Scope and Content Note
The Henriette D. Avram MARC Development Collection contains items originating primarily during the period from 1966 to 1976 although there are some materials from the early 1960s, late 1970s, and early 1980s. The contents of the collection are described below in the context of the major accomplishments of the program and the resulting publications. The following essay documents the provenance and organization of the collection, creation and development of the MARC standard, and automation activities in the Library of Congress. It is reproduced from Lenore Maruyama's "The MARC Archives: A Register of Records in the Library of Congress" (May 8, 1987, 74 pp.), which is available in the Manuscript Reading Room. It has been revised to conform to current standards for finding aids in the Manuscript Division.
Preface
In September 1985, work began on a project to prepare an archive of materials related to MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) that would cover a ten-year period from 1966 to 1976. Over the next fifteen months, sixty-five containers were filled. These containers were transferred to the Library of Congress Manuscript Division and became part of the Library of Congress Archives. As a guide to this collection, a preliminary edition of The MARC Archives: A Register of Records in the Library of Congress (May 8, 1987, 74 p.) was prepared. Then in September 1987, the second phase of this project began, primarily to collect additional material covering the period after 1975 for certain topics, such as the MARC formats, networking activities, and international MARC and networking activities, but also to identify and collect other material to fill in gaps of coverage from the earlier decade.
While attempting to locate items presumed to be missing, it became clear that the Automated Systems Office had transferred between 60 to 70 cartons of material to the Central Services Division after the original collection process for the first phase of the project. Just from this source alone, enough material was added to fill another 40 containers.
To incorporate all of this new material, revisions were made to the following sections in the preliminary edition of the register: the Introduction, Scope and Contents, Materials Not Located (renamed Future Considerations), Description of Series, and Container Designations. The original container list was not revised; the items obtained during the second phase of the project were included as additions to the original list. All materials comprising the MARC Archives (124 containers) may now be consulted in the Manuscript Division.
Introduction
The availability of MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) records from the Library of Congress in the mid-1960s ranks in importance with the availability of printed LC catalog cards in 1901. Both events have had far- reaching effects on technical processing operations in libraries in this country and throughout the world, as well as on cataloging rules, standardization, vendors, and users of libraries.
The progress of MARC mirrored the progress in the computer industry. MARC can also claim a number of "firsts": distribution of MARC records was probably one of the first major uses of the ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) character set; following the success of the MARC Pilot Project, IBM made available commercially a library print train that could print not only upper- and lowercase alphabetic characters but also the diacritic marks and special characters used in most roman alphabet languages; MARC was the pioneer in developing the concept of a "communications" structure for information processing that was independent of individual hardware configurations and programming languages; and MARC was also one of the first major computer applications to include variable length data fields and records. As we sit in front of a cathode ray tube terminal today that can input, display, or print (via an attached printer) Chinese ideographs, it is difficult to remember how cumbersome the library automation process was twenty years ago.
The Library of Congress played the leading role in these developments, so the preparation of an archive collection on MARC (to be housed as part of the Library of Congress Archives) seemed appropriate. Henriette D. Avram, Assistant Librarian for Processing Services and former Chief, MARC Development Office, commissioned the preparation of this archive, and work was begun in September 1985. The scope of the MARC Archives would include materials covering a ten-year period from 1966 to 1976, and within the time allotted to the project, an attempt was made to identify all the topics that should be included in the archive. The collection process was completed in the spring of 1987 and a preliminary edition of a guide, The MARC Archives: A Register of Records in the Library of Congress (May 8, 1987, 74 p.) was prepared.
In September 1987, the second phase of this project began—to collect additional materials after 1975 for certain topics like the MARC formats, networking activities, or international MARC and networking activities; and to fill in gaps of coverage identified during the first phase. Completion of this second phase has resulted in adding 59 more containers to the MARC Archives, in large part because the Automated Systems Office had transferred between 60 to 70 cartons of materials to the Central Services Division after the collection process in the spring of 1987 had been completed.
Before collecting the material for the MARC Archives, an outline was prepared listing the topics for which source materials were being sought for the project. This outline, with revisions, is used to organize the Scope and Contents. Following the Scope and Contents are chapters on future considerations, a description of the series, an explanation of the container designations, and a container list.
For general background of the period covered by the archives, the following publications are recommended:
- MARC: Its History and Implications (Washington: Library of Congress, 1975). Written by Henriette D. Avram and based on an article "Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) Program" appearing in vol. 17 of the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. Covers the years before MARC (1961-65), the MARC Pilot Project (1966-68), the MARC Distribution Service (1968-75), the Retrospective Conversion Pilot Project (1968-72), influence of MARC on standardization, and MARC users. Includes extensive bibliography. "Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC): 1986" appeared in vol. 43, supplement 8, of the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1988, p. 136-160) and described the progress from 1974-86).
- The Library of Congress as the National Bibliographic Center (Washington: Association of Research Libraries, 1976). Report of a program sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries, October 16, 1975 at which several LC staff members discussed automation activities of the Processing Department, the core bibliographic system, the national bibliographic service, and the transition to the automated system.
- Annual Report ... Information Systems Office. Annual reports submitted to the Librarian of Congress for fiscal years 1966/67, 1967/68, 1968/69, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1971/72, 1972/73, 1973/74, 1974/75, 1975/76. Information for fiscal year 1965/66 obtained from selected pages of the Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress.
- MARC Development Office Annual Report. Annual reports submitted to the Librarian of Congress for fiscal years 1970/71, 1971/72, 1972/73, 1973/74, 1974/75, 1975/76.
- MARC Editorial Division Annual Report. Annual reports submitted to the Librarian of Congress for fiscal years 1969/70, 1970/71, 1971/72, 1972/73, 1973/74, 1974/75, 1975/76.
- Cataloging Distribution Service Annual Report. Annual reports submitted to the Librarian of Congress for fiscal years 1969/70, 1970/71, 1971/72, 1972/73, 1973/74, 1974/75, 1975/76. Called Card Division until 1973.
- Network Development Office Annual Report. Annual reports submitted to the Librarian of Congress for fiscal years 1975/76, 1976/77, 1977/78, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1980/81, 1981/82, and 1982/83.
Scope and Contents
The Henriette D. Avram MARC Development Collection contains items originating primarily during the period from 1966 to 1976 although there is some material from the early 1960s, the late 1970s, and early 1980s. The contents of the archives are described briefly in the context of the major accomplishments that took place, and the publications resulting from or about these projects that have been included in the archive are also listed.
