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Rapheal Charlton
The MARC Code List for Organizations containsshort alphabetic codes used to represent names of libraries andother kinds of organizations that need to be identified in thebibliographic environment. This code list is an essentialreference tool for those dealing with MARC records, for systemsreporting library holdings, for many interlibrary loan systems, andfor those who may be organizing cooperative projects on a regional,national, or international scale. There are a number of dataelements in the MARC formats that call for institutionalidentifiers, the chief ones being those that identify theorganization assigning the record control number, the agencyresponsible for creating or modifying a record, and the agencyholding a copy of the item. In particular, it is a key to codesfor holding institutions represented in the Library of Congress National Union Catalog (NUC) and other unionlist publications which contain holdings for reportinginstitutions.
This code list for organizations is the latest update to thelist, previously published under the title USMARC Code List for Organizations (1996edition). It includes new codes assigned since the lastedition. A small number of existing codes have been changed ormade obsolete. In all cases, previously valid codes are given asreferences. The large number of new codes can be attributed tocontinuing expansion of the use of standard identifiers, nationallyby school libraries (particularly for statewide projects) andinternationally as information is shared globally via theInternet.
This new edition contains over 37,000 codes, of which approximately 33,000 are valid identifiers for general use. The list also includes references from invalid codes, nearly 3,000 of which are references fromcodes taken from other published lists which are mentioned in the"Historical Developments" section below.
The codes listed in this publication are used to designateUnited States and, to a lesser extent, non-U.S. libraries and otherinstitutions. While organizations are free to employ these codesfor their own purposes, the primary use of them by the librariesand other organizations is still for bibliographic applications. The list is augmented through applications for new codes, not asthe result of unsolicited assignment.
The International Standard Identifier for Libraries and Related Organizations (ISIL), ISO 15511, assigns unique identifiers to libraries and related organisations, such as archives and museums. The ISIL version of the MARC codes can be used in the same bibliographic and holdings fields that are populated by MARC organization codes. The Danish Agency for Culture is the Registration Authority and maitenance agency for ISO 15511. The LibraryofCongress serves as the ISIL National Registration Allocation Agency for the United States. The ISIL standard specifies that a country code identifies the country in which the library or related organization is located at the time the ISIL is assigned. As such the Library of Congress only assigns ISIL codes for organizations located within the United States. The country code shall consist of two uppercase letters in accordance with the codes specified in ISO 3166-1. The ISO 3166-1 code for the United States is US. ISIL codes assigned by the Library of Congress assume the following structure illustrated below, with the US prefix added to the MARC organization code (see below for further information about how a MARC organization code is structured):
The MARC Code List for Organizations grew out of the need for standard institutional codes to serve various bibliographic projects in the early 20th century. The first of these came into existence in the early part of the last century, when Charles Evans wanted to report that a certain library held one of the titles listed in his American Bibliography (published 1903-1959). He assumed that the abbreviation "BPL" would be identified immediately as representing the Boston Public Library, or that "HC" could only mean Harvard College to the reader. Prior to Evans developing his list of library codes, Joseph Sabin had used codes of his own to identify libraries in his Dictionary of Books Relating to America (published 1867-1936). He had used "B" and "H" to represent Boston Public Library and Harvard College, respectively. Others used codes such as "BoP" and "Har", or "B.P." and "CH". As bibliographies appeared one after another, it became incumbent upon each editor to include an explanation of the codes used to identify libraries and other institutions. Over the years, when one library wished to refer to other libraries, it adopted abbreviations used by respected reference works or it invented new abbreviations of its own.
In 1916, the discovery that the Universities of Illinois,Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin were all about to publish listsof their serial holdings, independently of one another, gave riseto a cooperative movement on a national scale which eventuallyproduced the first Union List of Serials (ULS) (which was firstpublished in 1927). The scope of this project necessitated thecreation of many new identifiers for libraries. Since reportinginstitutions were to be found in every state, Frank Peterson, ofthe University of Nebraska, worked out a mnemonic system of codesthat identified a library's location by theuse of geographic prefixes. His geographic prefixes predated thefamiliar U.S. state and Canadian provincial abbreviations used bypostal services and in many other applications.
