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MARC PROPOSAL NO. 2022-03

DATE: December 21, 2021
REVISED:

NAME: Recording Non-Cartographic Scale Content in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format

SOURCE: MARC/RDA Working Group

SUMMARY: This paper proposes to revise the label and broaden the Field Definition and Scope in field 507 (Scale Note for Graphic Material) in the MARC21 Bibliographic Format to better align with the RDA definition when recording non-cartographic scale content.

KEYWORDS: Field 034 (BD); Coded Cartographic Mathematical Data (BD); Field 255 (BD); Cartographic Mathematical Data (BD); Field 507 (BD); Scale Note for Graphic Material (BD); Scale (BD); RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign Project; RDA

RELATED: 2021-DP11, 2021-13

STATUS/COMMENTS:
12/21/21 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.

01/26/22 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: Approved, with editorial revision to the 507 Field Definition and Scope, as follows:

"Scale of a visual material resource, for example a still image or three-dimensional form, given as a textual note. For cartographic materials, use field 255 (Cartographic Mathematical Data) to record the scale information."

05/17/22 – Results of MARC Steering Group review - Agreed with the MAC decision.


Proposal No. 2022-03: Recording Non-Cartographic Scale Content

1. BACKGROUND

In new RDA toolkit, scale is defined as an element in the expression level:

"A ratio of the dimensions of an expression of an image or three-dimensional form to the dimensions of the thing that is represented. Scale can apply to horizontal, vertical, angular, or other measurements represented in an expression."
(cf: https://access.rdatoolkit.org/Content/Index?externalId=en-US_ala-872a7f9b-18be-3eca-9aa1-d2abd3f4e4e8)

"additional scale information", "horizontal scale of cartographic content", "vertical scale of cartographic content", and "scale of still image or three-dimensional form" are defined as the narrower elements of "scale" element.

RDA Toolkit prescribes that the element of "scale" can be recorded by unstructured and structured description, but not by identifier or IRI. Specifically,

Elements

Recording methods

scale

unstructured description, structured description

additional scale information

unstructured description

horizontal scale of cartographic content

unstructured description, structured description

vertical scale of cartographic content

unstructured description, structured description

scale of still image or three-dimensional form

unstructured description, structured description

RDA Toolkit also provides an option to use the element "scale designation" when "an expression [...] does not use a scale, or if a scale cannot be determined, or if multiple scales are not recorded individually".  It is defined as:

"A general designation of the lack of a ratio of the dimensions of the content of an image or three-dimensional form to the dimensions of the thing that is represented."
 (cf: https://access.rdatoolkit.org/Content/Index?externalId=en-US_ala-e840e444-4853-3a44-af00-6b5a5bad8de1)

The RDA scale designation element is associated with its own vocabulary encoding scheme (VES) as set out below:

not drawn to scale
scale not given
scale varies
scales differ

"Scale designation" can be recorded in unstructured description, structured description, identifier, and IRI.

It is noted that based on the RDA Toolkit definition, the "scale designation" is only recorded when the individual mathematical scale data is not presented in the expression.

2. DISCUSSION

In the MARC21 Bibliographic Format, the following fields, subfields, and indicator values can be used to record the scale element:

034 - Coded Cartographic Mathematical Data (R)

First Indicator: Type of scale
0 - Scale indeterminable/No scale recorded
1 - Single scale
3 - Range of scales

$a - Category of scale (NR)
$b - Constant ratio linear horizontal scale (R)
$c - Constant ratio linear vertical scale (R)

In addition to the above scale related subfields, the following subfields are also defined in 034 field:

$0 - Authority record control number or standard number (R)
$1 - Real World Object URI (R)
$2 - Source (NR)

255 - Cartographic Mathematical Data (R)

$a - Statement of scale (NR)

507 - Scale Note for Graphic Material (NR)

$a - Representative fraction of scale note (NR)
$b - Remainder of scale note (NR)

500 - General Note

$a - General note (NR)

An option to broaden the field definition and scope in field 507 (Scale Note for Graphic Material) in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format to record non-cartographic scale content was explored in 2021-DP11.

As Proposal 2021-13 was approved to broaden field 034 (Coded Cartographic Mathematical Data) to code geographic coordinates beyond cartographic materials in the Bibliographic format in the 2021 Annual MAC meeting,  the possibility of broadening the scope of field 034 for non-cartographic scale content has been raised in the discussion. By taking the advantage of pre-existing subfield $0 and $1, and possibly a new subfield in field 034, it could be an option to record both the element of "scale" and "scale designation".

