Text of Press Release from the British Library
With apologies for cross-posting

01/14   19 March 2001

All Change For UK Library
Cataloguing Format

For the first time since 1969 the UK library community is set to change the
format for all its cataloguing and bibliographic data exchange. The  clear
message that UK libraries wish  to adopt MARC21 as the standard for encoding
new library catalogue records was given in response to a consultation
exercise carried out by the British Library. MARC21 is the standard format
for the exchange of catalogue information used in the US, Canada and several
other parts of the world, and its adoption in the UK will make possible the
downloading of bibliographic records from a wider range of Internet sources
than ever before. What's more it will build for the future by bringing the
UK into closer alignment with US, Canadian and other libraries worldwide.

The British Library has been working since the mid-1990s with the US Library
of Congress and the National Library of Canada, who are the guardians of
MARC21, to bring the UK and North American formats closer together, and this
latest step is a logical development of that work.

A survey conducted by The British Library as part of an extensive
consultation process with key users of its National Bibliographic Service
showed that 57% of respondents were in favour of fully converting to MARC21.
Whilst 30% would prefer partial harmonisation, only 7% wished to retain
UKMARC, the format which has been in place for the last 32 years.

Stuart Ede, Director of Collection Management at the British Library said
"In the light of this clear mandate the British Library has confirmed its
commitment to lead the change to MARC21, and over the coming months we shall
be developing plans for the transition".

MARC or Machine Readable Cataloguing format was originally developed by the
US Library of Congress in 1965 as a system for representing bibliographic
information for use in library catalogues and databases. The United States
and Great Britain developed two separate MARC formats, respectively USMARC
and UKMARC. UKMARC has been the standard supplied by the British Library to
users of its automated services across the world, including national,
academic and public libraries, as well as library systems suppliers and
bibliographic utilities.

MARC21 was formed in 1999 when the National Library of Canada's MARC format
(CANMARC) fully integrated into the Library of Congress USMARC. Changing to
MARC21 has a number of important advantages for UK libraries: -

*       Ability to download and derive bibliographic records from a wider
range of sources, particularly from North American national libraries and
bibliographic utilities.
*       It represents a more effective route to the adoption of new
standards for the future, in particular metadata standards for digital
material disseminated on new media such as DVDs and the Web.
*       MARC 21 gives superior coverage of non-book media and separate
formats for bibliographic and authorities data.
*       MARC21 offers superior resources for future development, support and
documentation
*       The marketplace for library systems, software and bibliographic data
is increasingly moving to MARC21, especially in the university and research
library sector.

The main issue of concern identified by the consultation process was the
extent to which UK libraries will be allowed input into the running of
MARC21. This will be one of the key topics for discussion between the
British Library and the format's guardians in Canada and the US later in the
year. The British Library intends to issue a 'white paper' in the summer
proposing the way forward, including details of transition arrangements and
the provision of training.

For further information contact Bart Smith at Press and Public Relations,
Tel. 0207 412 7114 Email: [log in to unmask]

Notes for editors
1.      The decision taken by the Library's Executive Committee was informed
by extensive user consultation conducted during the summer and autumn of
last year. A key component of the consultation was a user questionnaire,
asking UKMARC users to decide between three options:-

*       Continue using UKMARC, adopting unique fields from MARC21 to enhance
UKMARC's capabilities where they do not conflict with current practice.
*       Adopt a partially harmonised format that changes the majority of
existing fields to MARC21 but retains some unique features of UKMARC, as
recommended by the BIC Report on Partial Harmonisation;
*       Adopt the full MARC21 format and abandon UKMARC altogether.

1.      There were 210 responses to the user survey with 57% in favour of
full MARC21 and only 7% wishing to retain UKMARC. A further 30% were in
favour of partial harmonisation between UKMARC and MARC21, with the rest
being undecided

2.      Work on the Library's systems to handle MARC21 will commence in
2002. The British Library will continue to support UKMARC-based outputs for
three to five years from the target implementation date.

3.      Alan Danskin of the UKMARC Office at The British Library is
available for discussion of technical issues relating to MARC21 and can be
contacted on 01937 546669, email [log in to unmask]

4.      The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom
and one of the world's greatest research libraries.  The Library's
collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate
items representing every age of written civilisation.  It includes: books,
journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound
recordings in all written and spoken languages.  Key users of the Library's
collections and services other than the above are independent researchers
and people working in the library and information science sector.  Further
information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk.

5.      A digest of the survey results is available on the British Library's
web pages at
      www.bl.uk/services/bsds/nbs/marc/result1.html


ENDS