Posts Tagged ‘Bibliographic Records’

Brief History of Series Authority Work

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Our Authority Librarian, Karen, provided me with this extremely useful and detailed history of the way series entries are handled in both bibliographic records and authority records.

Series description has changed and evolved over time along with other descriptive cataloging practices.  Most changes have been realized in LC policies and standards as more libraries chose to follow LC practices.

Prior to Sept 1, 1989, the Library of Congress policy was to trace only some series.  They would create series authority records (SARs) for all series cataloged and record the tracing decisions on the SARs.

In the 1960’s LC developed the MARC format for the computerized storage and exchange of bibliographic information.  As series policies have changed, the MARC format fields dealing with series have also changed.

Up to 1978 when AACR2 was published (see below), MARC had the following fields defined for the input of series information:  (All definitions are from Its Marc http://itsmarc.com/crs/Bib1468.htm)

400 –   This field contains an author/title series statement in which the author portion is a personal name or a possessive pronoun that refers back to the name in the 100 main entry field in the record. Field 400 is both a series statement and a series added entry. When a 400 field is present, a corresponding 800 field is not used, since it would duplicate the 400 field

410 –   This field contains an author/title series statement in which the author portion is a corporate name or a pronoun representing it that refers back to a 110 field . Field 410 is both a series statement and a series added entry. When a 410 field is present, a corresponding 810 field is not used, since it would duplicate the 410 field.

411 –    This field contained an author/title series statement in which the author portion is a conference/meeting name or a pronoun representing it that refers back to a 111 field . Field 411 is both a series statement and a series added entry. When a 411 field is present, a corresponding 811 field is not used, since it would duplicate the 411 field.

The descriptions of the indicator values, subfields and input conventions associated with the 400, 410, 411 fields corresponded to those for the 100, 110, and 111 fields respectively, with the addition of subfields specifically for series:

$x – ISSN #

$v – Volume designation

440 –   This field contains a series statement consisting of a series title alone.  Used when the series statement and the controlled added entry form of the series title are the same. Field 440 is both a series statement and a series added entry.

490 –   This field contains a series statement for which no series added entry is to be made, or for which the series added entry is in a controlled form different from that which appears in the series statement. Field 490 does not serve as a series added entry. When field 490 is used and a series added entry is desired, both the series statement (field 490) and a corresponding series added entry (800-830 fields) are separately recorded in the bibliographic record.

800 –   This field contains an author/title series added entry in which the author portion is a personal name. It is used when the added entry form of a series is different from that in the corresponding series statement. An 800 field is usually justified by a series statement (field 490 ) or a general note (field 500 ) relating to the series.

810 –   This field contains an author/title series added entry in which the author portion is a corporate name. It is used when the added entry form of a series is different from that in the corresponding series statement. An 810 field is usually justified by a series statement (field 490 ) or a general note (field 500 ) relating to the series.

811 –   This field contains an author/title series added entry in which the author portion is a meeting or conference name. It is used when the added entry form of a series is different from that in the corresponding series statement. An 811 field is usually justified by a series statement (field 490 ) or a general note (field 500 ) relating to the series.

830 –   This field contains a title series added entry in which the entry of the series is a conventional title.  It is used when the added entry form of a series title is different from that in the corresponding series statement.

840 –   This field contains a title series added entry in which the entry of the series is under uniform title . It is used when the added entry form of a series title is different from that in the corresponding series statement.

All of the 8XX fields are justified by a series statement (field 490) or a general note (field 500 ) relating to the series.  No 8XX series added entry field was used in conjunction with a series statement in the 400-440 fields because each of these fields functions both as part of the bibliographic description and as a series added entry.  The indicator and subfield definitions for 8xx fields are the same as the corresponding 1xx fields, except for the addition of the $x (ISSN) and $v (numbering designation) subfields

In 1978 the second edition of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules was published. Changes in the rules with the largest impact on series were the rules to formulate entries for personal, corporate, and meeting names, which made a separate distinction between the descriptive transcription and the form of entry.  So the new rules did not really provide for name/title series statements as part of the transcription.  Under these rules, the authorized form of the series (established in the authority file in Series Authority Record) did not always match the form found on the item.  So if the series were traced, it would need to be traced differently.

Library of Congress implemented AACR2 in January of 1981.  Eventually the MARC tags changed to accommodate the new cataloging rules.

