ISO 2709

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ISO 2709 is an ISO standard for bibliographic descriptions.

It is maintained by the Technical committee for Information and documentation (TC 46).

1 History
2 Basic Structure
3 Fields
4 Example
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

The format was developed in the 1960s under the direction of Henriette Avram of the Library of Congress as a format to carry the information printed on library cards. It was first created as ANSI standard Z39.2, one of the first standards for information technology, and called "Information Interchange Format." The latest edition of that standard is Z39.2-1994 (ISSN: 1041-5653). The ISO standard supersedes Z39.2. As of 2005 the current standard is ISO 2709:1996.

There is also a Format for Bibliographic Information Interchange on Magnetic Tape (ISO 2709:1981)

[edit] Basic Structure

A ISO 2709 record has three sections:

Leader - the first 24 characters of the record. This is the only portion of the record that is fixed in length. The Leader includes the record length and the base address of the data contained in the record. It also has data elements that indicate how many characters are used for indicators and subfield codes. (See Variable Fields, below)
Directory - the directory provides the entry positions to the fields in the record, along with the field tags. Each Directory entry has three parts:
- Field tag (3 characters)
- Length of the field (4 characters)
- Starting character position of the field (5 characters)
Data - a string containing all field and subfield data in the record.

[edit] Fields

There are two kinds of fields in the ISO 2709 record:

Control Fields

Control fields are fixed in length and consist of a tag and a data string. Control fields always have a tag that begins with "00".

Variable Fields

Variable fields are variable in length, and consist of:

- Tag (3 characters, ASCII alphanumeric graphic characters)
- Indicators (0-9 characters, as coded in the Leader) - Indicators generally provide information about the field itself, with each indicator position representing a data point.
- Subfields

Where used, subfields are composed of a subfield delimiter (1 char) and a subfield code (0-9 chars), plus a variable length string containing the data.

[edit] Example

Library cataloging record coded in ISO 2709 format:

00667cam 2200193u 4500 001000800000005001700008008004100025035002100066906004500087010001700132040001900149050001800168 100004700186245002200233260003800255300006800293700006900361991004300430�8316633 �20010813124442.0�830714s1939 enkaf j 000 0 eng � �9(DLC) 40031947� �a0�bcb c�cpremunv�du�encip�f19�gy-gencatlg� �a 40031947 � �aDLC�cCarP�dDLC �00�aPZ8.B327�bWh2�1 �aBaum, L. Frank�q(Lyman Frank),�d1856-1919.�14�aThe wizard of Oz,� �aLondon,�bHutchinson & co.�c[1939]� �a3 p.l., 208 p.�bfront., illus., plates (part col.) �c24 x 18 cm.�1 �aDenslow, William Wallace,�d1856-1915, [from old catalog]�eillus.� �bc-GenColl�hPZ8.B327�iWh2�tCopy 1�wPREM��