Best Practice for E-Theses and Dissertations

Keywords: ETD, ETDs, born-digital, born digital, electronic, academic theses, dissertations

DRAFT

Introduction

The Metadata Standards Working Group recommends the following procedures for individually cataloging electronic theses and dissertations. This best practice should be used in conjunction with Cataloging Theses and Dissertations: Best Practices.

The cataloger should be aware that the majority of theses will continue to be batch processed and will thus not adhere to these recommendations. See in particular the note below relating to MARC 21 field 720.

Bibliographic Records

Leader

LDR/06 MAT TYPE = “a” ,“c”, etc. (language material, notated music, etc.)

Please note that even though Harvard considers student-submitted theses to be unpublished, the material type should reflect the status of the piece in hand; manuscript or typescript codes should only be used for hand-written, hand-typed, or hand-drawn materials.  

LDR/07 = Bib Lvl = m

006

006/00 = “m”

006/06 = “o” 

006/09=”d” (document) (for example)

Other 006/09 type of computer file values are documented in the 008 MARC documentation https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd008c.html

Example: 

006 ## m     o  d        (In OCLC)

006 ## $$a m####|o##d######## (In Alma)

007

007/0 = “c”

007/1 = “r” (other codes as appropriate)

Other 007 codes are documented in the 007 MARC documentation https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd007.html

Example for basic text theses:

007 ## $a c $b r $d | $e n (in OCLC)

007 ## $$a cr#|n|||||||||  (in Alma)

008

008/15-17 (Ctry)  Use the location of the degree granting institution in the 008 place 

Example: mau

008/23 (Form): “o” 

If MAT TYPE = "a," 008/24 (Cont) = "m" 

264

Please note that Harvard considers all student-submitted theses to be unpublished, regardless of format.

Example:

264 #0 $c 2022.

300

300 ## $a 1 online resource [extent]) : $b [illustrations] [No $c]

Example:

300 ## $a 1 online resource (vii, 76 pages) : $b illustrations

33x

Examples:

336 ## $a text $b txt $2 rdacontent

336 ## $a notated music $b ntm $2 rdacontent

337 ## $a computer $b c $2 rdamedia

338 ## $a online resource $b cr $2 rdacarrier

347

Digital file characteristics (RDA 3.19). Used to encode file characteristics and size (some of this information was formerly in 300 and 516).  Required if known.

Examples:

Textual thesis saved as PDF

347 ## $a text file $2 rdaft

347 ## $b PDF 

347 ## $c 182 KB

Musical score saved as PDF

347 ## image file $2 rdaft

347 ## $b PDF 

347 ## $d 175 KB

Sound recording saved as MP3

347 ## audio file $2 rdaft

347 ## $b MP3 

347 ## $f 32 kbps 

Video recording saved as MP4

347 ## video file $2 rdaft

347 ## $b MP4

347 ## $f 24fps

500

Source of description should be given.

Examples:

500 ## $a Title from first page of PDF file.

500 ## $a Title from PDF title page/cover/caption.

(720 for uncontrolled names)

Please note that batch processing of theses and dissertations results in otherwise controlled names being placed in the uncontrolled 720 field. This field should not be used for individually cataloged items.

Holdings Records

Please consult as appropriate: Best Practices for NET Holdings for Locally Digitized Materials

Example: 856 40 $$u http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:38613258 $$z Provides access to page images of entire work