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What follows is a summary of the proposals and discussion papers
to be considered at the mid-winter meetings of MARBI that are of
particular interest to the cartographic community.  If you have any
questions or comments, PLEASE share them with me or the list.
 
The complete versions of these documents are available at:
http://www.loc.gov/marc/
 
These are given in agenda order.
 
Proposal 96-8 concerns a number of changes suggested to facilitate
the alignment of Canadian MARC and USMARC.  One component
of the proposal suggests additional codes for various segments of the
Maps 007 field. For Map 007/04 (Physical Medium) add codes:
   j - Glass
  q - Flexible base photographic medium, positive
   r - Flexible base photographic medium, negative
   s - Non-flexible base photographic medium, positive
   t - Non-flexible base photographic medium, negative
   y - Other photographic medium
Also suggested are additions to the description of code e in Map 007/04
the term "Mylar", so that it would read (e.g. plastic, vinyl, Mylar)
For Map 007/06 (Production/reproduction details) add the code:
   p - Pre-production (e.g. proof sheets)
For Map 008/25 (Type of cartographic material), add codes:
   f - Separate supplement to another work
   g - Bound as part of another work
   u - unknown
   z - other
 
Proposal 97-6 proposes a new 007 field for remote-sensing images
in the Bibliographic and Holdings formats.  The new field will
enable the cartographic cataloging community to code certain
physical characteristics for remote-sensing images.  These
characteristics are coded for in an 009 field in CAN/MARC and,
as part of format harmonization, the National Archives of Canada
would like to move the coding into a non-local field.  The categories
of information proposed for this field are Category of material,
Specific material designation, Altitude of sensor, Attitude of sensor,
Cloud cover, Platform construction type, Platform use category, Sensor
type, and Data type.
 
Discussion Paper 98 explores establishing geographic area codes for
subentities for countries other than the United States, Canada, Australia,
and the United Kingdom.  The ISO standard for representation of names
countries and their subdivisions does not have an internal consistency and
may not be easily used.  Questions for further consideration are whether or
not a new subfield for subentities should be established for fields 043 and
044, should the ISO standard be considered in creating a list of codes, and
what impact would these new codes have on validation?
 
Proposal 97-1 suggests defining a second indicator for field 856 that would
indicate the relationship between the entity having its location described in
the 856 field and the entity described in the bibliographic record.
 
Proposal 97-7 explores the use of codes p and t in the Leader/06.  Code t is
currently used to indicate the material being described in the record is
manuscript language material.  It is proposed that code t be made obsolete,
partially because the term is ambiguous and misleading.  Cartographic
materials enter into the discussion in that the proposal recommends
reconsideration of code f (Manuscript cartographic material) "with a view
toward declaring [it] obsolete as well."
 
These are the issues that seem to be of chief interest to the cartographic
community.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to
share them with me or the list.
 
Susan Moore
Rod Library
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA
Map and Geography Round Table liaison to MARBI