Record formats

Despite its age Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) is still the most relevant data format used in library systems. MARC exist in several variants and it has influenced related formats, all loosely based on ISO 2709.

See syntax elements for a description of the general record format.

Records formats and format variants considered in this repository include:

• MARC display format
• MARCMaker
• PICA Plain (PICA+)

Record formats not considered (or not considered yet) include:

• Binary formats
  • ISO MARC (MARC communications format)
  • MicroLIF
  • Binary PICA
  • Normalized PICA
  • MAB2
  • allegro
• JSON based formats
  • MARC in JSON
  • MARC JSON
  • PICA JSON
• XML based formats
  • MARCXML
  • Turbomarc
  • PICA XML
  • PPXML
  • MABxml

See also Avram Schema Language for a Schema language for these record formats and https://format.gbv.de/ for a more comprehensive format registry (in German).