 does not.
At that meeting, strong preference was expressed for Option 2 in terms of defining subfield $c in field 348 to carry form of musical notation terms, as opposed to the Option 1 proposal to redefine subfield $b for the purpose. There was, however, disagreement in terms of Option 2’s proposal to make subfield $b, which is currently defined to carry a format of notated music code, obsolete: at issue was the suitability of codes in this field, since codes are generally not deployed in the 34X block. Ultimately, the committee conceded that use of codes was preferable for multi-lingual interoperability and thus subfield $b should be left intact. There were also minor calls for the corresponding addition of a 348 subfield $d to hold code values for form of musical notation terms. It was further agreed that field 546 subfield $b should also be left intact, but that instructions in the field’s definition might point to 348 as the preferable location for recording this information.
Field 348 is currently defined in the MARC 21 Bibliographic format as follows:
Field Definition and Scope:
The musical or physical layout of the content of a resource that is presented in the form of musical notation.
Multiple formats from the same source vocabulary or code list may be recorded in the same field in separate occurrences of subfield $a (Format of notated music term) and subfield $b (Format of notated music code). Terms from different source vocabularies are recorded in separate occurrences of the field.
Field 546 is currently defined in the MARC 21 Bibliographic format as follows:
Field Definition and Scope:
Textual information on the language or notation system used to convey the content of the described materials. A description of the alphabet, script, or other symbol system (e.g., Arabic alphabet, ASCII, musical notation system, bar code, logarithmic graphing) may also be included. Coded language information is contained in fields 008/35-37 (Language) and/or 041 (Language code).
Although support at the Annual 2020 MAC meeting for defining a subfield $d to carry a form of musical notation code was not particularly strong, it seems inconsistent to provide a place to record a code for the format of notated music term in subfield $a and not do the same for the form of musical notation term proposed to be recorded in subfield $c. Thus, this proposal defines a subfield $d in parallel with subfield $b (Format of notated music code).
As documented in 2020-DP12, however, field 348 subfield $b is rarely used, and when used, appears to be misunderstood. This is not surprising: at the time of its addition to field 348, there was no controlled code list available for use, with the result that the examples provided in the field's Guidelines for Applying Content Designators use placeholders (such as “[code for vocal score]”) rather than codes. However, at the January 2020 MAC meeting, it was pointed out that codes corresponding to the terms in the various RDA vocabulary encoding schemes have now been assigned, and that these codes are available in the RDA Registry. Thus, it is now possible to provide examples demonstrating the use of codes for both subfields $b and the proposed $d. Note that these codes are also embedded in the terms' identifiers (URIs), which can be encoded in subfields $0/$1.
In Fields 348 (Format of Notated Music) and 546 (Language Note) of the MARC 21 Bibliographic format, make the following changes:
Note: Proposed additions to element definitions are in bold italics.
Rename Field 348 to expand its content to include form of musical notation as follows:
348 – Notated Music Characteristics (R)
Revise the field 348 definition and scope to read:
Field Definition and Scope
The musical or physical layout of the content of a resource that is presented in the form of musical notation[, as well as the form of musical notation itself].
Multiple formats from the same source vocabulary or code list may be recorded in the same field in separate occurrences of subfield $a (Format of notated music term)[,]andsubfield $b (Format of notated music code)[, subfield $c (Form of musical notation term), and subfield $d (Form of musical notation code)]. Terms from different source vocabularies are recorded in separate occurrences of the field.
Revise the examples under the following field 348 subfields:
$b – Format of notated music code
Code for the format of notated music in the resource.Current Examples:
348 ## $a vocal score $b [code for vocal score] $2 [code for source vocabulary]
348 ## $a piano conductor part $b [code for piano conductor part] $2 [code for source vocabulary]
348 ## $a part $b [code for part] $2 [code for source vocabulary]Proposed Revised Examples:
348 ## $a vocal score $b 1011 $2 rdafnm $0 http://rdaregistry.info/termList/formatNoteMus/1011
348 ## $a piano conductor part $b 1005 $2 rdafnm $0 http://rdaregistry.info/termList/formatNoteMus/1005
348 ## $a part $b 1004 $2 rdafnm $0 http://rdaregistry.info/termList/formatNoteMus/1004$2 – Source of term
MARC code that identifies the source of the term or code used to record the format of notated music.Current Example:
348 ## $a score $b [code for score] $2 [code for source vocabulary]
Proposed Revised Example:
348 ## $a score $b 1007 $2 rdafnm $0 http://rdaregistry.info/termList/formatNoteMus/1007
Add new subfields $c and $d to field 348 as follows:
$c – Form of musical notation term
Term for the form of musical notation in the resource.348 ## $c staff notation $c graphic notation
$d – Form of musical notation code
Code for the form of musical notation in the resource.348 ## $c staff notation $d 1007 $2 [code for form of musical notation] $0 http://rdaregistry.info/termList/MusNotation/1007
348 ## $c graphic notation $d 1001 $2 [code for form of musical notation] $0 http://rdaregistry.info/termList/MusNotation/1001
Revise the field definition and scope to read:
Field Definition and Scope
Textual information on the language or notation system used to convey the content of the described materials. A description of the alphabet, script, or other symbol system (e.g.,aArabic alphabet, ASCII, musical notation system, bar code, logarithmic graphing) may also be included[, but for musical notation system terms, prefer field 348]. Coded language information is contained in fields 008/35-37 (Language) and/or 041 (Language code).
