The UKMARC Manual

The British Library adopted MARC 21 as its cataloguing format in June 2004. Since that date, these pages have not been maintained. Information on our current practices can be found on our Bibliographic Standards pages.

The UKMARC Exchange Record Format

Welcome to the online version of the UKMARC Exchange Record Format. These pages describe the use of the UKMARC format for the exchange of bibliographic records between computer systems. They are designed specifically for use by Technical Services staff.

The UKMARC Exchange Record Format comprises the following sections:

	Introduction	An introduction to the UKMARC Exchange Record Format.
	UKMARC Record Label	Description of the Record Label.
	UKMARC Directory	Description of the Directory.
	UKMARC Fields	Description of the control and bibliographic data fields.
	Media Restrictions	Rules for formatting various media.
	FTP File Label Specification	Specification for the preferred method for the exchange of UKMARC records.
	British Library Exchange Character Set	Table of the full exchange character set used on British Library exchange files.
	British Library Extended Character Set	Table of the full British Library Extended Character Set.
	UKMARC Fields, Indicators, Subfields, Levels and Repeats	Tables of content designators defined for use in the UKMARC format, together with information on levels and repeats.
	Examples of UKMARC Exchange Records	Examples of Exchange Records including their component parts.
	Punctuation	Punctuation generated by UKMARC subfield codes.

For further information please contact:

The British Library
Bibliographic Development
Boston Spa, Wetherby
West Yorkshire
LS23 7BQ
United Kingdom

Tel: + 44 (0) 1937 546548
Fax: + 44 (0) 1937 546586
Email: bd-info@bl.uk