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DATE: January 15, 2026
REVISED:
NAME: Adding Indicators for Preferred Variant Headings in 4XX Fields in the MARC 21 Authority Format
SOURCE: Library of Congress, Network Development and MARC Standards Office
SUMMARY: This paper proposes adding indicators to See From Tracing fields (400, 410, 411, 430, and 451) in the MARC21 Authority Format to indicate the preferred variant heading in an alternate graphic representation when multiple headings use the same alternate script.
KEYWORDS: Field 400, 2nd indicator (AD); See From Tracing-Personal Name (AD); Field 410, 2nd indicator (AD); See From Tracing-Corporate Name (AD); Field 411, 2nd indicator (AD); See From Tracing-Meeting Name (AD); Field 430, 1st indicator (AD); See From Tracing-Uniform Title (AD); Field 451, 2nd indicator (AD); See From Tracing-Geographic Name (AD); Preferred variant heading (AD)
RELATED: 2025-DP13; 2024-DP11, 2022-05
STATUS/COMMENTS:
01/15/26 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.
In the MARC Authority Format, the following indicators are defined for fields 400, 410, 411, 430 and 451:
400 – See From Tracing-Personal Name (R)
First Indicator: Type of personal name element
0 - Forename
1 - Surname
3 - Family nameSecond Indicator - Undefined
# - Undefined410 – See From Tracing-Corporate Name (R)
First Indicator -Type of corporate name entry element
0 - Inverted name
1 - Jurisdiction name
2 - Name in direct orderSecond Indicator - Undefined
# - Undefined411 – See From Tracing-Meeting Name (R)
First Indicator - Type of meeting name entry element
0 - Inverted name
1 - Jurisdiction name
2 - Name in direct orderSecond Indicator - Undefined
# - Undefined430 – See From Tracing-Uniform Title (R)
First Indicator - Undefined
# - UndefinedSecond Indicator - Nonfiling characters
0-9 - Number of nonfiling characters451 – See From Tracing-Geographic Name (R)
First Indicator - Undefined
# - UndefinedSecond Indicator - Undefined
# - Undefined
Currently, MARC authority records may contain "see from" tracings in multiple scripts in the 4XX fields. Since authority records commonly use Model B for multiscript descriptions, the ability to include language and script designations in field 880 (Alternate Graphic Representation) subfield $6 is lost.
It is common in Knowledge Organization Systems to have a preferred lexical label for a specific concept or entity. This equates cleanly with the MARC Authority 1XX field, which is understood to be the preferred form of a name, title, topic, etc., represented by a MARC Authority record. But without a means to record language or script information in a MARC Authority record until recently, datasets (or files) such as the LC/NACO file or the LCSH file have been treated as monolingual vocabularies, even when records contained (variant) labels in different scripts and languages. This is logical given the preeminence of the non-repeatable 1XX field – i.e., there can only be a single preferred label in a MARC Authority record – when combined with the lack of language/script support.
Although it would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to take the MARC Authority Format and use it for multilingual vocabularies, it is increasingly advantageous to not just know the language and/or script of a label in a MARC Authority record, but to also know if a specific variant label in a MARC Authority record is preferred over other variants/labels in the same language/script. For example, knowing which variant label per language/script is the preferred label makes it possible to elevate it with respect to indexing criteria and search weighting. And knowing which variant label per language/script is preferred enables displays to show the best representation given the material. For example, a book in Hebrew about Mark Twain can show the preferred Hebrew variant for Mark Twain out of the seven Hebrew labels in the related MARC Authority record.
The Library of Congress Linked Data Service (ID.LOC.GOV) now displays headings in multiple scripts more prominently. For example, see Mark Twain's authority record at https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79021164.html or Meryl Streep's authority record at https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n81019162.html.
Lacking any other meaningful data point, the selection of the alternate script heading to display is based on the length of each variant heading. For now, the longest heading "wins" and displays. This may or may not be correct based on usage and preferences of the agent – sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn't.
The adoption of BCP47 language and script codes for data provenance in subfield $7 means that these values can be encoded for each heading in a MARC Authority record. However, this configuration does not permit the cataloger to indicate which variant heading is the preferred variant heading.
By adding values to the appropriate indicator in the authority record's 4XX field, catalogers will have more control over which heading is designated as the preferred variant heading.
During the discussion of 2025-DP13, MAC was supportive of the paper and made suggestions for improvements. The name of the indicator has been changed to "preferred variant heading" for this proposal. The final report of the PCC Task Group on Evaluation Guidelines for Non-Latin Script References in Name Authority Records was also reviewed, but the paper's suggestions have been superseded by the incorporation of BCP47 coding in Proposal 2025-05.
In the MARC Authority Format, define a new second indicator in fields 400, 410, 411, 451 to indicate the preferred variant heading for a language or script when multiple versions exist in the authority record.
