MAchine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) Records
Figure 270920: OSTIMARC Records System Logo
OSTIMARC Records System
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) offers librarians and the library community the opportunity to download records of DOE scientific and technical information (STI) in Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) record format (see MARC FAQs). By using OSTI's MARC Records System, librarians can now easily expand access to a variety of DOE research and development (R&D) straight from their local catalogs. This is a free public service provided by OSTI. We appreciate receiving your thoughts, comments, and questions at MARCrecords@osti.gov.
MARC format has been the cataloging file format preferred by libraries since its development in the 1960s and has since evolved into MARC 21 format. MARC 21, which prevents duplication of work and allows for sharing of bibliographic resources across information systems using a common format, is developed and maintained by the Library of Congress. MARC 21 breaks down record metadata into a series of fields (0xx-9xx) and subfields (a-z) in a way that can be easily ingested into existing cataloging systems.
OSTI MARC Records are derived from existing OSTI records. The number of MARC records currently available can be found by visiting the OSTI MARC Records System.
Contents of OSTI.GOV MARC records:
OSTI.GOV provides free public access to full-text documents and bibliographic citations of DOE research literature. Full-text documents are primarily from 1991 forward, but approximately 25% of the records with full-text are from earlier years. OSTI.GOV includes STI documents that were produced by DOE, the DOE contractor community, and DOE grantees. STI documents from DOE predecessor agencies - the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) - are also included. Legacy documents are added as they become available in electronic format. MARC Records are available as soon as full-text documents are added to OSTI.GOV.
For more information on MARC records, see the Library of Congress MARC Standards and Understanding MARC information.