Abstract
With the aim of improving international bibliographic interoperability, in 2004 Germany and Austria initiated a migration from the German data exchange format Maschinelles Austauschformat für Bibliotheken (MAB2) to the Anglo-American format MARC 21. The article outlines the main elements of the project ‘Moving to MARC 21’: a mapping of the data exchange formats MAB2 and MARC 21 to one another to ascertain gaps between the formats, the design of an editorial support system for the translation of MARC 21, and professional information sessions introducing the new format to the library community. Elements from MAB2 considered to be indispensable for exchange were either introduced to the format through Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information committee (MARBI) proposals or where they would not need Germany-wide application, defined in local fields. The project came to completion in June 2009 and has laid the foundation for international data exchange by assimilating processes and eliminating the need for intensive conversion work in Germany and Austria. An incidental but significant aspect of the project was the productive combined efforts of German and Austrian professionals and their Anglo-American partners in successfully overcoming differences in language and bibliographic transport and processing traditions through cooperative problem-solving.
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