Comparative analysis of subject indexing in knowledge organization and library systems in a MARC21 environment

Abstract

Péter Király has already compared the MARC21 bibliographic records of major national libraries. In this study, only the data elements related to content and others in this context are analyzed for the sources, comparing data from the Deutsche Bibliothek, the Ghent University Library, the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Library of the University of Szeged. It is concluded that the problems are not caused by MARC21, but by its practical application. The potential of the data elements related to content in MARC21 are far from being exploited. A logical data exchange format that is understandable and manageable for librarian users will always be needed. The real problem lies in the cataloguing software that manages MARC.