Abstract

This study reviewed trends in revisions to MARC 21 following the 2023 revision of KORMARC, and analyzed the content from MARC 21 Discussion Papers proposed between 2022 and 2025 that had been incorporated into MARC 21 as of December 2025, in order to propose adoption strategies for KORMARC. The analysis revealed that revisions to MARC 21 from 2022 to 2025 are progressing in a direction that strengthens interoperability within a linked data environment through item-centric description, expansion of URI-based description, and relationship-centric description. Based on these findings, adoption strategies for fields, subfields, and indicators in the KORMARC formats for Bibliographic, Authority Control, and Holdings records were proposed in the following five categories. Clarification of transcription methods, title context, scope of materials, and description of applying institutions. Clarification of description for digital archive information, electronic resources, and various material types. Ensuring consistency of description elements between control fields and variable-length data fields. Expansion of identifier and URI-based description, along with LRM-based structured description of source information. Granular specification of relationships between entities such as persons, corporate bodies, and families.