NAME
MARC::Descriptions - MARC metadata looker-upper
SYNOPSIS
use MARC::Descriptions
my $TD = MARC::Descriptions->new;
# hash of all tag data
my $href = $TD->get("245");
# string description
my $s = $TD->get("245", "description");
# hash of all subfields
my $href = $TD->get("245", "subfield");
# hash of subfield 'a'
my $href = $TD->get("245", "subfield", "a");
# description of subfield 'a'
my $s = $TD->get("245", "subfield", "a", "description");DESCRIPTION
MARC::Description allows you to get either a string of information about a particular bit of a MARC record (eg: the description of the 245 tag, or the flags associated with tag 245 subfield \$a), or a hash of (hashes of) strings of information about a particular subset of a MARC record (eg: all of the 2nd indicators for tag 245, or all of the subfields for tag 245, or even a complete breakdown of tag 245).
CONSTRUCTOR
new()
Creates the MARC::Descriptions object. You only ever need one of these; all of the fun stuff is done in get().
METHODS
get( $tag [, $parm1 [, $parm2 [, $parm3]]] )
Returns information about the MARC structure.
tag is the MARC tag
eg: get("010")
With no other parameters, this returns a hash of all information
about that tag.
parm1 can be one of:
"description","shortname", or "flags" (eg: get("245","description")),
in which case a string is returned with that information,
or
"ind1","ind2","subfield" (eg: get("245","subfield")),
in which case parm2 will be the indicator/subfield that you're
interested in, and get() will return a hash of the information
about all possible indicators or subfields.
If both parm1 and parm2 are specified, then parm3 can also be specified
to have get() return a string containing information about that particular
indicator/subfield. (eg: get("245","subfield","a"))THE HASH
If you've asked get() to return a hash, it will look like this (or a subset of this) - the example is for get("010"):
{
flags => "",
shortname => "LCCN",
description => "Library of Congress Control Number",
ind1 => {
"#" => {
flags => "",
description => "Unused",
},
},
ind2 => {
"#" => {
flags => "",
description => "Blank",
},
},
subfield => {
"a" => {
flags => "",
description => "LC control number",
},
"b" => {
flags => "aR",
description => "National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections Control Number",
},
"z" => {
flags => "R",
description => "Canceled/invalid LC control number",
},
},
}SEE ALSO
perl4lib (http://www.rice.edu/perl4lib/)
A mailing list devoted to the use of Perl in libraries.
Library Of Congress MARC pages (http://www.loc.gov/marc/)
The definitive source for all things MARC.
Understanding MARC Bibliographic (http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/umb/)
Online version of the free booklet. An excellent overview of the MARC format. Essential.
Tag Of The Month (http://www.tagofthemonth.com/)
Follett Software Company's (http://www.fsc.follett.com/) monthly discussion of various MARC tags.
Cataloguer's Reference Shelf (http://www.carl.org/tlc/crs/CRS0000.htm)
The Library Corporation's (L:<http://www.carl.org/tlccarl/index.asp>) free online resource for cataloguers.
AUTHOR
David Christensen, <DChristensenSPAMLESS@westman.wave.ca>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 2003 by David Christensen
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.