MODS 3.4 released

June 2010

The MODS/MADS Editorial Committee and the Library of Congress are pleased to announce that a new incremental version of the MODS Schema, 3.4, is now available at <http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/mods.xsd> (and also available at <http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-4.xsd>). Version 3.4 is backwards compatible to 3.3 and therefore only introduces certain types of changes that do not result in invalidating existing MODS records. A new major revision of MODS to make more substantive changes is currently under discussion.

Some changes of particular note in MODS 3.4 are:

• Features to support RDA elements and descriptive practice, such as URIs for authority lists and specific controlled vocabulary terms, family names, more values for the <issuance> element, and explicit indication of the script used in a value.
• Ability to bind a specific name to a title to create a Uniform title.
• Ability to link translations and transliterations through a shared attribute.
• Expanded use of the usage, displayLabel, lang, xml:lang, script and transliteration attributes.
• Various changes to make the Schema itself easier to manage and of greater utility to other applications importing elements from the MODS namespace.
• The ability to mark selected elements as containing cataloger-supplied data.

A complete list of changes in MODS 3.4 may be found at <http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/mods-changes-3-4.html>. Revised versions of the MODS User Guidelines and the MARC to MODS mapping that incorporate the 3.4 changes will be available on the MODS web site soon.

Please direct any comments or questions on the MODS 3.4 Schema, or MODS/MADS developments in general, to the MODS Listserv <http://listserv.loc.gov/listarch/mods.html>.

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