1. MARC Pilot Project (1966-68)
1965:
Buckland, Lawrence F. The Recording of Library of Congress Bibliographical Data in Machine Form; A Report Prepared for the Council on Library Resources. Revised. Washington, D.C.: Council on Library Resources, 1965.
1968:
Avram, Henriette D. The MARC Pilot Project: Final Report on a Project Sponsored by the Council on Library Resources. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1968.
1975:
Avram, Henriette D. MARC: Its History and Implications. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975. p. 5-8.
In 1964, the Council on Library Resources commissioned a study that resulted in the report, The Recording of Library of Congress Bibliographical Data in Machine Form. On January 11, 1965, the council sponsored the first Conference on Machine-Readable Catalog Copy to discuss this report and its implications for automation efforts in all types of libraries. Three more conferences were held on November 22, 1965, February 25, 1966, and December 4, 1967 to discuss the requirements for a machine format for bibliographic records, the details for a pilot project, and the machine format that became known as the MARC II format.
After the second Conference on Machine-Readable Copy, the Library of Congress submitted a proposal to the Council on Library Resources for a pilot project to support the developmental work needed to convert cataloging data into machine-readable form and to distribute the data to selected institutions in the library community. In December 1965, the Library received a grant to start the MARC Pilot Project. The project had been scheduled to run from January 1966 to June 1967 but was extended to June 1968.
A total of 20 libraries participated in the pilot project—16 had participated from the beginning, and four joined the pilot in January 1968. Their reports were included in the final report of the project.
The Library of Congress awarded contracts to United Aircraft Corporation to write the computer programs needed to input, process, store, and distribute the machine-readable records, and to Programming Services, Inc., to design a cost model that could be used to evaluate the project. United Aircraft also wrote computer programs that were provided to the bibliographic records. Considerable work, e.g., evaluation, was also done by Library staff during the actual input of records. Descriptions of other aspects included in subsequent sections in this chapter on the MARC formats, character sets for bibliographic records, code lists, authorities, and automation at the Library of Congress.
The collection of source material for the MARC Pilot Project as described in the preceding paragraphs is extensive and appears to be complete. Copies of additional items have been obtained from the Council on Library Resources to supplement this collection. They consist of material related to studies performed by a contractor before the Library of Congress submitted its proposal for the MARC Pilot Project.
2. MARC Formats
1965:
Avram Henriette D., Ruth S. Freitag, and Kay D. Guiles. A Proposed Format for a Standardized Machine-Readable Catalog Record, A Preliminary Draft. ISS Planning Memorandum, no. 3. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1965. Reprinted with Index and Appendix, 1971.
1967:
Curran, Ann T. and Henriette D. Avram. The Identification of Data Elements in Bibliographic Records; Final Report of the Special Project on Data Elements for the Subcommittee on Machine Input Records (SC-2) of the Committee on Library Work and Documentation (Z39) of the United States of America Standards Institute (USASI). Needham Mass.: 1967.
1968:
Avram, Henriette D., John F. Knapp, and Lucia J. Rather. The MARC Format: A Communications Format for Bibliographical Data. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress Information Systems Office, 1968.
1971:
American National Standards Institute. American National Standard Format for Bibliographic Information Interchange on Magnetic Tape (ANSI Z39.2-1971). New York: 1971. Revised 1980, 1985.
Library of Congress MARC Development Office. Films: A MARC Format; Specifications for Magnetic Tapes Containing Catalog Records for Motion Pictures, Filmstrips, and Other Pictorial Media Intended for Projection. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970 (i.e., 1971).
1972:
Library of Congress MARC Development Office. Books: A MARC Format; Specifications for Magnetic Tapes Containing Catalog Records or Books. 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1972. lst-3d eds., 1968-1969, have title: Subscriber's Guide to the MARC Distribution Service.
1973:
Library of Congress MARC Development Office. Manuscripts: A MARC Format; Specifications for Magnetic Tapes Containing Catalog Records for Single Manuscripts or Manuscript Collections. Washington D.C.: Library of Congress, 1973.
1974:
Library of Congress MARC Development Office. Serials: A MARC Format; Specifications for Magnetic Tapes Containing Catalog Records for Serials. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1974. Prelim, ed., 1970.
1975:
Library of Congress MARC Development Office. In Process Materials: A MARC Format; Specifications for Magnetic Tapes Containing Records for Materials in the Process of Being Cataloged in the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975.
1976:
Library of Congress MARC Development Office. Authorities: A MARC Format; Specifications for Magnetic Tapes Containing Authority Records. Prelim, ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976.
Library of Congress Information Systems Office. Maps: A MARC Format; Specifications for Magnetic Tapes Containing Catalog Records for Maps. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976. 1st ed., 1970.
Library of Congress MARC Development Office. Music: A MARC Format; Specifications for Magnetic Tapes Containing Catalog Records for Music Scores and Musical and Non-Musical Sound Recordings. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976.
Work to design a machine-readable format for bibliographic records began in 1965, and the results were included in the report, A Proposed Format for a Standardized Machine-Readable Catalog Record. The proposed format was distributed widely for comments and review by Library of Congress staff members and representatives of outside libraries and library organizations. After modifications and revisions were made, this format became the MARC I format, the format used during the MARC Pilot Project.
Although the MARC I format had been designed to handle only monographic materials, the designers felt that the "permanent" format should accommodate all levels of bibliographic entries (monographs, serials, collections, and analytics) and all types of materials (books, music, sound recordings, manuscripts, audiovisual materials, maps). These requirements were incorporated in The MARC II Format: A Communications Format for Bibliographic Data, which after some modifications, evolved into the series of formats for books, serials, films, manuscripts, maps, music, in process materials, and authorities. (The books format had actually been issued as subscriber's guides to the MARC Distribution Service and did not appear under the title Books: A MARC Format until 1972.)
Simultaneously with the work on the MARC II format, the designers were developing a standard format structure for bibliographic information that resulted in the American National Standard Format for Bibliographic Information Interchange on Magnetic Tape (ANSI Z39.2-1971). The MARC formats are considered an application of ANSI Z39.2. Many organizations have adopted both the standard communications format structure represented by ANSI Z39.2 (the empty container) and the application of that structure (the contents of the container) represented by the MARC formats. Others have adopted only ANSI Z39.2. The differences between these two aspects of the standard have caused confusion even to this day.
