Using MARC Relator terms

MARC Report 251 adds validation support for using terms from the MARC Codelist for Relators in the relator term subfields (for example, 700 $e). This validation support is disabled by default; to turn it on, go to the RDA page of the options and select the option named Also support MARC Relator terms.

This support is dictated by the second paragraph in the following passage of PCC Guideline 2:

  Sources for Relationship Designators
  
  It is recommended that PCC catalogers use relationship designators from 
  the  RDA appendices. If the term needed is not there, use the PCC 
  relationship designator proposal form to propose a new term or request 
  a revision of an existing term. 

  If a PCC cataloger wishes to use a term from a different registered 
  vocabulary (e.g., MARC relator terms, etc.), he/she may do so.

There are a few things to note on how this validation works in MARC Report.

1. RDA term validation, if enabled, always occurs first; if a relator term does not match a string in the current RDA set, and if MARC Relator term support is enabled (see above), MARC Report will then try to match the term against the MARC Relator terms.
2. Nearly half of the MARC Relator terms are identical to RDA relationship terms. To optimize validation, these MARC Relator terms are not stored in validation memory. If at some future time we begin to record the vocabulary from which a term is derived (in $2, for example), or support an option to add Uris for relator terms, then this optimization will need to be revised.
3. For records cataloged according to the RDA conventions (040 $e rda), only those MARC relator terms that are aligned as a “close match” with corresponding RDA terms appropriate for “creators” will be considered valid in a 1XX field. The alignment that we used to determine this is available on the RDA Registry website: http://www.rdaregistry.info/Aligns/alignRDA2MRC.html
4. At present (version 251), MARC Report supports only the validation of MARC Relator terms–these terms do not yet appear in the dropdown lists that the user may display while editing a subfield $e (by pressing <F7>).
5. At present (version 251), there is no support for editing or customizing the MARC Relator terms (as there is for the RDA relationships). ¹⁾