MARCIVE: A Cooperative Automated Library System Virginia M. BOWDEN: Systems Analyst, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Ruby B. MILLER: Head Cataloger, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas. 183 The MARCIVE Library System is a batch computer system utilizing both the MARC tapes and local cataloging to provide catalog cal'ds, book cata- logs, and selective bibliographies for five academic libra1·ies in San An- tonio, Texas. The development of the system is traced and present proce- dures are described. Batch retrieval from the MARC 1·ecords plus the modification of these records costs less than twenty cents per title. Computer costs fo1' retrieval, modification, and card production average six-ty-six cents per title, between seven and ten cents per card. The attributes and limitations of the MARCIVE system are compm·ed with those of the OCLC system. In San Antonio, Texas, a unique cooperative effort in library automa- tion has developed, involving the libraries of five diverse institutions: Trinity University, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA), San Antonio College (SAC), The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), and St. Mary's University. These institu- tions are utilizing the MARCIVE Library System which was developed by and for one library, that of Trinity University. The MARCIVE system is a batch, disc oriented computer system utilizing both local cataloging and the MARC tapes to produce catalog cards, book catalogs, selective bibliog- raphies, and other products. DEVELOPMENT The Trinity University Library has been involved in library automation since 1966.1 When the library reclassified its collection from Dewey to the Library of Congress classification in1966, a simplified machine-readable for- mat was developed and used for storage on computer. This format con- tained the following bibliographic elements: accession number, call num- ber, author, title, and imprint date. In 1969 the library decided to refor- mat the computer data base into a MARC II compatible format in order 184 ] ournal of Library Automation Vol. 7 I 3 September 197 4 to build a data base of bibliographic records that could be the basis for all future automated systems within the library. The resulting system, MARCIVE, was designed jointly by the head cataloger, Ruby B. Miller, and the library programmer, Paul Jackson, a graduate student in Trinity's Department of Computer Science. Since in 1969 literature on completed library automation projects was sparse, no other system was used as a guide. The MARCIVE format was based on the designers' interpretation of the 1969 edition of the MARC manual. The name, MARCIVE, evolved when the programmer facetiously claimed that his format was so advanced he would call it the MARC IV format. The computer room operating staff, ignoring the space between the MARC and IV, combined the two, producing MARCIV. An E was added later for ease of pronunciation. The MARCIVE system was designed initially as a system for data stor- age and retrieval. The UPDATE, SELECT, and ACQUISITIONS LIST programs were operative in September 1970. The next month UTHSCSA inquired as to the possibility of producing catalog cards as part of the MARCIVE system. Within the brief span of three months, by January 1971, Trinity University Library produced 4,289 catalog cards and UTHSCSA produced 1,719 catalog cards via MARCIVE. In February 1974, the five participating libraries produced a total of 29,000 catalog cards, with Trinity accounting for 10,740 cards. Continued development of the MARCIVE system was delayed in 1971 by changes in Computer Center personnel and equipment. In 1972 new programs were developed to incorporate the MARC tapes into the MARCIVE system. The size of the MARC data base, which is now held on three discs, was a major problem. Modifications were included to accept in- put from magnetic tape and typewriter terminals using the APL language as well as keypunched cards. The original restriction of the system to classi- fications with one to three alphabetic letters followed by numbers, such as used by LC and NLM, was modified to accept Dewey Decimal Classifica- tion to accommodate San Antonio College. This restriction had been in- corporated in an attempt to insure that the call number would be properly formatted, thus simplifying retrieval in the SELECT program and group- ing in the ACQUISITIONS LIST and UPDATE programs. COMPUTER CONFIGURATION The MARCIVE system is a disc oriented system which was programmed for an IBM 360/44 using the MFT operating system. This computer model was designed for scientific programming and was manufactured in limited quantities. The programs were written in basic assembly language since adequate higher level language compilers for the 360 I 44 were not available at the Trinity Computer Center. In 1971 the programs were con- verted to run under DOS, and in 1972 they were converted for