On the Communication of Machine processable Bibliographical Records Part 1: An Analysis of the Draft British Standard

In view of present discussion of the Draft British Standard Specification for the Communication of Bibliographic Information in Digital Form, this group of three papers is published by way of comment and criticism. It is important that fullest consideration be given to these proposals which, by ‘fixing’ an agreed MARC communications format, are likely to have immense impact upon future development and acceptance of automated library services locally, nationally, and internationally. These are essentially working papers, and have been prepared for publication in some haste. Comments on the proposals are welcomed and should be addressed either to myself, or to the authors.—Ed.