In fields:
400 – See From Tracing-Personal Name (R)
410 – See From Tracing-Corporate Name (R)
411 – See From Tracing-Meeting Name (R)
451 – See From Tracing-Geographic Name (R)define:
Second Indicator - Preferred variant heading
# - No information provided
1 – Preferred variant heading
In the MARC Authority Format, define a new first indicator in field 430 to indicate the preferred variant heading for a language or script when multiple versions exist in the authority record.
In field:
430 – See From Tracing-Uniform Title (R)
define:
First Indicator - Preferred variant heading
# - No information provided
1 – Preferred variant heading
In the above fields, define the proposed "Preferred variant heading" indicator value as follows:
1 - Preferred variant heading
Preferred variant heading in an alternate language and/or script to indicate relative importance compared to other variants in the same language and/or script to guide use in discovery, display, etc. Only a single 4XX field should be marked as "preferred" per language and script combination. When identifying a preferred variant, language and script must be recorded as a BCP 47 code in a $7 pertaining to the entire field.
Multiple Hebrew and Yiddish variant headings.
010 ## $a n 79021164 $z sh 89001267 $z no 98029431
100 1# $a Twain, Mark, $d 1835-1910
400 11 $a מרק ,טבןַ, $d 1835-1910 $7 (bcp47) he
400 11 $a מארק ,טוויין, $d 1835-1910 $7 (bcp47) yi
400 1# $a מרק ,טוויין, $d 1835-1910 $7 (bcp47) yi
400 1# $a מארק ,טווין, $d 1835-1910 $7 (bcp47) yi
400 1# $a מרק ,טווין, $d 1835-1910 $7 (bcp47) yi
400 1# $a מארק ,טווען, $d 1835-1910 $7 (bcp47) yi
Variant headings in Traditional and Simplified Chinese. In this example, the variant heading with the most occurrences in the Library of Congress OPAC is selected as the preferred variant heading.
010 ## $a n 81092441
100 1# $a Shen, Congwen, $d 1902-1988
400 11 $a 沈从文, $d 1902-1988 $7 (bcp47) zh-hans
400 1# $a 沈岳煥, $d 1902-1988 $7 (bcp47) zh-hant
400 1# $a 沈崇文, $d 1902-1988 $7 (bcp47) zh-hans
400 1# $a 沈從文, $d 1902-1988 $7 (bcp47) zh-hant
Variant headings in multiple scripts, with a designation of preferred script for each:
010 ## $a n 79046204 $z n 89149387
130 #0 $a Qurʼan
430 #0 $w nnea $a Koran
430 10 $a קוראן $7 (bcp47) und-hebr
430 10 $a قرآن $7 (bcp47) und-arab
430 #0 $a Каран $7 (bcp47) und-cyrl
430 10 $a Коран $7 (bcp47) und-cyrl
Variant headings in multiple scripts, with a designation of preferred script for each:
010 ## $a n 81082738 $z no 98056999
100 1# $a Stravinsky, Igor, $d 1882-1971. $t Vesna svi︠a︡shchennai︠a︡
400 11 $a Stravinsky, Igor, $d 1882-1971. $t Rite of spring $7 (bcp47) en
400 11 $a Stravinsky, Igor, $d 1882-1971. $t Весна священная $7 (bcp47/dpsft) und-cyrl
400 1# $a Stravinsky, Igor, $d 1882-1971. $t Весна священна $7 (bcp47) und-cyrl
400 11 $a Stravinsky, Igor, $d 1882-1971. $t 春の祭典 $7 (bcp47/dpsft) zh-hani
In all of these examples, usage of the preferred variant heading indicator would enable a cataloger to indicate which heading should appear in an 880 field in a bibliographic record.
Use of a preferred variant heading will enable the BIBFRAME-to-MARC conversion to more accurately construct 880 fields for access points.
Since BIBFRAME is an RDF standard, language, script, and transliteration scheme are tagged at the equivalent of the field or subfield, rather than encompassing the entire record. Enabling more options in MARC to support a more granular level of tagging in MARC could help make conversion from MARC to BIBFRAME and from BIBFRAME to MARC smoother, with less data loss.
6.1. In fields 400 (See From Tracing-Personal Name), 410 (See From Tracing-Corporate Name), 411 (See From Tracing-Meeting Name), and 451 (See From Tracing-Geographic Name) of the MARC 21 Authority Format, define the following new second indicator:
6.2. In field 430 (See From Tracing-Uniform Title) of the MARC 21 Authority Format, define the following new first indicator:Second Indicator - Preferred variant heading
# - No information provided
1 – Preferred variant heading
First Indicator - Preferred variant heading
# - No information provided
1 – Preferred variant heading
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