RFC 2220 (rfc2220) - Page 1 of 4

The Application/MARC Content-type

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