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Authority record leader elements

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Find details about the elements of the authority record leader.

The authority record leader contains 24 bytes of data. The leader is followed by record directory entries. There are no field terminators between the leader and the record directory or record directory entries.  

In OCLC-MARC Records, any element, value, field, subfield, etc., marked obsolete is no longer valid. Current records will not contain these invalid codes. However, previously exported records may contain obsolete MARC coding.

Ind = Indicator  |  SFC = Subfield code  |  R = Repeatable  |  NR = Nonrepeatable  |  Blank = Blank

Bytes 00-23

 Note: Mnemonics that appear on workforms and record displays follow the leader lable.

Byte Value Definition
00-04  

Logical Record Length

  • 5-character number = the length of the entire record
  • Right-justified with leading zeros
  • Minimum length = 124
  • Maximum length = 16,000
05   Record Status (Rec stat)
c Corrected or revised
n New
06   Type of Record (Type)
z Authority data
07-09 Blank Undefined
10 2

Indicator Count

Number of character positions reserved for indicators
11 2

Subfield Code Count

  • Number of character positions reserved for a subfield code
  • Code = delimiter (‡) and a letter or a number
12-16  

Base Address of Data

  • 5-character number = the length of the leader and the directory including the field terminator
  • Right-justified with leading zeros
17   Encoding Level (Enc lvl)
n Complete authority record
o Incomplete authority record
18-19 Blank Undefined
20 4

Length of the Length-of-Field Portion

  • Number of characters in the length-of-field portion of a directory entry
21 5

Length of the Starting-Character-Position Portion

  • Number of characters in the starting-character-position portion of a directory entry
22  

Transaction Type Code

  • (OCLC defined; not used)
23 0 Undefined