Date:Fri, 8 Sep 2006 22:15:30 EDT
Reply-To:UNICODE-MARC Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
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From:James Agenbroad <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:Character Repertoire Expansion TIme?
Comments:To: [log in to unmask]Content-Type:multipart/alternative;
Friday, September 8, 2006
In New Orleans MARBI approved a proposal to provide for losless, i.e.
reversible, conversion from Unicode UTF-8 encoded MARC records to the MARC 21
character encoding when codes without a MARC 21 equivalent are encountered. MARBI
had previously appproved a conversion that was not not reversible. It would
seem that the time has now come to expand the character repertoire with UTF-8
encodings of the Unicode characters without MARC 21 equivalents.
It is clear to me that some creators of MARC software already allow such
characters within their local systems. For example, OCLC has to some extent
implemented Thai and Tamil scripts. Character repertoire expansion would promote
the exchange of records with such characters--this exchange of catalog records
is why we have MARC. It may be that livbe tested of the approved conversions
mentioned above cannot begin until the repertoire has been expanded.
It is unclear to me whether updating of the MARC character set documentation
by NDMSO would suffice to enact this expansion or would a MARBI proposal be
needed first? If the latter, this would seem a good time to begin its
preparation.
If I can be of assistance let me know.
Regards,
Jim Agenbroad ( [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
)
