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This page attempts to explain what some of the commonly used MARC tags are for and what some of the factors are in deciding how catalogers use them. A complete (and very readable) list of all tags and the rules of their use by OCLC is available on their website. The Library of Congress maintains the official guide to MARC fields, which is almost but not quite identical to OCLC's list, here. Generally, OCLC's is easier to use and provides better examples.
Common practice is to refer to MARC field ranges with x's, as in 1xx to represent all tags beginning with 1, or 24x to refer to all fields beginning with 24.
Anatomy of a MARC field
The "MARC Format" button in the OPAC displays a formatted version of the underlying MARC record that was used to create the bibliographic display.
Example line from a MARC display:
245 12 |a A Christmas carol : |b a ghost story of Christmas / |c by Charles Dickens ; with illustrations by Michael Foreman.
Field number - Here, 245 in bold. The field number defines what information is entered. In this case, the title entry.
First and Second Indicator - The next two numbers, not in bold, are the first and second indicators, in this case 1 and 2 respectively. Some fields use none, others use one or both. The meaning of the indicators changes from field to field, but generally control how information in the field is displayed or indexed by the OPAC.
Subfield - Almost all MARC fields start with subfield a, in this case shown as |a though the | may be replaced by various symbols depending on the software the OPAC uses. Subfields break information into corresponding pieces, in this case |a for title proper, |b for remainder of title (subtitle), and |c for the statement of responsibility. Some fields use numbers as well as letters. Numbers usually denote encoded or controlled information readable by machins, but not always.
Fields indexed (searchable) and/or displayed in the OPAC
1xx - Main entries for personal names (100), corporate names (110), meeting names (111) and uniform titles (130).
This field names the people or group that is primary responsible for the creation/authoring of the work. Current cataloging rules allows for only one main entry per title, with other authors/creators/bodies entered in the 7xx field. This is a holdover from the days of the card catalog and may change in the next version of cataloging rules.
Because movies are generally the work of many people, no one person or entity is generally given a 1xx field as being primarily responsible for the movie. All responsible parties should be given added entries in the 7xx fields below. Similarly, musicians are usually only credited in a 1xx field if they both wrote and performed the work (as is often the case with rock bands, sometimes with jazz, and rarely with classical).
Similar to the above, editors are not given 1xx notes as they are not primarily responsible for the intellectual work.
Governments, companies and organizations are all listed under 110, corporate names. 111, meeting names, refers to conferences.
Uniform titles are used for works entered under their title (no author or creator appropriate in a 100, 110, or 111), when the work may appear in the catalog under multiple titles. For instance, The Bible is rarely published with The Bible as the full and only title. The 130 field allows a search for "Bible" to collocate The Old and New Testament, The Holy Bible, New American Bible, etc. Laws may also be given a 130 uniform title name.
240 - Uniform title
This is similar in use and rationale to the 130 field above. The primary difference is that it is used for works that have a 100, 110 or 111 field. For example, A Christmas Carol has been published under many variations of the title, often with words added in front that would keep them from coming up in a title search. Because Charles Dickens is entered into the 100 field, we use a 240 uniform title to collocate all copies of the story instead of a 130.
245 - Title
Rather self explanatory, but worth noting is the cataloging rule that requires the title to be transcribed from the title page whenever available for printed materials and the opening screens of movies. Any other version of the title is considered secondary and can be entered into a 246 field (below).
Subfield a is the title proper, subfield b is the subtitle. Subfield h is the general material designator, which comes from a controlled list of broad material types.
Subfield c is the statement of responsibility, and can include anyone listed on the title page (or credits, for movies), like authors, editors, illustrators, production companies, etc.
Any information appearing in brackets [ ] has been supplied by the cataloger and does not appear on the title page or the verso (back page of the title page).
246 - Variant titles
This field allows for variations on the title. Cataloger's judgment is used to include titles that users may search by. If the title is different on the cover, it should appear here, as well as running titles, and various shorter versions of the title. For example, Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Nursing has a 246 entry as Psychiatric Nursing because that part appears in bolder face on both the cover and title page and a patron may reasonably mistake the shorter version for the title. Translations of titles can also appear here as well as variations on spelling or substitutions of "and" for "&" as well as words for numerals.
If a title is regularly being searched (and not found) by a title users expect, please let the cataloging department know so we can create an appropriate 246 entry.
440/490 - Series statement
Names of series go into either a 440 or a 490 depending on whether or not the information should be traced (indexed and displayed).
5xx - General notes
500 - General notes that do not fall into one of the following 5xx fields.
This field is the catch-all field for information that catalogers need to express to the user but no specific field has been defined for.
590 - Local note
Most often, this note will describe a feature specific to this library's copy of a book. For instance, if the book is signed by the author, or missing its index.
6xx - Subject headings
600/610/611/630 - Name subject headings
These correspond to the 100, 110, 111, 130 fields above, and express that the work cataloged is about the person, corporate body, conference or work named.
650 - Topical term
General subject headings. Second indicator 0 means LCSH.
651 - Geographic name
Headings that begin with a place name, but may be subdivided by other categories. Second indicator 0 means LCSH .
655 - Genre/form
Term for type of material, ie video recording, documentary, etc. Sometimes present in copy cataloging records.
7xx - Added entries
700/710/711/730 - Name added entry
As with the 6xx, these numbers correspond to the 1xx counterparts. Authors/creators other than the one in the 1xx field are added here. Current cataloging rules require that books with 4 or more authors only list the first author in 1xx and the others are ignored; this is likely to change in the future.
856 - Electronic location/access
This often (but not always) a URL for either the actual item cataloged, an electronic copy of the item cataloged, or an item related to the item cataloged.
9xx and x9x - Local notes
9xx fields are not defined by MARC standards and are used for the storage of local information, though, OCLC has defined some fields for its own use. The information here is usually of interest to Tech Services and LIS, and nobody else.
Additionally, all hundreds level field ranges (1xx, 2xx, etc.) reserve the last ten numbers ( x90 to x99) for local notes appropriate to that range. These are rarely used in our catalog.
Other MARC Codes
MARC records often include information that our OPAC is not set up to display or search specifically. Below are some codes that some of our records have that might give extra information about a resource.
041 - Language Code
These fields use a standard three letter code to denote the language of the material in subfield a. Subfield b shows subtitle languages, and subfield h gives the language of the original material if the item is a translation. If fields contain multiple languages they will be added without spaces (for example, a movie with English, French and Spanish subtitles will have |b engfrespa). A complete list of codes is available alphabetical by code or by language.
043 - Geographic Area Code
This seven character code describes the geographic area a resource is about, rather then where it was produced. Most codes begin with a continent designation and narrow down to country or region, and further to state or province. For instance, n------ for North American; n-us--- for United States, and n-us-nj for New Jersey. Planets and outer space begin with z. A complete list of codes is available by code or by region here.
048 - Number of Instruments/Voices Code
Seen in some scores and sound recording records, these codes described the number of instruments and voices the work is performed with. Each code is two letters followed by two numbers. The letters are the instrument/voice/vocal range and the number is the number of parts. Codes are not intuitive, and can be found at the lower part of the page here.
Example: vn02 for two vocal parts, with no range specified; va01 for a single soprano; ka01 for one piano, etc. These can be searched as keywords in the OPAC with or without the numbers (a search for vn will find vn01, vn02, etc.).
306 - Playing Time
Encoded as two digit hours, minutes and seconds (HHMMSS), this code gives the playing time for media. Multiple tracks on a CD may be shown in their own subfield a individually.