Revise the definition of field 546 subfield $b, and remove the fourth example, as follows:
$b - Information code or alphabet
Specifies the alphabet, script, or notation system that is used in the resource.
This includes specialized scripts, typefaces, or codes (e.g., Arabic alphabet, Arabic numerals, ASCII, bar code, BCD, braille, ciphers, Cyrillic alphabet, EBCDIC, Fraktur, Greek alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, hieroglyphics, musical notation systems, pictograms, Roman alphabet, Roman numerals, or logarithmic or semilogarithmic graphing, etc.).[ For musical notation system terms, prefer field 348.]546 ## $3 John P. Harrington field notebooks $a Apache; $b Phonetic alphabet
546 ## $3 Marriage certificate $a German; $b Fraktur.
546 ## $a Latin; $b Roman alphabet
546 ## $b staff notation
[for an instrumental piece: String quartet for two violins, viola, and cello]
Example 1
348 ## $a score $a part $2 rdafnm
348 ## $c graphic notation $2 [code for form of musical notation]
Example 2
348 ## $a score $2 rdafnm $0 http://rdaregistry.info/termList/formatNoteMus/1007
348 ## $c staff notation $2 [code for form of musical notation] $0 http://rdaregistry.info/termList/MusNotation/1007
348 ## $c chord symbols $1 https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1504804
348 ## $c guitar chord diagrams
(adapted from MLA Best Practices for RDA 7.13.3: resource is a “piano-vocal-guitar” score; two of the applicable terms are not currently included in the RDA Form of Musical Notation list: one of them, however, has been established as a Wikidata item)
Example 3
348 ## $a study score $0 http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/mmusicformat/studyscore
348 ## $c mensural notation $0 http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/mmusnotation/mensu
Moving form of musical notation to field 348 might permit conversions between MARC 21 Bibliographic and BIBFRAME 2.0 to be made in a manner analogous to the current conversion for format of notated music (BIBFRAME Property: musicFormat; BIBFRAME Class: MusicFormat). What is unclear is how such a conversion might be affected by the fact that there is no BIBRAME Property: musicNotation—the Property is “notation,” as MusicNotation is a SubClass Of: Notation.
Note that current BIBFRAME conversion specifications indicate that Field 348 subfield $b is to be ignored.
6.1. In field 348 (Format of Notated Music) of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format, make the following changes:
6.1a. Rename the field Notated Music Characteristics (R)
6.1b. Revise the Field Definition and Scope to read:
The musical or physical layout of the content of a resource that is presented in the form of musical notation, as well as the form of musical notation itself.
Multiple formats from the same source vocabulary or code list may be recorded in the same field in separate occurrences of subfield $a (Format of notated music term), subfield $b (Format of notated music code), subfield $c (Form of musical notation term), and subfield $d (Form of musical notation code). Terms from different source vocabularies are recorded in separate occurrences of the field.6.1c. Revise the examples under subfields $b (Format of notated music code) and $2 (Source of term), as described in Section 3.3.
6.1d. Add the following new subfields:
$c - Form of musical notation term (R)
$d - Form of musical notation code (R)
6.2. In field 546 (Language Note) of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format, make the following changes:
6.2a. Revise the Field Definition and Scope to read:
Textual information on the language or notation system used to convey the content of the described materials. A description of the alphabet, script, or other symbol system (e.g., Arabic alphabet, ASCII, musical notation system, bar code, logarithmic graphing) may also be included, but for musical notation system terms, prefer field 348. Coded language information is contained in fields 008/35-37 (Language) and/or 041 (Language code).
6.2b. In subfield $b (Information code or alphabet):
- Revise the definition to add the sentence: "For musical notation system terms, prefer field 348";
- Delete the fourth example listed.
HOME >> MARC Development >> Proposals List
The Library of Congress >> Especially for Librarians and Archivists >> Standards (04/28/2021) |
Legal | External Link Disclaimer | Contact Us |