Additional Titles in CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Koeran) Scripts in Alma Community Zone Records
Background
Historically, in SFX and Alma Community Zone records, records in CJK languages were added with additional title fields:
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Chinese:
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Chinese Traditional
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Chinese Simplified
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Pinyin
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Japanese:
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Kana (Including Hirgana and Katakana)
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Korean:
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Hangul
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These fields were mandatory in the loading systems when the language of the title was set as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. While for SFX customers the additional titles were in designated fields, in Alma, they were added to the main title in field 245 with some separating characters:
Example:
A resource with the following titles:
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Simplified Chinese: 走出中国
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Traditional Chinese: 走出中國
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Pinyin: zou chu zhong guo
Appeared in the Alma MARC record as follows:
245 00$a 走出中国/#/走出中國 [zou chu zhong guo] (/#/ and [] were used as aeparators between the different scripts)
What Is Changing:
As of January 2025, the way additional titles appear in Alma will change. This change will apply to new titles created during the ingestion process and existing titles. The work to update existing titles will be gradual and will be executed during Q1 2025.
The additional titles will now appear as alternate graphic representations using 880 fields. For example:
Chinese:
245 00$a走出中国$6880-01
880 00$a走出中國$6245-01/Hant
880 00$azou chu zhong guo$6245-01/zh-Latn
Japanese:
245 00$aバイオフィリア リハビリテーション研究$6880-01
880 00$aバイオフィリアリハビリテーションケンキュウ$6245-01/Jpan
Titles Order
Since Chinese language records may have several additional titles in different scripts, titles will be added to 245 and 880 according to the following logic: The first of the following titles available will be added as the 245, and the rest will be added to the 880 in this order:
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Regular title
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Simplified Chinese
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Traditional Chinese
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Pinyin
The system will check if the titles are identical and will not create additional title fields if the titles are the same.
Script Identification Code
The 880 fields include the script identification code in the Linkage Subfield $6. In CJK, this code is usually "$1" and refers to all CJK scripts. However, to continue supporting the separate fields as they existed in SFX without complicating the ingestion process, in Alma the script identification code will be a 4-character ISO code for each script:
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Chinese Traditional – Hant
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Chinese Simplified – Hans
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Pinyin – zh-Latn
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Japanese Kana – Jpan
Korean
Hangul will not be represented using the 880 field but will instead be placed in an additional title field 246.
Note:
The above applies to records created in Alma during the ingestion process from provider title lists. When a record is enriched by a full MARC record provided by the provider or another cataloging source, or when the record is created using a full MARC record (e.g., in CONSER records), the MARC record will not include ISO codes in the script identification code but will typically have the "$1" code.
- Article last edited: 20-Jan-2025