Salvete! If you didn't like the tutorials, I don't think there's anything written at a more simple level out there.
Can anyone suggest a good simple guide to MARC? I'm looking to develop some simple guidelines along the lines of "Enter the author's name in the XXX field, surname first then a comma followed by the other names".
This is harder to understand than the tutorials, but it's a great guide for which fields to use, and I can always translate this into simpler language. http://www.slc.bc.ca/marc.htm You usually enter the author's name in the 100a field - this is not true of corporate authors or organisational authors, but generally, you aren't dealing with that. Nor do you put more than one author in this field together. Additional authors go in the 700a field, provided they aren't corporate authors or organisational authors, too. You add a new 700a field for each additional author. Title goes in the 245a field, usually.Religious texts are a little different, so do look up a Qu'ran entry and a Bible entry. You should even find a few Arabian Nights entries - that title is as different as they get. The 650a field is _terribly_ important. These are your subjects. The 500a and 505a are also very important, but you'll use those more as you become a better cataloguer. Don't feel completely lost at sea. I do think that most people copy catalogue, and that cataloguing in general is very similar to an elementary school classroom. There are 2 or 3 very smart kids at the front of the room like Steven B. that know what they're doing. Everyone behind him tries to catch a glimpse of what he's doing to copy off of him. Needless to say, the records at the back of the room aren't so great. I really think that the easiest way for you to learn to catalogue is to hit the Nelsonville Library's Catalogue (Or any other library that has a MARC view, but I'm picking on Nelsonville because it's a Koha library). Look up your favourite books. Click on the MARC view button and try to understand the MARC record. After looking at enough of these, they'll start to make sense. Eventually, your brain gets dented enough to be able to read a raw MARC record, but that's after a while. Feel free to ask me questions. Cheers, Brooke @ Hinsdale MA