Arabic Library Standards

Bibliotheca Alexandrina launches the online version of MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data in Arabic

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina launches the online version of MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data in Arabic.

The online version is accessible from the Arabic Library Standards website (www.bibalex.org/ALS), launched earlier this May. It is a free edition that provides Arab catalogers with a selection of the most commonly used fields in cataloging monographic and serial items specifically, and adopts a tailored field description structure.

The online version covers until update 21, published in September 2015, featuring the complete Format Summary of the bibliographic format, and core fields accommodating emerging cataloging rules, i.e. Resource Description and Access (RDA), manifested in fields 264, 336, 337, and 338. It includes Arabic examples boosting Arab cataloging rules and practices.

The online version of MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data in Arabic introduces the release of the full print edition that will be in three volumes. Intended to be available for acquisition by users and institutions, the print edition is a complete Arabization of the original MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data as published by the Library of Congress.

For the online version of MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data in Arabic, please visit http://bibalex.org/als/marcA/Bibliographic.