In designing the MARC formats, the Library of Congress had consulted extensively with potential users both within the Library and outside the Library. Drafts were circulated widely for review and comments. Once the format was implemented with records distributed through the Library’s MARC Distribution Service, subscribers were also consulted before making changes. By the early 1970s, a more formal procedure had evolved, resulting in an interdivisional committee of the American Library Association called MARBI (Representation in Machine-Readable Form of Bibliographic Information, RTSD/LITA/RASD). In the late 1970s, MARBI itself has experienced some restructuring as the environment in which it operated has changed.
To a great extent, information contained in a MARC record has been derived as part of the cataloging process at the Library of Congress, which in turn is based on standard cataloging codes adopted by the library community. The codes reflected in LC cataloging include: the A.L.A. Catalog Rules (1908): rules for author and title entry (1949) and rules for descriptive cataloging (1949). which were issued separately following the publication of an (unsatisfactory) second edition (1941); Anglo-American Cataloging Rules or AACR1 (1967); and the second edition of Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules or AACR2 (1978). Also in 1969, work began on an effort that became the International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD), which is also incorporated in AACR2. The designers of the MARC formats had to be cognizant not only of the existing rules but also the potential impact of proposed rules on the formats.
Since most of the developmental work on the MARC formats had been completed by 1976, the collection of source materials for this aspect appears to be complete. A few folders contain materials about the format for machine- readable data files from 1978 to 1981, but these are not complete (work on this format was not actually finished until 1982). The collection also contains all the MARC formats, with the exception of machine-readable data files, that were issued separately with their respective addenda. In 1980, the Library of Congress changed the publication format and began issuing a combined loose-leaf document containing specifications for all the formats. In 1984, the format for machine-readable data files was added to the combined document.
The collection also contains several folders related to individual elements within the MARC record, such as local information and tags, the International Standard Book Number, the International Standard Serial Number or Cataloging in Publication data. These elements affected the Library's own internal processing and, therefore, required extensive coordination and cooperation from several operating divisions to implement. Many of the folders containing material about AACR2 or the ISBD may include items with dates after 1976.
Background material and published versions of the National Level Bibliographic Record documents for books, serials, films, and music, and of National Level Authority Record are described as part of this collection Although, strictly speaking, they are not MARC formats, they use the MARC format terminology to provide guidelines for users by indicating which elements must be present in full or minimum level records and which elements are optional. The material covers the period from 1978 to about 1983.
3. Character Set for Bibliographic Records
1968:
Avram, Henriette D. The MARC Pilot Project: Final Report on a Project Sponsored by the Council on Library Resources. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1968. p. 59-65.
For the MARC Pilot Project, the Library of Congress designed a character set and print train based on the then proposed Library Typewriter keyboard. Participants in the pilot received magnetic tapes with data in Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC) for 9-level tapes and Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) for 7-level tapes. Both are IBM codes.
Once the pilot project was underway, attention was turned to a design of an extended character set for bibliographic records that would serve all major roman alphabet languages and the romanized forms of nonroman alphabets. The decision was made to use the standard 7-bit American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) issued by the American National Standards Institute, then called the United States of America Standards Institute. The expanded library character set was derived by expanding the 7-bit ASCII code to 8-bits and contracting it to 6-bits. A print train was also designed based on the proposed character set and became available commercially from IBM. Both the character set and print train were adopted as standards by the library and information communities in the late 1960s. The collection of source material related to the character sets and print trains for the pilot project and ongoing MARC distribution system is extensive.
Work on standard nonroman language character sets and their inclusion in MARC records moved much more slowly. A few folders contain material related to work done in the 1970s on nonroman character sets, but since the techniques for incorporating nonroman sets had not been defined for MARC records until 1984, the collection in the present MARC archives is obviously incomplete. The collection does contain numerous folders related to the staff's involvement with character set work in conjunction with the International Organization for Standardization.
4. Code Lists for Bibliographic Records
1968:
Avram, Henriette D. The MARC Pilot Project: Final Report on a Project Sponsored by the Council on Library Resources. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1968. p. 53-57.
For the MARC Pilot Project, the Library of Congress used four- character alphabetic codes to represent publishers, places of publication, and languages of the works. From this experience, the Library decided to eliminate the publisher code from MARC II, change the place of publication code to one representing only country of publication rather than country and city of publication, and change the place of publication and language codes to three- character alphabetic codes. (The publisher code remained in the map format until about 1980.) Since the start of the MARC Distribution Service in 1969. other code lists, such as those for geographic areas and chronological coverage, were added (the chronological coverage code, however, has not been implemented in MARC records distributed by the Library of Congress).
In the early 1970s, the Library of Congress began working with the American National Standards Institute to develop standard code lists for countries and languages. Because the library community had already implemented the three-character alphabetic (and mnemonic) codes in their systems, the outcome of the standardization efforts was that the MARC codes were made entity-compatible with the ANSI standard codes, that is, there is a one-to-one match between the country or language in the MARC code lists and the ANSI lists, but the actual alphabetic codes for the country or language may vary.
The collection contains extensive materials relating to the work performed during the MARC Pilot Project, including the actual code lists used during the pilot project, the early years of the MARC Distribution Service, and the standardization work done in the early 1970s. The Network Development and MARC Standards Office has decided to keep in its custody the folders containing materials on the country, language, geographic area, and chronological coverage codes, maintenance cf the code lists, and coordination with the Library's Subject Cataloging Division on the geographic area codes. The extent to which these materials are duplicated in deposits from other sources has not been determined.
5. Authorities
1976:
Library of Congress MARC Development Office. Authorities: A MARC Format; Specifications for Magnetic Tapes Containing Authority Records. Prelim, ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976.
Work on authorities can be divided into four categories: (1) distribution of name and subject cross references during the MARC Pilot Project: (2) conversion of subject headings tapes from the Government Printing Office to a MARC-like format, and the Library's taking over the responsibility for producing machine-readable records to publish future editions of Library of Congress Subject Headings; (3) amalgamation of name and subject authorities (and later authorities for series) in a single MARC format and creation of an authorities data base and system; and (4) development of a MARC system to input, store, process, and distribute name authority records.
From about October 1966 to May 1967, the Library of Congress distributed name and subject cross reference records to participants in the MARC Pilot Project. It appears that only one of the participants, the Washington State Library, attempted to use these cross reference records. Although everyone felt that these records were valuable, they were not as useful as anticipated because the cross reference records were not linked with the associated bibliographic record. Production and distribution of cross reference records were discontinued in May 1967 with the understanding that the problem would be analyzed further.
