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MARC records have their own native transport format, but this format ("MARC communications format" or among old-timers "tape format") requires specialized parsers and makes use of some fairly arcane conventions. The VT DLRL has undertaken to create an XML Schema to support wider distribution of MARC records within the OA community.
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This version [of the schema] has been frozen for all of 2001 so developers won't have to track a moving target. Open questions still include how best to insure that significant spaces in fixed fields stay fixed.
OAI 1.1 OAI_MARC schema , which has the following documentation note:
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Schema for MARC metadata format. MARC semantics available at http://www.loc.gov/marc/ ..... This Schema has been successfully applied for MARC21 records. It is likely to also work for older versions of USMARC and CANMARC. Application of this Schema for other MARC formats has not been tested and may require some adjustments. ..... the Open Archives Initiative. 2000. Herbert Van de Sompel MARC XML transportation format on which this schema is inspired available at http://www.dlib.vt.edu/projects/OAi/marcxml/marcxml.html This Schema validated at http://www.w3.org/2001/03/webdata/xsv on 05-09-2001.
Relating OAI MARC to MODS?
I think that we will preferentially want to work with the MODS. Is it feasible to convert OAI MARC to MODS? Off hand, I see a two-step transformation possible through doing using the
OAI to MARC XML XSLT followed by the
MARC XML to MODS XSLT. But how lossy is that process going to be?
Deprecation of OAI MARC in favor of MARCXML?
According to
An XML Schema to represent MARC records:
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Since the release of the MARCXML Schema for MARC21 metadata by the Library of Congress, June 2002, usage of MARCXML instead of oai_marc (described hereafter) is strongly recommended. Also a stylesheet supporting migration from oai_marc to MARCXML is provided on the MARCXML pages of the Library of Congress.
