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MARC DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 2021-DP04

DATE: December 22, 2020
REVISED:

NAME: Defining a New Subfield for Original Sound Capture and Storage in Field 344 of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format

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

SUMMARY: This paper proposes the addition of a new subfield to field 344 (Sound Characteristics) in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format to record the sound capture and storage of the original recording.

KEYWORDS: Field 344 (BD); Sound Characteristics (BD); Sound Capture and Storage Technique (BD)

RELATED: 2020-DP14, 2011-08

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

01/28/21 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: MAC was generally supportive of the paper, although the implications of 2021-DP05 were noted. Given cataloger confusion on how to interpret the label of the closely associated 007/13 field (Capture and storage technique), it was recommended that the word "Original" be added to the 007/13 label in order to more closely align it with the current 007/13 definition, and with the proposed $j subfield. The paper will return as a proposal.


Discussion Paper No. 2021-DP04: Defining a New Subfield for Original Sound Capture and Storage in Field 344

1. BACKGROUND

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

Field 007/13 for Sound Recordings is currently defined in the Bibliographic format as follows:

13 - Capture and storage technique
How the sound was originally captured and stored. Re-releases of recordings should be coded for the original capture and storage technique, even though such re-releases may have been enhanced using another technique.

a - Acoustical capture, direct storage
Usually a disc or cylinder recording, captured using an acoustical horn and diaphragm and stored directly on a master surface. Most acoustical recordings date from before 1927/29 when electrical recording equipment became available.

b - Direct storage, not acoustical
Disc recordings captured using electrical equipment and stored directly on a master surface. All recordings made with microphones and other electrical equipment prior to the availability of magnetic recording techniques in the late 1940s used direct storage.
Commercial recordings marked "direct to disc" or some equivalent phrase also use this technique.

d - Digital storage
Sound recordings which were captured electrically and stored using digital techniques.
Such recordings are normally identified as "digitally recorded" or some similar phrase on the label or package. "Digital remaster" or "digital mixing" does not imply original digital storage. Note: Digital storage and digital playback should not be confused. The need for digital playback should be recorded in 007/12 (Special playback characteristics).

e - Analog electrical storage
Sound recordings which were captured using electrical techniques and stored as modulations and pulses on a magnetic surface. Most recordings made from the late 1940s until early 1980s are analog electrical recordings.

u - Unknown
Capture and storage technique are not known.

z - Other
None of the other codes is appropriate.

| - No attempt to code

2. DISCUSSION

Sound recording catalogers who are participating in the BIBFRAME cataloging pilot at the Library of Congress have identified the data in 007/13 as important for their work. Internally, the local BIBFRAME ontology (BFLC) was modified to add this element, and a vocabulary list was added to id.loc.gov–Sound Capture and Storage List–to facilitate encoding this information in the BIBFRAME descriptions.

As the Library continues planning for BIBFRAME-to-MARC data exchange, there is a desire to retain this information and the URI associated with it. After consultation with the Music Library Association (MLA), field 344 was deemed the appropriate location for this data. Discussions with MLA members also led to a reexamination of the definitions of the valid values in 007/13 (see 2021-DP05 for this analysis).

3. PROPOSED CHANGES

In field 344 (Sound Characteristics) of the MARC21 Bibliographic Format, add and define a new subfield $j as follows:

$j - Original capture and storage technique
Sound capture and storage technique of the original recording. Re-releases of recordings should be coded for the original capture and storage technique, even though such re-releases may have been enhanced using another technique.

4. EXAMPLES


344 ## $j Electrical capture, Digital storage $0 http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/mcapturestorage/dist

344 ## $j Acoustical capture, Direct storage $0 http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/mcapturestorage/acds

A note could be added in field 500 to provide additional context
344 ## $j Unknown capture and storage $0 http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/mcapturestorage/unk
500 ## $a "Remastered in 20-bit digital from the original field recordings"--Container

5. BIBFRAME DISCUSSION

BIBFRAME Instance: bflc:CaptureStorage (subclass of bf:SoundCharacteristic), accomodates a designation of original sound capture and storage as a URI from a list or as a literal. The current MARC-to-BIBFRAME conversion generates sound characteristic triples from MARC 007/13 (sound recording).

6. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

6.1. Do you agree there is a use for a subfield to record original sound capture and storage?

6.2. Does the proposed solution meet the needs discussed?

6.3. Are there any alternative format solutions to what is being proposed?

6.4. Are there any potential consequences this paper does not address?


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