Early in the fall of 1966, the Government Printing Office published the seventh edition of Library of Congress Subject Headings using machine-readable records that were processed by a photo composition system. From the following year (1967) until the early 1970s, the Library of Congress had to convert the GPO tapes to a format that could be processed by LC software and develop a system to produce future editions of LCSH and its supplements. Work to compile the eighth edition had been completed in 1974, but distribution of the printed copies was not made until late 1975. Also in 1974, the Library began investigating the feasibility of producing microform editions of LCSH through a computer-output-microform (COM) process.
By 1974, work had also begun on a MARC format for authority records, a system to input, store, process, and distribute name authority records, and a system to integrate authority control with the Library's cataloging and book catalog processing operations. The MARC format for authority records was published in 1976, and distribution of subject authority records through the MARC Distribution Service began in late 1976.
During the principal period covered by the MARC Archives, 1966 to 1976, authority control played a relatively minor role in the activities of the MARC Development Office. Most of the milestones or major events took place after 1976, and responsibility for the projects had been dispersed among several units after that date, resulting in spotty coverage for the late 1970s. On the other hand, the Network Development Office began a major effort related to authorities as part of the Linked Systems Project in the late 1970s, and the files obtained for the archives are described in Section 14, Networking Activities.
6. MARC Distribution Service
1970:
Library of Congress Information Systems Office. MARC Manuals Used by the Library of Congress. 2d ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1970. 1st ed. published in 1969.
1971:
Carrington, David K. and Elizabeth U. Mangan. Data Preparation Manual for the Conversion of Map Cataloging Records to Machine- Readable Form. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1971.
1974:
Library of Congress MARC Development Office. Information on the MARC System. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1974 lst-3d eds., 1971-73.
1975:
Avram, Henriette D. MARC: Its History and Implications. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975. p. 9-12.
The first MARC (II) records for English-language monographs were sent to subscribers in March 1969. During the period covered by the MARC Archives, the MARC Distribution Service was expanded to cover machine-readable records for other forms of materials (films, serials, maps), other languages, retrospective records, and authorities, as well as MARC records created by the National Library of Canada.
The series of MARC formats began as the Subscriber's Guide to the MARC Distribution Service (the predecessor of Books: A MARC Format) the first edition of which appeared in 1968 several months before the actual start of the distribution service. Because of the widespread interest in MARC and the MARC system, the Library of Congress together with the American Library Association published two sets of manuals (MARC Manuals Used by the Library of Congress and Data Preparation Manual for . . . Map Cataloging Records) and sponsored a series of MARC Institutes throughout the country to assist the library community in understanding the procedures and techniques associated with MARC records and their implications for future automation efforts.
By 1971, responsibility for handling the subscription service and the duplication and mailing of tapes was turned over to the Library’s Card Division (the predecessor of the Cataloging Distribution Service). Before 1971 (and including the period of the MARC Pilot Project), the duplication and mailing had been done by Argonne National Laboratory because the Library of Congress lacked sufficient equipment to handle these tasks.
Material collected for the MARC Archives reflects primarily the functions and tasks performed by the MARC Development Office so the emphasis is on the work done before the implementation of a particular product or service, such as the expansion of the service to distribute serial, film, or map records.
7. RECON Project (1969-72)
1969:
RECON Working Task Force. Conversion of Retrospective Catalog Records to Machine-Readable Form: A Study of the Feasibility of a National Bibliographic Service. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1969.
1972:
Avram, Henriette D. RECON Pilot Project; Final Report on a Project Sponsored by the Library of Congress, the Council on Library Resources Inc., and the U.S. Dept, of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1972.
1973:
RECON Working Task Force. National Aspects of Creating and Using MARC/RECON Records. Edited by John C. Rather and Henriette D Avram. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1973.
1975:
Avram, Henriette D. MARC: Its History and Implications. Washington D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975. p. 13-20.
The RECON or Retrospective Conversion Project consisted of three phases: (l) a feasibility study; (2) a pilot project conducted by the Library of Congress; and (3) research studies conducted by a task force. Funding was provided by the Council on Library Resources and the U.S. Office of Education.
The feasibility study was conducted by a task force consisting of Library of Congress staff and representatives from other libraries. An advisory committee monitored the work performed by the task force. One of the principal recommendations in the task force's report, Conversion of Retrospective Catalog Records to Machine-Readable Form, was that a pilot project should be undertaken to test the techniques suggested in the feasibility study and to convert a useful body of retrospective cataloging records.
The RECON Pilot Project consisted of a production operation to input and process retrospective cataloging records and a research and development component to investigate different aspects of retrospective conversion. The Library of Congress hired additional staff to do the input, and they converted approximately 58,000 records to machine-readable form. Library staff also investigated the feasibility of using a technique called format recognition whereby the computer would assign content designators for bibliographic data by examining data strings for certain keywords, significant punctuation, and other clues; the problems associated with converting older English-language monographs and foreign-language monographs in roman alphabets; the capabilities of existing input devices; and the feasibility of using microfilm to obtain copies of LC catalog cards for an operational project. Although format recognition techniques were subsequently incorporated into the operations of the MARC Editorial Division for input of current cataloging data into machine- readable form, the other tasks undertaken for the pilot showed that large-scale retrospective conversion would be costly and difficult to implement in a batch environment.
Concurrently with the pilot project, the RECON Working Task Force, several members of whom had worked on the feasibility study, investigated four aspects of retrospective conversion: (1) levels of machine-readable records; (2) conversion of other machine-readable data bases; (3) a national union catalog in machine-readable form, and (4) alternative strategies for retrospective conversion. These topics are still being discussed today, 16 years later [at the time this was written].
The materials in the MARC Archives about the RECON Project are extensive and appear to be complete.
8. COMARC Pilot Project (1974-78)
Through the COMARC (Cooperative MARC) Pilot Project, the Library of Congress tested the feasibility of obtaining machine-readable records from outside sources, updating certain elements, and redistributing the records through the MARC Distribution Service. The pilot project was in operation from about December 1974 through 1978 and was supported with a grant from the Council on Library Resources. Records contributed for the pilot consisted of those for which LC cataloging copy existed but which had not been converted to machine-readable form through MARC or RECON. COMARC, in fact, constituted a modified approach to one of the conversion strategies recommended by the RECON Working Task Force.
