MARC Record

Here is an example of a MARC Record:

The Fixed Fields. This is actually one big field with mnemonic labels containing coded information about the item and the record itself. It's called a "fixed" field because the length of the information you can input into the field is unvariable (or fixed)

The remaining fields are called Variable fields because they can vary in number and length (is this starting to make sense?) Variable fields have three parts:

A TAG which consists of 3 digits. Tags are grouped numerically by function:

Tag group	Function
0xx	Bibliographic control numbers and coded information
1xx	Main entries
2xx	Titles and title paragraph (title,edition,imprint)
3xx	Physical description,etc.
4xx	Series statements
5xx	Notes
6xx	Subject access entries
7xx	Added entries other than subject or series; linking fields
8xx	Series added entries and holdings
9xx	Local use fields

One or two single-digit INDICATORS which supply information about the field for indexing, card production, or other system functions. As you will learn, the position of the indicator is important, and a blank indicator has meaning. (Deep, huh?)
and one (or more) SUBFIELDS which are "the smallest logical unit of information in a variable field." Subfields are preceded by a special symbol (in OCLC it looks like this: ‡ in NOTIS, like this: |)

So, in line number 7:

100 1 Vasilenko, Sergefi Nikiforovich, ‡d 1872-1956.

the tag number is 100 (Main Entry--Personal Name) the first indicator is 1 (Single surname), the second indicator is blank. There are two subfields in this field: ‡a (Personal name) and ‡d (Dates associated with a name).

In OCLC the a subfield is assumed, and not written out. It is written out in NOTIS (|a)