Background
YUL’s previous cataloguing policy on Sirsi didn’t allow non-Roman characters in bibliographic records because Sirsi is not Unicode data compatible. Unicode data in Sirsi cause indexing problem. Now that ALMA is Unicode data compatible, cataloguers should keep or add original vernacular script to bibliographic records.
Policy statement
- For copy cataloguing, keep existing original vernacular script and not need to add if not already in bibliographic records
- For original cataloguing, add original vernacular script for materials in Arabic, Latin, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, as well as Indigenous languages.
- MARC fields to add original vernacular script: 1XX, 245/246, 250, 260/264, 490/830, 5XX, 6XX, 7XX.
- Treat transliteration as the main script and add original vernacular script to 880s.
- Follow MARC bibliographic format 880 (Alternate Graphic Representation) to add original vernacular script to 880s.
- Follow MARC bibliographic format Appendix D - Multiscript Records Model A – Vernacular and transliteration
- Follow MARC bibliographic format Appendix A - Control Subfields to add $6 – Linkage in 880s. Choose script identification codes from ISO 15924 (Codes for the representation of names of scripts) and enter the alphabetic values (consisting of four letters). Add field orientation code for script right-to-left.
- For e-resources packages, vendor provided bibliographic records should keep existing original vernacular script but not need to add if not already in bibliographic records.
Policy Review Information
- Draft approved by MDA: Apr. 20, 2023
- Approved by CDA: Apr. 24, 2023