With apologies for cross-posting

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA, AND BRITISH LIBRARY AGREE
ON FORMAT CONVERGENCE

Following the harmonization of the USMARC and CAN/MARC formats into a single
format called MARC 21 in 1999, the Library of Congress(LC) and the National
Library of Canada (NLC) welcome the recent decision taken by the British
Library (BL) to adopt MARC 21.  The decision was taken
following an extensive consultation exercise carried out by the BL with the
UK library community, which clearly indicated support for full adoption of
MARC 21.

At the May 2001 meeting of the MARC Harmonization Coordinating Committee,
LC, NLC and the BL agreed to work together in the ongoing development and
maintenance of the MARC 21 format.  The current agreement between LC and NLC
will be reviewed and modified to introduce the participation of the BL.
Technical staff from the three institutions will proceed with resolving any
outstanding format issues.

The MARC 21 format is used extensively throughout the world.  An expression
of interest in future cooperation was recently received from the LIBER
group.  The three national libraries on the Coordinating Committee are
committed to ensuring not only the ongoing development and maintenance of
MARC 21, but also its interoperability with emerging standards in metadata
and exchange formats.

Winston Tabb, Associate Librarian for Library Services, Library of Congress,
noted: "The goal of MARC harmonization has been to reduce the costs of
bibliographic control and to increase the effectiveness of service to our
constituents across national boundaries by making it easier to share
cataloging data.  The decision by the British Library to adopt MARC21,
joining other users in Europe and around the world, and LIBER's interest in
the work to unify formats are welcome developments that significantly
further the effort to achieve this goal."

Added Ingrid Parent, Director General, Acquisitions and Bibliographic
Services at the National Library of Canada:  "Given the globalization of
information and the mandate of libraries to facilitate access to
information, the adoption by the British library community of MARC 21 will
further promote effective record exchange and other cooperative activities."

Dennis Pilling, Head of Acquisitions and Cataloguing at the British Library,
welcomed these latest developments: "The rationalisation, brought about by
the convergence of MARC21 and UKMARC, consolidates the international nature
of the MARC format, and will be a major benefit in the future
development of MARC to meet the challenge of new information sources,
interoperability and interfacing with non-MARC metadata standards."

For further information please contact:
Dennis Pilling
Head of Acquisitions and Cataloguing
British Library
Boston Spa
Wetherby LS23 7BQ       UK

Telephone: 44 (0)1937 546269
Email: [log in to unmask]


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