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MARC FAST-TRACK PROPOSAL
DATE: September 25, 2025
REVISED:
NAME: Adding Subfield $6 to Fields 060 and 070 in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format
SOURCE: OCLC
SUMMARY: This paper proposes adding subfield $6 (Linkage) in field 060 (National Library of Medicine Call Number) and field 070 (National Agricultural Library Call Number) in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format.
KEYWORDS: Field 060 (BD); National Library of Medicine Call Number (BD); Field 070 (BD); National Agricultural Library Call Number (BD); Subfield $6, in field 060 (BD); Subfield $6, in field 070 (BD); Linkage (BD)
RELATED: 2025-DP10
STATUS/COMMENTS:
06/25/25 – Discussion Paper 2025-DP10 was converted to a MARC Fast-Track proposal at MAC Annual meeting.
09/25/25 – Submitted to the MARC Steering Group for consideration as a MARC Fast-Track proposal.
11/25/25 – Results of MARC Steering Group review - Approved.
An OCLC member library requested the ability to add non-Latin script to MARC Bibliographic field 060 (National Library of Medicine Call Number) after discovering that they were unable to include Thai script due to system limitations. The library sought to use field 060 for cataloging a Thai-language book, where the classification number could be recorded, but the Item number could not include any Thai script. Upon review, OCLC found that subfield $6 (Linkage) is available in other classification number fields but is absent in fields 060 and 070 (National Agricultural Call Number). To address this gap, we propose adding subfield $6 to both fields 060 and 070, ensuring consistency in the handling of non-Latin script across classification number fields.
This paper stems from Discussion Paper No. 2025-DP10, which was generally supported by the MARC Advisory Committee at the 2025 Annual meeting. A motion was approved to convert the paper as written into a fast-track proposal. Minor errors in the examples of the previous paper have been fixed here.
An OCLC member library encountered difficulties when attempting to add MARC Bibliographic field 060 with Thai script to a WorldCat record. Upon reviewing the MARC format, we found that field 060 lacks subfield $6, preventing the inclusion of non-Latin script in this field. Further examination of classification fields in the MARC Bibliographic Format revealed that fields 060 and 070 are the only classification fields missing subfield $6. Notably, in the MARC Authority Format, both 060 and 070 already include subfield $6. This discrepancy suggests that the omission of subfield $6 from the Bibliographic Format may have been an oversight.
In fields 060 (National Library of Medicine Call Number) and 070 (National Agricultural Library Call Number) of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format, add new $6 as follows:
$6 – Linkage (NR)
See description of this subfield in Appendix A: Control Subfields.
066 ## $c (N
060 #4 $6 880-01 $a WB 541 G52m 2001
880 #4 $6 060-01/(N $a WB 541 Г52м 2001
[Primary script is Latin; alternate script is Cyrillic]
066 ## $c (S
060 #4 $6 880-01 $a QS 4 $b L228a 1931
880 #4 $6 060-01/(S $a QS 4 $b Λ228α 1931
[Primary script is Latin; alternate script is Greek]
066 ## $c Thai
070 ## $6 880-01 $a SB191.R5 $b K73
880 ## 070-01/Thai $a SB191.R5 $b ก73
[Primary script is Latin; alternate script is Thai]
The MARC-to-BIBFRAME treatment of alternate character set data represented by $6 and field 880 continues to evolve. Although 880 fields in classification numbers are currently not converted from MARC to BIBFRAME, this decision could be revisited.
In fields 060 (National Library of Medicine Call Number) and 070 (National Agricultural Library Call Number) of the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format, define the following subfield:
$6 – Linkage (NR)
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