processing on the IBM 370/155 using the OS processing system. Since the initial pro- MARCNE/BOWDEN and MILLER 185 grams were written in basic assembly language, the subsequent programs have also been written this way. MARCIVE FORMAT The MARCIVE format is an adaptation of the MARC II format. The definition of the MARC II format is a", .. format which is intended for the interchange of bibliographic records on magnetic tape. It has not been designed as a record format for retention within the files of any specific organization ... [it is] a generalized structure which can be used to trans- mit between systems records describing all forms of material capable of bibliographic descriptions . . . the methods of recording and identifying data should provide for maximum manipulability leading to ease of con- version to other formats for various uses."2 Adaptation of the MARC II format is common among users. An analysis by the RECON Task Force found much variation among the use of the fixed fields, tags, indicators, and subfields. 3 The OCLC system can regenerate MARC II records from OCLC records although they contain only 78 percent of the number of characters in the original MARC II record. 4 The developers of the MARCIVE system studied the MARC manual and decided that the leader and directmy were not necessary for program manipulation. Such information can be generated by a conversion pro- gram. The MARC mnemonic codes were chosen instead of the numeric ones because all bibliographic data were being coded locally and it was felt that mnemonics would be easier to work with. The mnemonic codes are the ones designated in the MARC manuals except that "SI" was substituted for "SE." Rules for assigning indicators, subfields, and delimiters are those described by MARC. The basic structure of the MARCIVE format is illustrated in Figure 1. The differences between MARCIVE and MARC are as follows: 1. MARCIVE's leader consists of three fields: length of disc space, status code, and length of record. In converting MARC the following elements of the MARC leader are incorporated in the MARCIVE leader fields: length of disc space, status code, and length of record. 2. MARCIVE does not contain the MARC record directory, but rather places the tags and subfield codes in front of the actual data. 3. In the conversion from MARC II to MARCIVE, fixed fields such as date of publication are omitted. 4. All data elements in MARCIVE are treated as variable tags even though they contain fixed field data. 5. MARCIVE uses the mnemonic code names for the input of data rather than the numeric MARC codes. For example "MEP" is used for coding a person as main entry rather than "llO." The mnemonic tag names are stored in the machine format and not the numeric MARC tags. ,, ·' 186 J oumal of Libra1'y Automation Vol. 7 I 3 September 197 4 '""d ~ .... ~ 0 i5 CJ " "' .OJ "' "' .OJ § ~ s s " '""' p:; Ql "' Ql ~ CJ "' FIN FIN-Data Data Elements ..sl 0"' ~ z z <:<:: "' 0 <:<:: <:<:: 1"'1 fJP< ~ Tag .g Elements bil .g bil ~ b!l"' fl "' "' .s "' bil C/) E-< C/) E-< "' "' " "' p >-1 "' >-1 Length of disc space. This identifies the number of seventy-two byte blocks a record uses. The MARCIVE records average 350 characters or three to six blocks. Blank. This field is used by the UPDATE program. Length of record. Identifies the actual number of characters a record .contains. FIN tag. This is the MARCIVE control tag and must precede each record. It contains four subfields: accession number, type of material, location of material, and call number. Tag name. After the FIN tag, any of the MARCIVE tags may be input as long as they conform to the proper sequence (i.e., main entry must pi·ecede title). Each tag is followed by its subfield codes and the data elements. Fig. 1. MARCIVE Fo1•mat St1'uctu1'e. 6. All first indicators are input except for the first indicator in the con- tents note. 7. Most of the second indicators are not input, except for the filing in- dicators which are included in the MARCIVE format. 8. MARCIVE adds one variable tag to the MARC format called "FIN." It serves the function of the MARC 090 local holdings tag. The FIN tag must be the first variable tag in each MARCIVE record and must contain four data elements: ( 1) accession number; ( 2) type of ma- terial code (monograph, serial, etc.); ( 3) location of material within library (reference, reserve, etc.); ( 4) local call number. Even though MARCIVE is not a pure MARC format, there has been an attempt to code most of the data elements into MARCIVE. A MARCIVE to MARC conversion is being written by one of the MARCIVE libraries in order to merge its MARCIVE data base with a purchased MARC data base. MARCIVE MASTER DATA BASES Each of the M ARCIVE users maintains a separate data base of its hold- ings, which is called its MARCIVE master. This master file contains a com- plete bibliographic record for each title cataloged by the library, including MARC cataloging and local