Skip to end of metadata
Go to start of metadata

You are viewing an old version of this page. View the current version.

Compare with Current View Page History

« Previous Version 3 Next »

Document status

APPROVED   

Area coveredCataloging
Prepared byCataloging Task Force
Adapted fromOrbis Cascade Alliance Collaborative Technical Services Team

Background

Numeric Character References (or, NCRs) are common markup constructs used in markup languages like HTML and XML, where a sequence of characters will be rendered as a single character. NCRs are structured as ampersand ( & ), pound sign ( # ), lowercase letter x, four-position Unicode character code, and a trailing semicolon ( ; ). For example, च . This policy is about the use of NCRs in MARC cataloging records in OCLC (and hence Alma).

Policy Statement

Catalogers most often use NCRs in the context of non-Latin scripts. Catalogers may supply parallel non-Latin fields only for scripts supported by OCLC.


Non-Latin scripts supported by OCLC:

  • MARC-8 scripts (subsets of UTF-8 characters, so they are also compatible with UTF-8 Unicode): Arabic, CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean), Cyrillic (within the MARC-8 character set), Greek, or Hebrew scripts.

  • UTF-8 Unicode only scripts: Armenian, Bengali, Cyrillic (outside the MARC-8 character set), Devanagari, Ethiopic, Syriac, Tamil, or Thai scripts. These scripts are not included in MARC-8.

Notice that Cyrillic is the one script that straddles both categories. In general, modern Slavic languages using Cyrillic (like Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian) are within MARC-8, and Old Church Slavic and non-Slavic languages using Cyrillic (like Kazakh, Uzbek and Mongolian) use additional Unicode characters.


If any non-MARC-8 scripts are exported in MARC-8 data format, the non-MARC-8 characters are saved in Numeric Character Reference (NCR) format (see  Numeric Character Reference for more information). However, all settings for Alma should be UTF-8 Unicode.

NCRs should NOT be used to create non-Latin scripts for scripts not supported by OCLC. Examples include Georgian, Khmer, and anything else not listed above. Non-Latin fields using NCRs to render non-supported scripts should be deleted from OCLC master records when cataloging.

However, some scripts/characters that were not supported in the past are supported by OCLC now, so non-Latin fields using NCRs in those cases will need to be upgraded.

Old record using NCRs should be upgraded when used for cataloging (Mongolian example):

Upgraded record using newly supported characters (Kazakh example):


Connexion Client Help advises that non-Latin characters that are not supported by OCLC can be entered and exported to a local system using Unicode, but then deleted from the OCLC master record (NOTE: This violates CSU policy, don’t do it!); or you can enter the name of the character within square brackets using the Unicode standard name (for example, enter [schwa]), or for CJK characters, enter the reading of the character (for example, enter [yin]). NOTE: Client Help does not advise using NCRs. But OCLC noted: “However, for the stray unsupported character that appears in a supported script, then the NCR is appropriate. If the script is not supported, it should not be represented in the database, but rather be transliterated.”


Exceptions to this policy may be made in the case of large record sets provided by vendors, but CSU Libraries must make a commitment to using the available records that most closely adhere to this policy in such cases. See OCLC Connexion Client guide International Cataloging: Use Non-Latin Scripts  for more details. 

Action log


SectionPoint Person

Expected Completion Date

Last action takenNext action required

Articulate the need for the policy (background)

Cataloging Task Force

 

Discussed need to adopt policy to ensure appropriate use of NCR for non-Latin scripts


To de discussed with TS Working Group.


Finalize Policy Statement

Cataloging Task Force

 



  • No labels