The pre-existence of subfield $0 and $1 in field 034 indeed provides an option to code the identifier and IRI for "scale designation". However, the scale designation could not be purposed for mathematical application, as other elements in field 034. Even if it could be possible to accommodate the scale designation element in field 034 by proposing a new subfield for the controlled term, and using the pre-existing $0 and $1 for identifier and IRI, it is questionable to include non-mathematical scale information in a field specifically designed to process mathematical data.

In addition to the conflict between the purpose of the field 034 and the definition of "scale designation" in the RDA Toolkit, a dependency between field 034 and 255 (Cartographic Mathematical Data) makes the coding of non-cartographic scale content problematic in field 034. Field 255 is exclusively defined for cartographic materials. By definition, when 034 field is used, there should be a one-to-one relationship between the presence of field 034 and the presence of field 255. This dependency has been expressed in the 034 Field Definition and Scope:

 "for cartographic materials, there should be an 034 field corresponding to each 255 field in a record".

The first indicator value:

0 - Scale indeterminable/No scale recorded
Used when no representative fraction is given in field 255 or no field 255 is present in the record.

and the subfield $a definition:

$a - Category of scale
One-character alphabetic code indicating the type of scale of the item.
Used even when a specific scale is not recorded (first indicator position contains value 0). For non-cartographic materials (i.e. images, graphic materials, textual materials, etc.) subfield $a is not used. The codes used in subfield $a are:

a - Linear scale

b - Angular scale
Used for celestial charts.

z - Other type of scale
Any other type of scale, for example, a time scale, quantitative statistical scale, etc.
If the scale statement is the only subfield given in field 255 and if the scale statement does not contain a representative fraction, field 034 will contain only subfield $a.

To record non-cartographic scale content in field 034 would require adjustments to the 034 Field Definition and Scope, the indicator values and the subfield $a, in order to break the one- to-one dependency between field 034 and 255, and/or re-define the scope of field 255. Cartographic community has expressed their preference to keep recording cartographic and non-cartographic scale content separately for clarity, and to maintain the dependency between field 034 and 255.

Considering the overall risks to bring the non-cartographic scale content to field 034, field 507 (Scale Note for Graphic Material) becomes the only option for the cartographic community to record non-cartographic scale content. During the discussion at the 2021 Annual MAC meeting, MAC members suggested to revise the label of field 507 as "Scale Note for Visual Materials" to match the changes in the Field Definition and Scope. There was also a suggestion to end the use of field 507 for cartographic scale in pre-AACR records in the Field Definition and Scope.

3. PROPOSED CHANGES

In field 507 (Scale Note for Graphic Material) of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format, change the field label and revise the field definition and scope as follows (changed text in bold underlined italics):

507 - Scale Note for Graphic Visual Materials (NR)

Field Definition and Scope
Scale of a graphic visual material item given as a note. For visual materials, tThis field contains the scale of still images, for example, architectural drawings, or three-dimensional artifacts forms. For maps, the scale of an item is contained in this field only in pre-AACR 2 cataloging records. Scale information is contained in Use field 255 (Cartographic Mathematical Data) to record the scale information for cartographic materials in AACR 2 formulated records."

4. EXAMPLES

Example 1:

245 00 $a Australian National University : $b University House site levels.
507 ## $a Scale 40 feet to 1 inch.

Example 2:

100 1# $a White, Stanford, $d 1853-1906.
245 10 $a Schoolhouse (St. James, N.Y.)
507 ## $a Scale 1/4"=1'-0."

Example 3:

100 1# $a Kavanagh, James, $d 1960-
245 10 $a Massachusetts butterflies & moths : $b an introduction to familiar species / $c by James Kavanagh ; illustrated by Raymond Leung.
507 ## $b Illustrations not drawn to scale.

5. BIBFRAME DISCUSSION

BIBFRAME includes the property bf:scale and its definition can be similarly adjusted.

6. SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES

In field 507 (Scale Note for Graphic Material) of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format, change the field label and revise the field definition and scope as follows:

507 - Scale Note for Visual Materials (NR)

Field Definition and Scope
Scale of a visual material item given as a note. This field contains the scale of still images, for example, architectural drawings, or three-dimensional artifacts forms. Use field 255 (Cartographic Mathematical Data) to record the scale information for cartographic materials.

Note: Include the historical usage of this field for cartographic materials in the field's CONTENT DESIGNATOR HISTORY.


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