IMPLEMENTATION OF A NATIONAL OR REGIONAL NETWORK OF BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION WILL REQUIRE A BASIC STANDARD FOR THE IDENTIFICATION AND REPRESENTATION OF THE ELEMENTS IN THE DATA BASE. THE PURPOSE OF THIS SPECIAL PROJECT, DONE FOR THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON MACHINE INPUT RECORDS, WAS TO PROVIDE THE SUBCOMMITTEE WITH BACKGROUND INFORMATION WHICH WOULD BE HELPFUL TO THEM IN DETERMINING WHICH DATA ELEMENTS SHOULD BE IDENTIFIED IN MACHINE READABLE RECORDS. ONLY BIBLIOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS WHICH APPEARED IN RECORDS FOR A WORK RATHER THEN IN THE WORK ITSELF WERE CONSIDERED, AND ONLY THE MAJOR FORMS OF MATERIALS--BOOKS, SERIALS, JOURNAL ARTICLES, TECHNICAL REPORTS, AND CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, WERE COVERED. THE RESULTING ENUMERATION AND DISCRIPTION OF THE ELEMENTS ARE GROUPED ACCORDING TO THE FORMAT OF A LIBRARY CATALOG CARD WITHOUT ANY INDICATION OF USE. SPECIAL PROBLEMS WHICH WOULD BE ENCOUNTERED IN THE IDENTIFICATION AND TAGGING OF THE ELEMENTS IN EACH OF THE MAJOR FORMS ARE DISCUSSED AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRESENT PRACTICE AND FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION IS CONSIDERED. THE REPORT ITSELF WAS ISSUED AS A WORKING TOOL FOR THE SUBCOMMITTEE AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A STANDARD NOR A RECOMMENDATION FOR A STANDARD. THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHIC LAB, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY, CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA 27514, $9.60 FOR A FULL SIZE ELECTROSTATIC COPY, $6.20 FOR A THREE-FOURTHS SIZE ELECTROSTATIC COPY, AND $1.50 FOR POSITIVE MICROFILM COPY. IT IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AD-666-447 FROM THE CLEARINGHOUSE FOR FEDERAL SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION, SPRINGFIELD, VIRGINIA 22151, $3.00 FOR HARD COPY, $0.65 FOR MICROFICHE, 121 PAGES. (CM)