Add ISO 639-3 microlanguage names to Alma title search facets
In Alma titles search facets, display the microlanguage name instead of its code. PCC recently approved the implementation of the ISO 639-3 language codes for use in MARC 008/35-37 and also 546$b.
Example: where the language facet for a title search shows...
Language
Chinese (1)
wuu (1)
...the following would be more useful...
Language
Wu Chinese (1)
pmgreen
shared this idea
Hello all,
I want to share an update regarding this idea. It appears there is a second phase of this enhancement, which has been postponed to the next release in February 2026 to address performance issues. Our infrastructure team is currently handling it.
Erez
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Susan Bond
commented
This is a great idea! We're working at our institution to start incorporating these codes into our Primo VE display as well. If this goes forward, would it be possible to add a doe table to the labels are so these languages all show up without having to be manually added?
I'll follow up with our local PCC/language specialists to get an answer to that question, Lili. -
Thank you for this idea!
We are currently looking into the PCC guidelines for the use of ISO 639-3 language codes in MARC records.
However, from what we see the recommendation is to input them in field 041, and only use MARC language codes in 008:
"How to input
Bibliographic record
Always code the language(s) of the resource being cataloged by using MARC language codes (in the 008/35-
37, and if needed in an 041).
Optionally, also code the language(s) of the resource in an additional 041 field using ISO 639-3 codes."
Taken from: https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/scs/documents/ISO-639-3-guidelines.pdfOur plan is therefore to enhance the list of language codes supported in field 041 (in both search and controlled vocabulary).
If there is additional documentation updating the recommendations for the 008 control field, could you please point us to it?
Thanks!
Alma Product Team -
Anonymous
commented
This should be implemented ASAP. The number of records with ISO 639-3 language codes is growing rapidly now that it is PCC policy (over 200,000 records). PCC policies are followed by most of ExLibris's North American customers, even if they aren't officially PCC libraries. This is like a change to any other standard, like MARC coding. ExL needs to keep its software in synch with library standards, this shouldn't even need to be an "enhancement" request.
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Leigh Billings
commented
I support this. Adding additional language codes will allow more detailed faceting and display to understand all the possible languages and dialects appearing in the collection. My example includes:
041 17 |a chm |a mhr |a rus |2 iso639-3 : uses the iso639-3 language codes : https://iso639-3.sil.org/code_tables/639/data
* In this case, the "mhr" is simply not understood as "Eastern Mari" and thus displays as "mhr"
I'd also support other language codes being properly displayed as well, not just ISO-639.3:
041 17 |a mari1278 |a east2328 |a russ1263 |2 glotto : uses the “Glottolog” language codes: https://glottolog.org/glottolog
* the "East2328" is simply not understood as "Eastern Mari" and thus displays as "eas"
041 17 |a mah |a mme |a rus |2 walso : uses the Walso language encoding scheme: https://wals.info/languoid
* the "mme" is simply not understood as "Mari (Meadow)" and thus displays as "mme"