RFC 2220 (rfc2220) - Page 1 of 4
The Application/MARC Content-type
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group R. Guenther
Request for Comments: 2220 Library of Congress
Category: Informational Network Devt. & MARC Standards Office
October 1997
The Application/MARC Content-type
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1997). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memorandum provides a mechanism for representing objects which
are files of Machine-Readable Cataloging records (MARC). The MARC
formats are standards for the representation and communication of
bibliographic and related information. A MARC record contains
metadata for an information resource following MARC format
specifications.
1. Introduction
The MARC formats are sets of codes and content designators defined
for encoding metadata for five types of data: bibliographic,
holdings, authority, classification, and community information. The
structure of MARC records is an implementation of national and
international standards, ANSI Z39.2 (Information Interchange Format)
and ISO 2709 (Format for Information Interchange). Codes and
conventions in the formats identify and characterize data elements
within a record and support the manipulation of those data.
MARC formats are communication formats, primarily designed to provide
specification for the exchange of bibliographic and related
information between systems. They are widely used in a variety of
exchange and processing environments. They do not mandate internal
storage or display formats to be used by different systems.
Guenther Informational