The Library of Congress distributed approximately 30,000 COMARC records that had been contributed by 12 participating organizations. Some of the participants also provided their NUC symbol for addition to the Library's data base and publication, the Register of Additional Locations. The Council on Library Resources also funded a related study to design a reporting format for the National Union Catalog. Although COMARC proved that contributing machine-readable records to a central source and redistributing them to increase the number of "quality" records available to all subscribers were feasible, the Library of Congress was not able to obtain funding to continue the effort and terminated the project in 1978 when the grant monies ran out.
Availability of source material about COMARC is particularly important since there are neither publications nor articles written solely about the project. Although the collection of materials about COMARC appears to be complete, it has been organized much more loosely than the materials for the MARC and RECON Pilot Projects.
9. Applications of MARC
This section refers to the uses of MARC records and MARC software within the Library of Congress. The projects listed in this section had been obtained by reviewing the annual reports of the Information Systems Office and the MARC Development Office for fiscal years 1967 to 1976. The collection process was complicated by the fact that responsibility for these projects had been divided between the MARC Development Office and the Information Systems Office when the former was established in 1970, with some projects being handled entirely by one office while others involved both. A substantial portion of the items had remained in the custody of the Information Systems Office/Automated Systems Office until mid-1987 and, therefore, could not be examined until the second phase of the archive project. Material related to the following general topics has been added to the archives:
Serials. In addition to the material about the MARC serials format, the collection contains copies of the manuals and specification documents related to serials, such as the MARC Serials Editing Guide, Serials Internal Specifications, and the CONSER Tables. Relatively little was found on projects related to serials, such as the National Serials Data Program and the CONSER (Conversion of Serials) Project, with the exception of the NSDP survey conducted by Nelson Associates in 1968 (filling about four and one-half containers). After reviewing the files related to CONSER in the custody of the Serial Record Division, it was decided not to include them in the MARC Archives at this time because they did not appear to be complete and the majority of the files contained items dated after 1976. More analysis should be done for CONSER to identify the project’s numerous components.
Maps. Although the MARC Distribution Service did not begin distributing map cataloging records until 1973, these records had been converted into machine-readable form since the late 1960s. Other than items related to the two editions of the map format and internal specifications for maps, the collection contains relatively little material related to this application. Staff of the Geography and Map Division indicated that this was not unexpected because the map format differed from the books format in only a few fields and, therefore, relatively few modifications were made to the computer programs to process map cataloging records.
Films. In addition to distributing film cataloging records through the MARC Distribution Service, these records were used to print catalog cards and a book catalog (the latter being the first book catalog published by the Library using MARC records that had been processed by a photo composition device). Since the vast majority of the films cataloged were not in the Library's collections, the printed cards were filed only in the Library's Official Catalog. These records had been cataloged by the Audiovisual Section, then part of the Descriptive Cataloging Division. Most of the materials collected for the archive concern the specific areas for which the MARC Development Office was responsible, such as modifying the input and processing programs to handle film cataloging records, developing software to handle the processing for book catalogs (see also the section on Book Catalogs), and coordinating the efforts of at least two other divisions to produce these products.
Other Forms of Material (Manuscripts, Monthly Checklist). Responsibility for manuscripts was divided between the MARC Development Office, which compiled the MARC format for manuscripts, and the Information Systems Office, which developed the computer programs to process manuscript records, including the indexes to the Presidential Papers. Production of the latter had been automated since the early 1960s, and several folders refer to projects needed to convert the computer programs to run on the IBM 360 series of computers from the IBM 1401. The MARC Development Office also assisted the Exchange and Gift Division to compile an annual index to the Monthly Checklist of State Publications and to produce the index by photo composition.
Science Reading Room and Main Reading Room Catalogs. Production of these two catalogs was accomplished through several discrete efforts: Records for monographic titles already in MARC were "copied" for these files; records for serials in these two collections were converted as part of the serials project; conversion of records from the Main Reading Room collection was done in conjunction with the RECON Pilot Project, and many of these records were also analyzed as part of the research titles effort; and the Science and Technology Division staff converted the remaining records for the Science Reading Room catalog. These two conversion projects brought to the attention of the MARC format designers the problems of recording information needed for internal Library of Congress use (problems that have not been solved satisfactorily even to this day). Some of the materials related to these two projects can be found in folders dealing with other topics, e.g., RECON research titles, serials conversion, or local information in MARC records. The catalogs were produced by a computer line printer.
Book Catalogs. In general, "book catalogs" refer to those products produced from machine-readable records by photocomposition devices. Several related efforts were involved. Pre-photocomposition processing programs (programs that would process MARC records and convert them to a form a photocomposition device could accept) were written with the expectation that the Government Printing Office would produce the book catalog on its photocomposition device (the Linotron). Because GPO was not able to meet the Library's requirement for an extensive character set, these programs had to be rewritten by the Cataloging Distribution Service for the Library's own photocomposition device, which had been acquired to produce catalog cards from MARC records. Concurrently, three other efforts were in progress: Provisional filing rules for machine-readable bibliographic data were compiled; a machine filing program was written based on the provisional filing rules: and programs were written for input and processing of cross reference records for the book- catalog (Library of Congress Catalog: Films and Other Materials for Projection). The first photocomposed issue of this catalog was issued in the spring of 1974.
The archives contain several folders with material dating from the late 1960s and the early 1970s on the Library's attempts to use the Linotron. These efforts involved primarily the Information Systems Office and the Science and Technology Division for the production of a Cold Regions bibliography and several directories for the National Referral Center.
During the mid-1970s, the MARC Development Office experimented with pre-photocomposition processing programs (acquired from the Washington State Library) that would process bibliographic and authority records to produce book catalogs in a register/index format. (The register volume would contain full bibliographic entries arranged by a sequential register number. The index volumes, arranged alphabetically by name, title, or subject, would contain briefer entries, including the register number so that a user can consult the appropriate register volume to obtain the full entry. The index volumes would be cumulated periodically.) At the same time, prototype microform editions of the book catalog were produced on a computer-output-microform (COM) device. It appears that most of the documentation for these early or experimental book catalog programs had not been included in the files collected for the archive, possibly because of the reorganization of staff and functions that took place after the MARC Development Office was disbanded in 1977. To produce the microfiche National Union Catalog in a register/index format beginning in 1983, the Library of Congress modified software obtained from the National Library of Canada.
