 Welcome to the first week of ASIC Serials cataloging. The first thing we're going to talk about is not anything about serials in particular, but I just want to do a basic overview of first mark coding, machine readable cataloging, and of RDA, the rules for creating catalog records, just in case you don't have a whole lot of prior experience and want to make sure everybody knows some of the terminology I'm going to be using for the rest of this class. First thing we're going to talk about is mark, which stands for machine readable cataloging. This is an encoding standard that allows information to be exchanged between systems, between library systems, that is, what allows you to download records from other source and import it into your catalog. So for example, here is how a mark record looks in OCLC connection, which is a bibliographic utility where you can create original records and copy catalog records that are in WorldCat. This same record is able to be downloaded and then imported into a local catalog. This is a screenshot from the REST Library Commission's catalog of how that same record looks. Mark fields contain specific cases of information, identified by four different concepts, and so I want to make sure you have these concepts straight before we go on to the rest of the class. The four things we're going to talk about are tags, indicators, delimiters, and subfield codes. A tag is a three-digit number that identifies the type of information found in a particular field. When I say field, I mean a particular area of the mark record. So for example, the tag for the title and statement of responsibility field is 245. The tag for a topical subject heading is 650. Indicators are two characters after the tag. They are either digits or blanks, and they give the computer kind of instructions on how to handle the information in the field. They provide a little bit more either information about what type of information it is, or information about how the catalog should display this information. Here's an example of indicators one and four after a 245 tag. Here's an example of indicators blank and zero after a 650 tag. Delimiters are symbols that tell the computer where each subfield starts. A subfield is a smaller group of information contained within a field. So in this example of a field, we have two subfields, subfield A and subfield Z, and those dollar signs, those are delimiters. Now I referred to subfield A and subfield Z, and those letters are subfield codes. They are usually letters, but can also be digits, and they tell the computer what type of information is in a subfield. So here's that example again. Subfield A is where the topical subject heading goes, and subfield Z is a geographic subdivision. And so those letters tell the computer what piece of information each of those things are. So just to bring this all together, this is an example of a field with all the components labeled. 650 is the tag, the blank and the zero are indicators that provide a little bit more information about what type of information is in this field. And then those two dollar signs are delimiters that tell the computer, hey, a subfield is coming. And then the A and the Z are subfield codes, and they tell the computer what type of information is in each subfield. So those are the very, very basics of Mark. I just wanted to touch quickly on what I mean when I say RDA, because you're going to hear that a lot throughout the class. RDA stands for Resource Description and Access, and it is a cataloging code that provides guidelines for creating descriptions of resources to go in our catalog records. It very recently, as of March of last year, just about a year ago, replaced what was known as AACR2, which stands for Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, and those were the old rules that have been in effect since 1978. So throughout this class, when I say RDA, I mean Resource Description and Access, and I may refer to AACR2 when I talk about some things that have changed between the two sets of rules.