MARC country code - Definition

MARC is an acronym for MAchine-Readable Cataloging. It defines a bibliographic data format that emerged from a United States Library of Congress-led initiative that began in the 1970s. It provides the protocol by which computers exchange, use, and interpret bibliographic information. Its data elements make up the foundation of most library catalogs used today.

[The French wiki entry says it began in 1965. Which one is correct?]

The MARC Standards Office is part of the Library of Congress.

The record structure of MARC is an implementation of ISO 2709, also known as ANSI/NISO Z39.2.

The worldwide library science community is currently looking for ways to move away from MARC, considered to be based on outdated concepts, to an XML-based format.

MARC "flavours"

There are many national as well as international "flavours" (variants) of MARC, including

• USMARC: national MARC of the United States
• CAN/MARC: national MARC of Canada
• MARC21: a "harmonization" of USMARC and CAN/MARC
• INTERMARC
• UNIMARC: created by IFLA in 1977, it is the official MARC in France
• CMARC: national MARC of the Republic of China, based on UNIMARC
• DANMARC: national MARC of Denmark, based on MARC21

MARC 21 is not a new format. The original American version of MARC became USMARC in the 1980s; there was also a separate Canadian version with minor differences called CAN/MARC. After making minor changes to both formats, the USMARC and CAN/MARC specifications were merged into MARC 21 in 1997.

Example Usage of country