Microforms and COM Production. In the mid-1970s, the Library began investigating the use of microforms produced by computer-output-microform (COM) devices for some of its printed products like Library of Congress Subject Headings, the Register of Additional Locations, or the National Union Catalog. Microform versions of LCSH and the RAL were published in 1976. The Library experienced delays in obtaining a COM font containing the full library character set, a similar situation having occurred with the introduction of photocomposition devices, cathode ray tube terminals for online applications, and offline printers. Most of the source materials about microforms and COM production in the archive appear to be organized with the actual product, e.g., LCSH or the RAL, rather than as a separate project in itself, although there are some scattered folders containing materials related to internal use of COM in the Library as a substitute for bulky computer printouts.
Register of Additional Locations and the National Union Catalog. Work to automate the production of the Register of Additional Locations began in 1972 with the development of an input and maintenance system for RAL records. The actual keying of data was performed by a contractor. Most of the location reports appearing in the 1968-1972 quinquennial edition of the National Union Catalog had been obtained from the machine-readable file. By the mid-1970s the Library began accepting machine-readable location reports from the New York Public Library and some of the participants in the COMARC Pilot Project and investigating the feasibility of producing a microform edition of the RAL through a COM device (the first microform edition was published in late 1976). RAL records were also accessible online through the MUMS system. Acceptance of machine-readable reports for the NUC was not possible until 1986.
Source materials about the RAL relate primarily to those aspects of the efforts described in the previous paragraph that were initiated or developed by the MARC Development Office. The Catalog Management and Publication Division had overall responsibility for the compilation of the RAL and the NUC, both of which had been compiled by manual methods for many years.
Other Projects. A few items were found in MARC Development Office files on other projects or units in the Library: Copyright Office, Division for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (later called National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped), General Reference and Bibliography Division, Loan Division, National Referral Center, and Prints and Photographs Division. In most cases, these projects were not under the control of the MARC Development Office, so the materials tended to fall into the "For Your Information" category.
On the other hand, a substantial amount of material is related to MARC applications and automation projects from these units and others like the Legislative Reference Service (later called Congressional Research Service) and the Reference Department (later called Research Services) in the files of the Information Systems Office/Automated Systems Office. Since most of the folders had been designated as automation projects, they are described under Section 10, Automation at the Library of Congress.
10. Automation at the Library of Congress
1963:
King, Gilbert W. and others. Automation and the Library of Congress; A Survey Sponsored by the Council on Library Resources, Inc. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1963.
1964:
Libraries and Automation; Proceedings of the Conference on Libraries and Automation Held at Airlie Foundation, Warrenton, Virginia, May 26- 30, 1963 . . . Edited by Barbara Evans Markuson. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1964.
1970:
Library of Congress Information Systems Office. Format Recognition Process for MARC Records: A Logical Design. Chicago: American Library Association, 1970.
Reimers, Paul R. and Henriette D. Avram. "Automation and the Library of Congress: 1970." Datamation 16(6), 138-143 (June 1970).
1974:
Library of Congress MARC Development Office. Information on the MARC System. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. 1974 lst-3d eds., 1971-73.
1975:
Avram, Henriette D. MARC: Its History and Implications. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975. p. 25-30.
1976:
The Library of Congress as the National Bibliographic Center. Washington, D.C.: Association of Research Libraries, 1976.
The archives now contain what appear to be the complete historical files of the King study, the results of which are documented in the publication, Automation and the Library of Congress, and of the Conference on Libraries and Automation. In addition to the analyses and research conducted for the King study, the archives contain materials representing the work done at the Library of Congress in the late 1950s and early 1960s on requirements for an automated system.
Concurrently with the MARC Pilot Project, the Library of Congress began an extensive study for an automated Central Bibliographic System, which was conducted under contract to United Aircraft Corporation. The archives contain the final reports of each phase of the project, some of the preliminary reports dealing with technical processing work flows and procedures, the administrative files related to the project, and the notes and other documents originating with the LC staff assisting the contractor’s project team. A large sample of bibliographic and authority records from the Library’s Official Catalog, which was compiled by the Technical Processes Research Office in the late 1960s, is also included.
Reports of later studies dealing with topics such as hardware and CRT terminal configurations had originally been obtained by the MARC Development Office from the Information Systems Office and have been added to the archives because of their potential effect on technical processing operations. On the other hand, copies of these reports and the folders related to these studies that were located in the files of the Information Systems Office have not been added to the archives because they represent a highly technical approach to automation that was not unique to the Library of Congress or to library automation. In general, the archives do not contain material related to the administrative use of computers by the Library of Congress, the operations of the Library's computer center, or the hardware, software, and systems programs used by the Library. Exceptions, however, were made for material originating in the mid- 1960s to the early 1970s concerning the Library's acquisition of and expansion to more powerful computer equipment, the need to rewrite existing computer programs, and the problems caused by delays in acquiring and installing the new equipment. Also included were the folders containing items related to the use of the Library’s computer facilities and programs by the U.S. Department of Justice for the Watergate Special Prosecutor's Office.
By 1973, the MARC Development Office had turned its attention to the more general problem of automating the Library’s bibliographic system and linking the existing automated components. The terms "Core Bibliographic System" and "National Bibliographic Service" came into existence, describing, respectively, the Library's internal technical processing operations and its services to outside institutions. The publication, The Library of Congress as the National Bibliographic Center, describes the CBS and the NBS. Material in the archives concerning the CBS and the NBS relates to the overall planning done by the MARC Development Office in the 1970s.
The archives now contain considerable material related to automation projects supervised by the Information Systems Office/Automated Systems Office during the period from about 1970 to 1976. These projects include ones in the Copyright Office, Legislative Reference Service (later called the Congressional Research Service), and the Reference Department (currently called Research Services, but which also had been reorganized during this period). In general, the names of the units appearing on the folder labels have been used in the container list.
Specific systems and programs are described in the following categories: MARC batch processing, other batch processing programs, online processing, and LC computer operations:
MARC Batch Processing. Most of the material concerning batch processing for MARC deals with the early years of the MARC Distribution Service. Weekly meetings were held between the input staff in the MARC Editorial Division and the research and development staff in the MARC Development Office to discuss problems, progress, procedures, and other matters. Documentation for most of the programs comprising the MARC system has been included in the archives. In addition, the archive contains all the internal specifications for the different formats that were implemented at the Library.
Some of the documentation related to BIBSYS, a version of the MARC system programs written in COBOL, has been located and included in the archives. BIBSYS was used primarily to build data bases that were "outside" the LC bibliographic apparatus, such as the Congressional Research Service or the Manuscript Division.