The 440 and 490 fields were revised and used for the transcription of the series statement from the item.   Fields 400, 410, and 411 were no longer to be used for the transcription of the series from any type of material.

440 –   This field contains a series title statement when the series statement and the controlled added entry form of the series title are the same. Field 440 is both a series statement and a series added entry (title is traced). When a 440 field is present, a corresponding 830 field is not used since it would duplicate the 440 field.

490 –   This field contains a series statement for which no series added entry is to be made, or for which the series added entry is in a controlled form different from that which appears in the series statement. Field 490 does not serve as a series added entry. When field 490 is used and a series added entry is desired, both the series statement (field 490) and a corresponding series added entry (800-830 fields ) are separately recorded in the bibliographic record.

The 8XX fields were also revised to better accommodate the new rules.  The 800, 810, and 811 fields contain a name/title added entry used as a series added entry in which the entry of the series in under personal name, corporate name, or meeting name respectively, when the series statement is contained in field 490 (Series Statement) or field 500 (General Note) and a series added entry is required for the bibliographic record.  No 8XX series added entry field is used in conjunction with a series statement in the 400-440 fields because each field functions both as part of the bibliographic description and as a series added entry.  The indicator and subfield definitions for 8xx fields are the same as the corresponding 1xx fields, except for the addition of the $x (ISSN) and $v (numbering designation) subfields:

In 1988 fields 400, 410 and 411 were officially made obsolete in the CAN/MARC format.  They can still be used as local fields.  This left only the 440 and 490 as transcription fields.  Their definitions as well as the 8xx’s remained much the same.  Instructions are given to convert to 4xx/8xx as follows

MARC 21 conversion to current fields:

If indicator 2 is 0 in the 400, 410 or 411:

  • 4XX indicator 1 and all subfields except subfield $x convert to 8XX with same indicator 1 value and same subfields,
  • 4XX $t, $v, $x are also copied to 490 $a, $v, $x, respectively
  • 490 indicator 1 is set to 1.

If indicator 2 is 1 in the 400, 410 or 411:

  • 4XX indicator 1 and all subfields except subfields $a and $x convert to 8XX with same indicator 1 value and same subfields,
  • and all 1XX subfields are copied into the same 8XX, preceeding the subfields from the 4XX field,
  • and 4XX $t, $v, $x are also copied to 490 $a, $v, $x, respectively; 490 indicator 1 is set to 1.

On Sept. 1, 1989, Library of Congress implemented a policy to trace all series.  New series authority records showed the decision to trace.  When they needed to update a series, they would not go back and re-catalog the previous items.  The change in tracing decision would be recorded on the SAR using multiple 645 fields.

On June 1, 2006, the Library of Congress implemented its decision not to create/update series authority records and not to provide controlled series access points in its bibliographic records for resources in series.  This meant that in newly created bibliographic records for LC original cataloging (040 $a is solely “DLC”), the series statement will be given in a 490 0# field and LC will stop using 8xx fields.  This decision from LC was not well received by the cataloging community and even sparked a protest from LC catalogers

The Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) will not follow this policy.  Members will continue to provide controlled series access on records and create and maintain series authority records through their BIBCO, NACO, and CONSER programs.  More details can be found under the PCC programs NACO, BIBCO, and CONSER, and in the PCC Series Statement http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/seriesPCC.html.

LC will continue to support the PCC by deleting duplicate series records reported, answering questions if no research is needed, and coordinating and conducting series training.  In newly created CIP-partnered cataloging, in PCC member copy used for cataloging, and in non-PCC copy cataloging, existing series statements/access points will be accepted as is and “passed through.”  This will help prevent LC-issued records without series access points from overlaying records that have them in OCLC.

On June 6, 2008, MARBI (Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information) the interdivisional committee of the American Library Association that deals with MARC standards, approved the proposal to make field 440 (Series Statement/Added Entry-Title) obsolete in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format.  This was done after much debate in the library community.  This decision leaves the 490 as the only field to record the transcription of the series statement from the item. The intention of the change is to resolve the long-standing problem of field 440 being both a descriptive field and a controlled access point.  The assumption is that separating the two functions will result in a more reliable description and easier maintenance through automated authority control over time.

This led to another change approved by MARBI:

In the 490 tag, the first indicator value ‘1’ has been redefined to:

1 – Series traced in 8XX field

When value “1” is used, the appropriate field 800-830 is included in the bibliographic record to provide the series added entry using the authorized form even if that form matches the transcribed form in the 490 field.  It was felt that since there are now few space limitations in online systems, the duplication of the data in 490 and 8xx should not be a problem.  An 8XX field can still be justified by a both a series statement in the 490 field or a general note in a 500 note field.

At this same time a second MARC proposal was made and approved.  This proposal made two changes:

Added $x subfield (ISSN) to 8XX fields.

Added $3 (Materials specified) added to field 490 and 8xx fields

The Library of Congress approved these proposals on October 2, 2008.  They will continue to accept the 440 field in records, and will not be retrospectively changing any records to conform to these changes.

The library community has been somewhat divided on whether to implement these changes, some have, and some have not, or are still deciding.  Libraries always have the option to formulate policies to fit their own circumstances.

This is where series description stands as of July 2009.

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References:

Website “Its MARC” The Library Corporation:  http://itsmarc.com/crs/Bib1468.htm

MARC21 Format for Bibliographic Data 1999 ed.  Library of Congress Network Development and Marc Standards Office:   http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/ecbdhome.html

MARC21 Format for Authority Data 1999 ed.  Library of Congress Network Development and Marc Standards Office:   http://www.loc.gov/marc/authority/ecadhome.html

Article “Series at the Library of Congress: June 1, 2006” on the Library of Congress website: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/series.html

What is Marcadia?

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Patricia Stelter, our Vice President of Bibliographic Services put together a really informative primer on what Marcadia is, and how it helps libraries. I thought I’d share what she had to say here.

Trying to get your materials cataloged with less staff? I’ve been in your shoes and I know the solution! Marcadia is exactly what you need in these lean times.

We partner with OCLC to provide Marcadia and it is one of the unique divisions that make up Automation Services here at Backstage Library Works. One of the many advantages of Marcadia is that you don’t need an OCLC membership to get select WorldCat records. Also, it doesn’t matter what type of library you work in –if you complete acquisitions and cataloging –we can help you!

Marcadia is an extraordinary automated cataloging service that matches brief records to WorldCat MARC records according to your specifications. Even if you have newly published materials we can take as little as one or two fields of information and return premium WorldCat records to you for a very affordable $1.75 per result.

I’ve been a Library Director and I know firsthand that patrons can sometimes be demanding and how I struggled to get items cataloged and available to them. If I had known about Backstage Library Works it would have made my life much easier and I would have been able to concentrate more on grant writing, starting my Friends of the Library group and providing needed outreach to my community!

In retrospect, these are experiences that I look back on, but for you that are struggling with today’s budget shortfalls and cutbacks Marcadia can even be more beneficial. You’ve lost cataloging staff? We can do the work for you and make your life easier!

We all know that catalogers have varying opinions on what constitutes a perfect record. With Marcadia you get the perfect record every time. You tell us exactly what you want, including your preferences for certain cataloging levels or records from regarded universities, and we deliver with great efficiency the same records that trained cataloging staff would choose.

Discover how Marcadia can make your life a little more idyllic. Define your perfect record and schedule your free test run today.

Patricia Stelter

VP Bibliographic Services

Backstage Library Works

We Need Your Input!

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Judy, one of the project managers would like opinions from multiple librarians on a question we are facing right now. Here’s what she had to say.

Hello Everyone, we are looking for feedback from our community:

MARC Proposal No. 2008-06 requested that $x ISSN’s be allowed in 8XX fields (http://www.loc.gov/marc/marbi/2008/2008-06.html) and the proposal was approved by Library of Congress on October 2, 2008.  Just recently OCLC has decided to begin allowing $x too (see their July 2009 Technical Bulletin 257 found at:  http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/tb/257/default.htm.

With LC’s switch from 440 to 490 and our programming changes to accommodate this, many of you are now getting $x ISSN subfields in your Bibliographic 8XXs.  This has been causing some concern and at least in one scenario, it creates a problem situation as follows:

original bib headings:
490_1 $aSTI/PUB ;$v1343
490_1 $aSafety reports series,$x1020-6450 ;$vno. 58
830_0 $aSafety reports series ;$vno. 58.

after processing:
490_1 $aSTI/PUB ;$v1343
490_1 $aSafety reports series,$x1020-6450 ;$vno. 58
830_0 $aSafety reports series ;$vno. 58.
830_0 $aSafety reports series,$x1020-6450 ;$vno. 58.

The resulting 830s happened this way because the 8XXs must link up with 490-1’s.  The system assumes the first 8XX belongs to the first 490-1 so it retained “Safety report series ;$vno. 58.”  Since it “thought” there was no 8XX for the second 490-1 an 8XX was created for it.  Unfortunately it was the first 490-1 that was missing a linking 8XX.

What is your practice regarding 8XX $x?  Since this is now an allowable subfield and we follow LC procedures, what will this do to your system?

Your feedback would be very welcome and much appreciated. Feel free to comment on this blog or talk about it on our Forum at:  http://ac.bslw.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34

Thanks,
Judy

Backstage Library Works Automated Services

Monday, August 31st, 2009

You may have noticed that we’ve recently changed the name of this blog from MARS Authority Control to MARS Automation Services. Why the change? I’ve asked our Chief Operations Officer of the Utah location, John Reese, to explain why. Here is what he had to say.

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Before the purchase of MARS from OCLC, Backstage Library Works ran several bibliographic automated products.  These services include Non-MARC or Brief MARC Record Upgrades (Machine Matching), Deduplication and Consolidation of bibliographic data, Union Database creation, Marcadia and Custom Programming.  Prior to this week, these services were run independent of the MARS 2.0 Automated Authority Control Service.  Backstage is happy to announce the consolidation of all of the above mentioned services and MARS 2.0 Automated Authority Control under one division to be called, “Backstage Library Works Automated Services.”

We found that there was a lot of overlapping in client needs involving authority control with the above mentioned automated bibliographic services.  All of these services require technical knowledge of the automated process.  At Backstage we are now sharing this valuable resource under one umbrella, Automated Services.  We look forward to having one department work with your sales representative in offering the most efficient automated solution for you.  Below is a list of all of the services under our newly formed Automated Services department.  If you have question about this change please contact John Reese, jreese@bslw.com.

MARS 2.0 Automated Authority Control:

MARS 2.0 service is one of the oldest and most reliable automated authority control offerings on the market. With our new system upgrade introduced in 2008, managing your authority records has never been easier.  MARS 2.0 offers name and subject authority control based on the Library of Congress name and subject authority databases (and other available National databases like MeSH, NLC, etc.).  The authority control process standardizes name, subject, series and Uniform title headings.

Automated Machine Matching:

This service offers several options to upgrade non-MARC or brief MARC records to full MARC bibliographic records.  This process searches electronic records against Backstage Library Works database and the Library of Congress Bibliographic Database to return a full standard MARC record.  There are over twenty million records to match against in this database.

Automated Deduplication:

Backstage Library Works offers a deduplication process that consolidates bibliographic or authority records in a library’s database(s).  This process is performed according to the profile specifications of the library and is often used when a library or a library consortia is forming or adding new libraries.

Union Database Creation:

Library consortia or library districts often require a central database for their consortia to work from. Backstage helps libraries create Union Bibliographic as well as Union Authority databases.

Marcadia:

Marcadia is an automated batch copy cataloging service offered jointly by OCLC and Backstage Library Works.  This product finds, evaluates and delivers catalog records from OCLC WorldCat.  It is based on search records you supply from your local system and a selection criterion you provide.  Marcadia selects matching records from WorldCat and delivers them to you.

Custom Programming:

It has been a long standing Backstage Library Works’ tradition to customize our services to the needs of our libraries.  Many libraries require special programming to accommodate either earlier cataloging practices that no longer meet current standards and need to be changed or special programming to create unique processes for their library.  Backstage takes pride in its ability to accommodate these special needs.

Juvenile Subfield Additions

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Adding a Juvenile Subfield $v to your Library of Congress Heading

Children’s subject headings are a separate file within the LC subject file. They are designated by a second indicator of 1 in the 650 tag. The adult representation found under Library of Congress Subject headings uses a $Juvenile qualifier. The LC Children’s authority file contains just over 950 authority records.

In the automated authority control world many of our libraries are interested in changing all of their children’s subject headings to their Library of Congress equivalent.  We have always had the ability to search these children’s headings against their adult equivalent.  Recently, our clients requested that we add a juvenile subfield $v at the end of a heading that we flipped from Juvenile to Adult.  That was easy enough to do we simply added a $vJuvenile at the end of the tag once the heading was flipped to an adult heading.  However, this still did not adequately define the type of juvenile subdivision we wanted to represent the heading.

We knew that there were fixed fields within the bibliographic record that more precisely defined the type of Juvenile book we were looking at.  What we decided to do is base the juvenile designation on these specific codes.  If the bibliographic record is a book format (leader/06 = ‘a’or ‘t’) then we check byte 33 of the fixed field to determine what type of juvenile heading this is.  There are fourteen different characters that define the Juvenile book from Comic Strips to Speeches.  However, there is not a valid subfield $vJuvenile …. for each representation.  What we decided to do was translate the ones that did have a valid representation to that heading.  For instance if byte 33 was a ‘d’ we created the juvenile heading $vJuvenile drama.   The following charts indicate what heading are assigned to what code in byte 33.

= “1” : add “$vJuvenile fiction”
= “d” : add “$vJuvenile drama”
= “h” : add “$vJuvenile humor”
= “p” : add “$vJuvenile poetry”

All headings that did not have a valid subfield $vJuvenile representation in byte 33 were defaulted to Juvenile literature.

We also looked at leader byte six to determine if the bibliographic record was something other then a book and assign an appropriate juvenile designator to the headings.  For example, if leader byte 6 is ‘e’ or ‘f’ for maps we add $vMaps for children or if byte 6 is a ‘g’ and byte 7 ‘m’ or ‘v’ we add $vJuvenile films to the adult heading.  The following example illustrates what this change will look like once your juvenile headings have been converted to Library of Congress.

Examples
        Child heading:
        650   1 $aRain forests.
        650   1 $aCollies$vFiction.

        Matched LC adult with "Juvenile" description added:
        650   0 $aRain forests$vJuvenile literature.
        650   0 $aCollies$vJuvenile fiction.

For a more detailed account of subfield $vJuvenile assignments please review section 3.8 of our planning guide: http://ac.bslw.com/community/wiki/index.php5/Profile_Guide_Step_3.8

Blind References

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Definition:

Blind References:  A subject, name or series title authority record contains a blind reference if there is no heading in the database corresponding to the valid form stored in the authority file.  Usually the last bibliographic record that contained the heading has been deleted.  These authority records are to be deleted from your ILS system authority file.

On a library’s ILS system the blind reference will either not be included in the authority index or will be included in the index with zero hits (bibliographic connections) associated with it. When an authority file is in place on an ILS system only the authorized heading 1XX or the see also reference 5XX of the authority record can be a blind reference. The nature of the see reference 4XX always points to the authorized heading 1XX and can not be a blind reference though on some ILS systems a search on the see reference will have the same result as a search on the authorized heading if the authority record is a blind reference. That is no bibliographic record will be found.

Example of a Blind Reference: Note the 0 that is in yellow is a blind reference.  The other 0 under Topographic Brain mapping is a see reference.

Subject                                                                                    Titles

Topographic brain mapping.                                      0 

  • See: Brain mapping.                                           1

Topographic maps – Databases. 2

Topographic maps — Databases — Software. 0

Topographic maps — Software. 2

How a Blind Reference gets on a Library’s ILS system

There are several ways an ILS system produces Blind References.  The following is a list of a few.

1.      If a library deletes the last bibliographic record associated with an authority it will become a blind reference unless it is removed from the system.

2.      If a new authority does not match up to an existing authorized bibliographic heading it will become a blind reference.

3.      If an authority automation vendor delivers an authority that the library no longer owns it will become a blind reference.

The first description of how a blind reference gets on a library system can be avoided by making sure that you delete any authority associated with a deleted bibliographic record.  Most ILS systems automatically generate a report of these occurrences.

The second blind authority problem occurs during the automation authority control process.  In the past these had to be reconciled or connected through a semi automated and sometimes time consuming process.  Backstage now has a process called “Heading Tracker” that makes manual reconciliation almost obsolete.

The last blind authority problem also occurs during the automated authority control process but can be easily remedied by routine maintenance described below.

Maintenance:

The library needs to send their authority deletes to their automation vendor.  There is no automatic removal from the master authority file your vendor keeps with the library’s authority database.  The process can be part of a simple routine maintenance. Most ILS systems automatically generate a file of deleted authority records that can be accessed through reports.  If a list of the deleted records is sent to Backstage we can remove them from your master authority file.  That list should include the control number (001) of the authority record.