Editing MARC standards (section)

===Field designations===

Each '''field''' in a MARC record provides particular information about the item the record is describing, such as the author, title, publisher, date, language, media type, etc.  Since it was first developed at a time when computing power was low, and space precious, MARC uses a simple three-digit numeric code (from 001-999) to identify each field in the record.  MARC defines field 100 as the primary author of a work, field 245 as the title and field 260 as the publisher, for example.

Fields above 008 are further divided into '''subfields''' using a single letter or number designation.  The 260, for example, is further divided into subfield "a" for the place of publication, "b" for the name of the publisher, and "c" for the date of publication.