Peterson's scheme was of special interest to the Library ofCongress, which had greatly expanded its Union Catalog by "Project B", an effortfinanced by a Rockefeller Foundation grant in 1926. By April 1932,at the conclusion of the Rockefeller project, a modest pamphletentitled Key to Symbols in Union Catalogs waspublished by the Library of Congress. That publication identifiedthe 367 libraries represented in the Union Catalog at that time and is consideredthe first edition of what would eventually become this MARC list. A slightly enlarged second edition appeared in January 1933. Amore substantial Key to Symbols used in the Union Catalog,containing 685 entries, was issued in August 1936 as the third edition of thelist.
As additional libraries began to send reports to the Union Catalog the Library of Congressassigned them unique identifiers composed of letters of thealphabet, usually including a geographic prefix. Eventually someof the codes assigned for the Union List of Serials began to conflict withthose needed for new contributions to the Union Catalog. For many years there wereattempts to harmonize LC codes with those of the Union List of Serials, or, conversely, toharmonize the ULS forms with those of LC. The situation wasexacerbated in 1937 with the appearance of Winifred Gregory's American Newspapers, 1821-1936, whichassigned codes from Peterson's scheme without securing concurrencewith the Union Catalog.
These problems were given a new dimension in October 1939 whenDouglas McMurtrie published Location Symbols for Libraries in the UnitedStates. His list was prepared "for the use of ... the staffof the American Imprints Inventory of the Historical Records SurveyProgram". It contained 12,000 identifiers representing everypublic, college, and university library in the United States. Unfortunately, most of these libraries did not report to the Union Catalog. Years later a regionalcooperative project, all in good faith, adopted the McMurtrie codesfor its own use without consulting the National Union Catalog, only to learn that LChad shortened the seven-letter McMurtrie codes to three letters inthe interim.
In 1941, McMurtrie published the Proposed List of Location Symbols for Libraries inAll Countries of the World Except the United States. Inthis list he divided the world by continents, countries, and cities(e.g., Eu-Fr-P for Paris, France; An-C-T for Toronto, Canada in"America, North"). Although this proposal did not survive themassive revision of boundaries and geographic names resulting fromthe Second World War, some of its Canadian codes were put into usebefore the creation of the national Canadian scheme. Some of thesecodes are still found in Canadian reference sources.
Symbols Used in the Union Catalog of the Library ofCongress appeared in 1942 as the fourth edition of the Key to Symbols. The title changed slightlywith the fifth edition, published in 1953. Its title, Symbols Used in the National Union Catalog of theLibrary of Congress, was kept through the ninth edition,published in 1965. The publication of the sixth edition in 1954coincided with the inauguration of New Serial Titles and the conversion ofCanadian codes from the McMurtrie format to a new system sponsoredand maintained by the National Library of Canada. To keep the sizeof the list within reasonable bounds, organizations were dropped inlater editions if they had not reported to the Union Catalog since the previous edition. One of the principal values of the list was negated by thiseditorial decision. The assignment of duplicate codes becamealmost inevitable unless each of the previous editions wasconsulted. Fortunately, most of the organizations that weredropped did not begin reporting again later. Some of the morecomplicated problems encountered in assigning codes arose becausethe absence of cumulative records of the codes that had beenassigned.
As the Library of Congress continued to issue new editions ofits code list it gradually became apparent that the National Union Catalog was the one nationwideproject that outlived the publication of individual bibliographiesor specific bibliographic projects. In the absence of any otherorganized effort on such a large scale, it fell upon the Library ofCongress to assign new codes to organizations even if they were tobe involved only in regional projects of some kind. For thisreason, beginning with the tenth edition published in 1969, thelist of institutional identifiers came to be known by the title, Symbols of American Libraries, a title itcarried for another quarter of a century. Beginning in the early1970's, it became common for cooperating institutions to secure aunique identifier before participating in any bibliographic projectthat required one. The responsibility for assigning codes toorganizations was held by various divisions within the Library ofCongress, including the Catalog Publication Division, itssuccessors, the Catalog Management and Publications Division, andEnhanced Cataloging Division. In 1994 the Network Development andMARC Standards Office (NDMSO) assumed the task of assigning newcodes, maintaining the list, and making it available. Since inrecent years the codes in the list are used most heavily in MARCrecords, it is here that the work of Frank Peterson, DouglasMcMurtrie, the compilers of the Union List of Serials, and many others founda new home.
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