Home | Canadian Committee on Metadata Exchange

CANADIAN COMMITTEE on METADATA EXCHANGE
General Information

The Canadian Committee on Metadata Exchange (CCM) is the national advisory committee on MARC 21 formats and related national and international standards for the representation in machine-readable form of bibliographic information.



To act as an advisory committee to Library and Archives Canada by examining the MARC 21 communication formats and related national and international standards for the representation in machine-readable form of bibliographic information, and making recommendations on these formats.

To receive, evaluate and make recommendations on proposed national and international schemas for the representation in machine-readable form of bibliographic information and other related standards.

To maintain liaison with its constituent organizations and relevant outside agencies.



The committee consists of seven voting members and up to four co-opted members. Co-opted members have a voice but do not vote.

The voting membership is composed of two representatives from each of the following organizations: the Fédération des milieux documentaires, the Canadian Federation of Library Associations, and Library and Archives Canada. An additional voting member represents the Canadian Council of Archives' Canadian Committee on Archival Description.

Terms of office for voting members are determined by each organization for its own representatives.

The committee may co-opt one member employed by a company based in Canada that develops and sells library automation applications and/or systems, to provide the perspective of an implementer of MARC 21 communication formats and related standards.

The committee may co-opt up to three members from the Canadian library community to complement the range of expertise of existing voting members; to bring in representation from under-represented areas or specializations; and to increase membership when expecting an unusually large volume of work.

A candidate for co-opted membership is nominated by a voting member of CCM. To approve this nomination, the voting members must establish a consensus, or, where requested by a voting member, decide by majority vote under confidential ballot. If the number of candidates proposed in a given year exceeds the number of vacancies available, the Committee holds an election under confidential ballot.

A co-opted member serves a three-year renewable term beginning on June 1st. Renewal is subject to the same process as the initial appointment.



The Chairperson of the CCM is elected from among its voting members for a renewable term of two years.

The current Chairperson is Ms. Pat Riva.



The Secretariat is provided and fully funded by Library and Archives Canada.



A LAC member of the committee represents the CCM on the MARC Advisory Committee.



Meetings are held at the call of the Chairperson and normally occur twice annually. Meetings may be held either by teleconference or in person. In-person meetings are held in a location deemed to be the most convenient for the membership.



How to submit a Canadian proposal for a revision to the MARC 21 formats

The Library of Congress and Library and Archives Canada serve as the maintenance agency for the MARC 21 formats for bibliographic, authority, holdings, classification, and community information data for the MARC 21 user community. The Library of Congress maintains the MARC Forum, www.loc.gov/marc/marcginf.html an electronic discussion list for the formats.

Proposals for changes to the formats may originate from any MARC 21 user. Maintenance agency staff (Library of Congress and Library and Archives Canada) write, review, and edit proposals and discussion papers twice a year and distribute them electronically via the MARC Forum and the MARC website. http://www.loc.gov/marc/. Following meetings held at the semiannual MARC Advisory Committee meetings in the United States and the Canadian Committee on Metadata Exchange in Canada, the views expressed, along with those contributed via email and on the forum, are used by the maintenance agency to make final decisions on the proposals.

Current and past proposals and discussion papers can be found on the Library of Congress's MARC website. http://www.loc.gov/marc/development.html

All MARC 21 users are encouraged to voice any opinions and concerns about the MARC 21 formats via three different methods:


General revision proposals should be sent to one of the voting members of CCM, i.e., the representatives for the Canadian Federation of Library Associations, the Fédération des milieux documentaires, the Canadian Council of Archives' Canadian Committee on Archival Description, and Library and Archives Canada. That CCM member will then consult further within his or her constituency and decide whether or not to sponsor and/or endorse the proposal for broader discussion within CCM.

The names and addresses of CCM members are available in a separate section of this Web site.



The Secretariat of the Canadian Committee on Metadata Exchange may be contacted at the following address:

Secretariat
Canadian Committee on Metadata Exchange
Library and Archives Canada
550 de la Cité Boulevard
Gatineau QC
J8T 0A7
CANADA
Fax: 819-934-4388
Email: MARC21@bac-lac.gc.ca




MARC 21 en version française sur le site de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada