Use Ethiopic script data for cataloging items in language that use the Ethiopic script (Amharic). Use Ethiopic script data the same way you use other non-Latin script data in the client.
See Work with international records and Guidelines for contributing non-Latin script bibliographic records to WorldCat for details specific to non- Latin scripts. See also general procedures describing how to:
Caution: MARC-8 character verification (Edit > MARC-8 Characters > Verify) is not appropriate for verifying Ethiopic characters. There is no MARC-8 character set for Ethiopic. Using this command for Ethiopic results in marking all Ethiopic characters as invalid. The OCLC system validates Ethiopic characters when you validate a record.
See Use non-Latin scripts for cataloging bibliographic records for more specific procedures for working with these tools.
Because Ethiopic script is not included in MARC-8 character sets, you must export and import records in Unicode format (settings are in Tools > Options > Export and in File > Import Records/Options button).
Unicode is the universal character encoding scheme for written characters and text. It defines a consistent way of encoding multi-script text that enables the exchange of text data internationally.
Unicode provides for three encoding forms: a 32-bit form (UTF-32), a 16-bit form (UTF-16), and an 8-bit form (UTF-8, designed for use with ASCII-based systems).
Connexion client began supporting Ethiopic script with Unicode version 6.2.0.
If your system default language is not Amharic, you can install Amharic, and Windows provides an input keyboard for entering Ethiopic script. See more about input methods for languages that use non-Latin scripts.
Ethiopic characters are defined in Unicode 6.2 (coded in the range U+1200 to U+1399, U+2D80 to U+2DDF, U+AB00 to U+AB2F).
The client adds the following data to field 066 ‡c in Ethiopic records to indicate the presence of Ethiopic characters:
See the ALA-LC Romanization Table for Amharic on the Library of Congress website.
See general procedures and search techniques for searching WorldCat.
Ethiopic punctuation (Section mark, Wordspace, Full stop, Comma, Semicolon, Colon, Preface colon, Question mark, and Paragraph separator) are ignored in indexing.
Ethiopic tonal marks (Yizet, Deret, Rikrik, Short rikrik, Difat, Kenat, Chiret, Hidet, Deret-hidet and Kurt) are ignored in indexing.
Because the Arial Unicode Microsoft font does not support the Ethiopic script, you may need to install the Abyssinica SIL font. You can download it here. In Windows, the Nyala font also supports the Ethiopic script.