Other Batch Processing Systems. The amount of material related to the other batch processing programs varies considerably. A large amount of material related to the format recognition programs exists, including the original copy of the preliminary logical specifications provided by the contractor and annotated copies of the logical design document to process French- and German- language records. (In addition, David Spaans in the Automated Systems Office has in his custody another box of format recognition documents, such as flow charts, various documents and listings for the key word lists, or an operator's guide. Since the format recognition programs are still in use, although with less frequency, these materials have not been placed in storage.)
Punched cards for SKED (Sort Key Edit), the program that processes certain MARC fields to create a sorting arrangement, have been included. This program was incorporated into LIBSKED (Library Sort Key Edit), whose logic is based on the machine filing rules for bibliographic records adopted by the Library of Congress and others. LIBSKED is still in constant use. Materials in the archive relate to the machine filing rules and their application in LIBSKED but actual program documentation and user manuals have not been located. Program documentation (actually, modifications made to a commercially- available software package) and user manuals for the MARC Retriever, a program to search MARC records for certain query elements, have been located as well as a number of samples of different kinds of searches performed with the MARC Retriever and documents describing how this program can be used to obtain certain kinds of information.
Material about LOIS (Library Order Information System) is not complete either. In 1972, the MARC Development Office issued Order Division Automated System, but items like the reports of meetings between the MARC Development Office and the Order Division or the requirements documents were not found in the material collected for this phase of the project. The Order Division has indicated that a number of these items are in its files.
Material related to the acquisition of computer and photocomposition equipment by the Cataloging Distribution Service (at that point, called the Card Division) has been included in the archives, as well as the documentation for the photocomposition programs developed by the Cataloging Distribution Service in the early 1970s to produce printed catalog cards. The collection also contains material related to a generalized statistical program to process data in MARC records and a few folders dealing with early versions of conversion programs like ASCII Convert (converting data from the ASCII character set to the Library's internal EBCDIC set) or MARC I Conversion (converting records from the MARC I format to the MARC II format).
Online Processing Programs. Most of the material collected is about MUMS (Multiple Use MARC System), a series of programs to process MARC records online. Documentation for an early version of the MUMS Executive Control Function and its subordinate Message Control Function have been included as well as reports of meetings between the staff of the MARC Development Office and the MARC Editorial Division. Materials on MAB (MUMS Application for Books), the portion of the MUMS system that actually handles records for books in an online environment, have also been included.
Other applications of MUMS that were being developed during this period (the mid-1970s) include APIF (Automated Process Information File) and the MARC Search Service. The latter, which had initially been developed to provide online access for the APIF project, was quickly expanded to provide additional searching capabilities, all of which are referred to at present as MUMS searches to distinguish them from SCORPIO (Subject Content Oriented Retrieval for Processing Information Online) searches.
SCORPIO is based on what was called in the mid-1970s the Logic Library System, the online searching system developed by the Information Systems Office. A number of folders in the collection contain materials related to the Logic Library System, its evolution to SCORPIO, and the attempts in the late 1970s to merge the two searching systems. There are also some folders containing material related to the use of the IBM ATS (Administrative Terminal System) for online input (with the data captured being processed by the appropriate MARC batch programs).
11. National Standards
1971:
American National Standards Institute. American National Standard for Bibliographic Information Interchange on Magnetic Tape (ANSI Z39.2-1971). New York: 1971. Revised 1980, 1985.
In addition to this section, work on standards is also described in earlier sections of this chapter on MARC formats, character set for bibliographic records, and code lists for bibliographic records. The Library's Processing Services department has been overall coordinator for the Library's involvement in the American National Standards Institute's Committee Z39 (Library and Information Sciences and Related Publishing Practices), so the correspondence, reports, memos, and other materials dealing with the administration of Z39 have been included as well as the work of other subcommittees of Z39 and other committees of ANSI with which LC staff members were involved.
12. International Standards and International MARC
1973:
International Organization for Standardization. Documentation-Format for Bibliographic Information Interchange on Magnetic Tape (ISO 2709- 1973).
ANSI Z39.2 was adopted for ISO 2709, and several international organizations began to use the structure of ISO 2709 for their bibliographic applications, a situation similar to what occurred in the United States with the implementation of ANSI Z39.2 by different organizations. Materials dealing with UNISIST (United Nations Information System in Science and Technology) or the ASIDIC/EUSIDIC/ICSU-AB/NFAIS common communications format fall into this category. Beginning in 1973, work was also proceeding within the International Federation of Library Organizations and Institutions on what became the UNIMARC format, a communications format for exchange at the international level. The archives contain considerable amount of material on the work of the IFLA Working Group on Content Designations.
With the implementation of MARC as an operational system at the Library of Congress, national groups in other countries began to investigate the feasibility of developing a MARC system in their own countries. As these systems were implemented, the Library of Congress initiated agreements so that MARC records could be exchanged. Most of the material dealing with MARC projects in other countries and exchange agreements has remained in the custody of the Network Development and MARC Standards Office.
13. MARC Development Office
For about a seven-year period from 1970 through 1977, the MARC Development Office existed as a separate unit in Processing Services. Before 1970, the MARC project was part of the Information Systems Office. After 1977, its functions were transferred to the Automated Systems Office, the Network Development and MARC Standards Office (formerly the Network Development Office), and the Automation Planning and Liaison Office. The last two offices are in Processing Services.
The items in the archives consist of material such as the monthly newsletter describing the accomplishments or milestones of the office and the project descriptions and monthly project progress reports. Also included is the material dealing with the overall Library automation plans, coordination with other Library units, computer utilization, and hardware and software configurations.
14. Networking
1975:
National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Toward a National Program for Library and Information Services: Goals for Action. Washington, D.C.: NCLIS, 1975. 106 p.
1977:
Library of Congress Network Advisory Group. Toward a National Library and Information Service Network: The Library Bibliographic Component. Edited by Henriette D. Avram and Lenore S. Maruyama. Preliminary Edition. Washington: Library of Congress, June 1977. 54 p.
1978:
The Role of the Library of Congress in the Evolving National Network. A Study Commissioned by the Library of Congress Network Development Office and Funded by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Conducted by Lawrence F. Buckland and William L. Basinski ... Inforonics, Inc. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1978. 141 p.
