[Metadatalibrarians] Question about MARCXML and ISBD punctuation

[Weinheimer Jim]

Schwartz, Christine wrote:
<snip>
I need some help with best practice for the placement of ISBD
punctuation in MARCXML records.

The ISBD punctuation usually comes at the end of each subfield.
Question: Is is okay to move this punctuation to to the beginning of the
next subfield instead?

For example:

<marc:datafield tag="245" ind1="1" ind2="4">
            <marc:subfield code="a">The Reformation of the sixteenth
century in its relation to
                modern thought and knowledge</marc:subfield>
            <marc:subfield code="b">: lectures delivered at Oxford and
in London, in April, May and
                June, 1883</marc:subfield>
            <marc:subfield code="c">/ by Charles Beard.</marc:subfield>
        </marc:datafield>

What kind of problems could we be creating for ourselves?

</snip>

This has been one of those questions I've asked for years and have never gotten a good answer. I've always wondered if the reason for ending punctuation instead of beginning punctuation had to do with difficulties of searching correctly back in the 1960s when they figured it out. Of course, it would be best to eliminate the punctuation altogether and let the computer put it in automatically (e.g. if 245$c, precede with a "/").

The problem you will have is once you start, you will have to convert all records whenever importing or exporting because you will need beginning punctuation, and any standard catalog will need ending punctuation. I think that's why a lot of libraries that I have seen have just deleted all the punctuation and entered it automatically, even though that is not perfect. At least they are off of the "merry-go'round"!

James Weinheimer  j.weinheimer at aur.edu
Director of Library and Information Services
The American University of Rome
via Pietro Roselli, 4
00153 Rome, Italy
voice- 011 39 06 58330919 ext. 258
fax-011 39 06 58330992