cataloging. When a library modifies a MARC record, the modified record is recorded in that library's MARCIVE master. The various libraries' MARCIVE masters have not been merged, although this is being considered. Each library has prefaced all of its accession num- bers with a unique library code just in case a merged data base is desired. MARC-CON DATA BASE The largest data base in the system is the MARC-Converted data base, MARCIVE/BOWDEN and MILLER 187 hereafter referred to as MARC-CON. This data base contains only pure MARC data that have been converted into MARCIVE machine format. No original cataloging or local modifications of MARC are contained in the MARC-CON data base. MARCIVE PROGRAMS CONVERT-This program reformats the weekly MARC tapes into the MARCIVE machine format. MARC-UPDATE-This program merges the weekly converted MARC tape with the MARC-CON disc file. An index sequential ( ISAM) file con- taining LC card number, fifty characters of the title, and the disc address of the MARC reoord is generated. The ISAM file is in LC card number or- der. In 1974 the MARC-CON data base filled three 3330 disc packs. There are three tape back-up files: one file consisting of original MARC records, one of the MARC-CON records, and a third with the ISAM file. Deleted records and replaced records are annually purged from the MARC-CON files. A new set of back-up tapes for the disc packs is created every three months in order to facilitate regeneration of the disc packs should damage occur. MARC-LIST-This program lists MARC records in title sequence from the tape. Once every six to eight weeks the list is cumulated and printed. These lists are used for searching until the annual cumulation of the NUC is received. This provides current listings of records on the MARC tapes that are not easily available in the National Union Catalog. This list- ing will be eliminated in 1974, when access by title to the MARC-CON data base is available. MARC-SEARCH-This program searches for LC numbers on the MARC-CON file using the ISAM file. A file of the matched records is pro- duced on tape or disc as specified along with a listing of these records. This listing contains the MARC-CON complete bibliographic entry (Figure 2). Although access is currently only by LC card number, access by title algo- rithm ( 3, 1, 1) is expected in 197 4. REPLACE-The purpose of this program is to modify MARC-CON records to fit the needs of the individual library. These modifications can be done automatically to all records or on a single record basis by the li- brary. The automatic changes are specified on a control card and include twenty-two options such as assignment of accession number, usage of Dew- ey class number instead of LC, and changing "U.S." in subject headings to "United States." An example of a single modification would be the chang- ing of a series entry from t~·aced to untraced. Most MARCIVE partici- pants use a combination of automatic and single changes. The output from the REPLACE program may be input to all other MARCIVE pro- grams, such as EDIT, CATALOG CARD, UPDATE, etc. EDIT-This program verifies the format of the input. Valid tags and subfields as well as correct sequence of tags are checked. Multiple spaces 188 Journal of Library Automation Vol. 7/3 September 1974 LIBRARY CODE T0000100FIN AB~PA3877.A1~D5~ T0000102LCN A~?0-022854 ~ T0000104LANO A~eng~ T0000106LANT A~enggrc~ T0000108DDC A~882j.01~ T0000110MEPF A~Aristophanes.~ T0000112TILN AC~Plays;~newly translated into English VBrsB by Patrie Dickinson.~ T0000114IHP AABC~London,~New York,~oxford University Pr~ss,~1970-~ T0000116COL AC~v. ~21 em.~ T000011HPRI AbLB.0.75 (v. 1)~{$2.95 U.s.)~ T0000120SIRU A~oxford paperbacks, 216-~ T0000122NOC A~1. Acbarnians. Knights. Clouds. Wasps. Peace,1 T0000124AEPS ADE~Dickinson, Patrie,11914-1tr.~ T0000200FIN AB1ND1097.W4~M613~ T0000202LCN A173-4J7272 ~ T0000204LANO A~enq1 T0000206LANT A~engita~ T0000210MEPS A~Monti, Franco.~ T0000212TIL AC~African masks;~[translated from th~ Italian by Andrew Hale].1 T0000214IMP AABC~London,~New York,1Hamlyn,~1969.~ T0000216COL ADC~J-157 p.169 col. illus.~20 em.~ T0000218PRI A,15/-~ T0000220SIRU a~cameo~ T0000222NOG A,Translation of Le maschere africane.~ T0000224SUT Az,Masks, African,- Africa, West., Fig. 2. SEARCH listing of MARC-CON data. are compressed to one, implied subfields are added, and a limited number of punctuation marks are generated. Actual bibliographic data are not checked so spelling errors are not detected by the program. Those titles which do not conform to specifications are rejected and an explanatory message is generated. A library may choose one of three forms of listings of output: (1) Full-Edit, (2) Mini-Edit, or (3) Error-Edit. The Full-Edit MARCIVE!BOWDEN and MILLER 189 950564 FIN,CB6950564,M,RP, QS,4,jK49T,1961;, 950564 MEPS A, KIMBER, !DIANA jCLIFFORD, 950564 TIL AC,jANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY, (BY> JDIANA !CLIFFORD jKIMBER 950564