1985:
Maruyama, Lenore S. The Library of Congress Network Advisory Committee: Its First Decade. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Network Development and MARC Standards Office, 1985. 48 p. (Network Planning Paper No. 11)
In the decade that followed the implementation of the MARC Pilot Project, the setting for and the principal players in developmental efforts in library automation had shifted from individual institutions or libraries to organizations whose membership consisted of many institutions or libraries. These organizations, while commonly known as "library networks," varied greatly in terms of size, purpose, membership, governance, and geographic coverage. Several of the networks that had existed in the mid-1970s were disbanded by the 1980s, while new ones were established in the 1980s.
The majority of material related to networking in the MARC Archives consists of items originated by the Library of Congress, which worked closely with the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and the Council on Library Resources on network projects. The archives contain many items from organizations outside the Library of Congress, but there has been no attempt to provide a comprehensive collection on library networks. Included in the archives are the complete files of the Library of Congress Network Advisory Committee through 1983; most of the administrative and project files, including the Linked Systems Project, of the Network Development Office (originally called Office of the Special Assistant for Network Development, later renamed Network Development and MARC Standards Office) through 1982; and the complete files of the Network Technical Architecture Group. The activities of the Network Advisory Committee, the Network Technical Architecture Group, and the Linked Systems Project show the evolutionary nature of network-related projects at the Library of Congress. The advisory committee, consisting of associations or organizations in the public or private, for-profit or not-for-profit sectors, attempted, during its first three years of existence from 1976-79, to bring some semblance of order and coherence to the world of library networks. Although the library and information service profession generally agreed with the goals of a nationwide library and information service network, they disagreed with some of the mechanisms proposed by the committee to achieve these goals. In 1980, the Network Advisory Committee began concentrating on issues or trends, particularly those affecting long-term planning, such as telecommunications policies, document delivery, or public/private sector concerns. Such an approach has been viewed as extremely valuable by the profession.
The Network Technical Architecture Group existed between 1977 and 1978 as a task force of the Network Advisory Committee. Composed of technical experts from the network organizations with operating automated systems, NTAG was established to design the network architecture. Its work was taken to the next stage by the Linked Systems Project, a cooperative project with the Library of Congress, the Research Libraries Group, the Washington Library Network, and OCLC to develop computer-to-computer communications links for exchange of bibliographic data. Since the first application of the Linked Systems Project was the creation of an online nationwide name authority file, there are many folders dealing with the problems and issues related to name authority records.
15. Miscellaneous
The archives contain some materials about MARC projects initiated by groups outside the Library of Congress (e.g., Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalog or Core Collection for College Libraries), and other automated systems (e.g., University of Chicago automated system and the logical design of their data base management system). Also included are copies of questionnaires and surveys that Library staff had filled out and other miscellaneous items that have not been described elsewhere.
Future Considerations
The collection of material dealing with projects that had a beginning and ending date, i.e., the MARC Pilot Project, the RECON Project, and the COMARC Pilot Project, appears to be complete. Gaps in specific areas have been noted in the descriptions of the topics in the previous chapter.
No source material was found for the Archival Film Project, for which the MARC Development Office provided assistance to the then Motion Picture Section of the Prints and Photographs Division to convert catalog records for two small collections using the batch programs developed for MARC films records. Staff members of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Section have indicated that they have some sorted listings of these records and the editing manual. Another related project involved the creation of inventory control records for a collection of nitrate films to identify the state of the nitrate film, the degree of deterioration, and so on. This project was discontinued when it became evident that a batch system was too cumbersome to handle this function.
It appears that the bulk of the material on library automation at the Library of Congress from the early 1960s to 1976 has been added to the MARC Archives, and it is unlikely that substantial amounts of new material from this period will be added in the future. In the following decade from 1976 to 1986, automation had become such an integral part of the operational units at the Library that it is also unlikely to yield much new source material except in categories, such as the MARC formats, character sets, code lists, national standards, international standards and international MARC, and networking, where the custodial offices could set them aside for future addition to the archives.
To supplement the written (and a few visual) components of this collection, an oral history component would be extremely useful. An ad hoc committee, whose members are active in the American Library Association, has organized, with private funding, an oral history project to record the reminiscences from the principal players inside and outside the Library of Congress of the MARC Project. These tapes will be added to the archives as they are completed. The tapes contain only part of the story, albeit a very important part, of MARC and the development of automation at the Library of Congress, and it would be advantageous for the Library to begin such a project since several of the staff members who had been involved with this work are still employed by the Library or are residing in the Washington area.
Container Designations
Material collected for the MARC Archives has been obtained from several sources. Items removed from storage in the Library's Central Services Division had container designations with a numerical prefix representing the originating office, other numbers resembling month and year (e.g., 1/77), and sequential box numbers (e.g., 1/77, Box 1-2). The numerical prefixes for the originating office consist of the following:
604 - MARC Development Office
27 - Automated Systems Office
6 - Processing Services
12 - Assistant Librarian of Congress
11 - Information Systems Office (Deputy Librarian of Congress)
The container list for the MARC Archives is arranged by a sequential box number, which also matches the label on the box itself. If the contents of an entire box have been transferred from the Central Services Division to the MARC Archives, the box will probably have the original container designation in addition to the number assigned for the archives. If only portions of a box have been transferred to the archives, the box will have only the number assigned for the archives. The list below shows the original container designations and the equivalent box numbers for the MARC Archives:
604-1/73, Box 1-3 = Box 1-3
604-2/73, Box 1-15 = Box 4-18
27-7/78, Box 6-9, 13-15 = Box 19-25
27-1/81, Box 5-7 = Box 26-28
27-2/81, Box 1 = Box 29
27-1/77, Box 1-2 = Box 66
27-1/76, Box 1-3 = Box 67-68
27-1/72, Box 1-2 = Box 82-84
27-1/73, Box 1-3 = Box 84-87
27-1/75, Box 1-9 = Box 87-93
27-2/75, Box 1-2 = Box 94-96
27-1/79, Box 1-5 = Box 96-99
27-1/87, Box 1, 4, 7-11, 18, 22-28 = Box 100-105
6-1/83, Box 1-2 = Box 30-31
6-4/84, Box 1-5 = Box 32
6-2/81, Box 1, 4 = Box 32
6-2/84, Box 2-3 = Box 33
6-2/85, Box 1-4 = Box 34-37
12-3/78, Box 2 = Box 38
11-1/69, Box 1-2 = Box 69-70
11-2/69, Box 1-2 = Box 71-72
11-1/70, Box 1 = Box 73
11-2/70, Box 1-2 = Box 74-75
11-3/70, Box 1-15 = Box 76-82