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MARC PROPOSAL NO. 2021-07

DATE: December 22, 2020
REVISED:

NAME: Defining a New Subfield for Sound Content in Field 344 of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format

SOURCE: Network Development and MARC Standards Office (NDMSO), Library of Congress

SUMMARY: This paper proposes adding a new repeatable subfield to Field 344 (Sound Characteristics) in the MARC21 Bibliographic Format to record the sound content of resources, in addition to expanding the field definition and scope to denote "silent" as a sound characteristic.

KEYWORDS: Field 344 (BD); Sound Characteristics (BD); Sound Content (BD); Subfield $i, in Field 344 (BD)

RELATED: 2020-DP14 2020-DP03 2017-05

STATUS/COMMENTS:
12/22/20 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.

01/27/21 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: Approved, with the amendment that the third example in Section 4 be replaced, and that subfield $i (Sound content) be defined as follows: "Indication of the presence or absence of sound in a resource. Usually used for projected graphic resources, moving image resources, and their electronic equivalents."

04/28/21 - Results of MARC Steering Group review - Agreed with the MAC decision.


Proposal No. 2021-07: Defining a New Subfield for Sound Content in Field 344

1. BACKGROUND

In both 2020-DP03 and 2020-DP14, options to record the encoding of sound content in field 344 were outlined. After exploring alternatives and receiving feedback from the MARC Advisory Committee, this proposal makes a formal request to encode sound content as a new subfield in field 344.

Field 344 is currently defined in the Bibliographic format as follows:

Field Definition and Scope:
Technical specifications relating to the encoding of sound in a resource.
Multiple values from the same source vocabulary may be recorded in the same field in separate occurrences of subfields. Terms from different source vocabularies are recorded in separate occurrences of the field.

RDA 7.18 is defined as Sound Content. The instructions for recording both this element include controlled vocabulary terms which can be used and assigned URIs, and it encourages use of the terms in a linked data environment (e.g., Sound Content: sound, silent).

2. DISCUSSION

Sound content information is recorded in field 300 (Physical Description) $b (Other physical details) and field 007/05 (Electronic resource, Projected graphic, Motion picture, Videorecording).

The OLAC Best Practices for Cataloging DVD/Blu-ray – Version 1.1, also adds that notes can be added to a description to explain or clarify the details of the sound content. For example:

300 ## $a 1 videodisc : $b sound, color
500 ## $a Silent film with added theatre organ musical accompaniment.

Since RDA defines Sound Content as a separate element, we propose creating a distinct subfield – $i for Sound Content. We also propose a re-wording of the Field Definition and Scope to incorporate silent as a type of sound content.

Storing this information in field 344 will also facilitate data conversion between MARC and BIBFRAME as the standard identifier or URI of the Sound Content term can be retained along with the term’s label.

3. PROPOSED CHANGES

In field 344 (Sound Characteristics) of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format, make the following changes:

3.1. Revise the Field Definition and Scope

Revise the first sentence of the Field Definition and Scope to read:

Field Definition and Scope:
Technical Specifications relating to the encoding of sound [or the absence of sound] in a resource.
Multiple values from the same source vocabulary may be recorded in the same field in separate occurrences of subfields. Terms from different source vocabularies are recorded in separate occurrences of the field.

3.2. Add Subfield $i

Add and define new subfield $i as follows:

$i – Sound content (R)
Indication of "sound" or "silent" for projected graphic resources, moving image resources, and their electronic equivalents.

4. EXAMPLES


344 ## $i silent $0 http://rdaregistry.info/termList/soundCont/1002 $2 rdasco

A note could be added in field 500 to provide additional context
344 ## $i sound $0 http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/msoundcontent/sound
500 ## $a Silent film with added orchestral accompaniment.

Field 344 could augment accompanying materials information from field 300
300 ## $a 28 pages : $b illustrations ; $c 24 cm. + $e 1 sound cassette (analog)
344 ## $3 sound cassette $a analog $i sound

5. BIBFRAME DISCUSSION

BIBFRAME Work or Instance: bf:soundContent (property), bf:SoundContent (class), accommodating either a designation of the sound content as a URI from a list or as a literal. The current MARC-to-BIBFRAME data conversion generates sound content triples from MARC 007/05 (electronic resource, projected graphic, motion picture, videorecording).

Using field 344 to record this information will facilitate the conversion of data between BIBFRAME and MARC as the URIs will be preserved.

6. SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES

In field 344 (Sound Characteristics) of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format, make the following changes:

6.1. Revise the Field Definition and Scope to read:

Specifications relating to the encoding of sound or the absence of sound in a resource.
Multiple values from the same source vocabulary may be recorded in the same field in separate occurrences of subfields. Terms from different source vocabularies are recorded in separate occurrences of the field.

6.2. Add the following new subfield:

$i - Sound content (R)


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