Cataloging Theses and Dissertations: Best Practices

scope: A "best practice" guide for use by technical services staff who create or edit records pertaining to theses and dissertations.

submitted by: Kate Bowers (kate_bowers@harvard.edu), Beth Iseminger (biseming@fas.harvard.edu), Karen Nipps, June Rutkowski (rutkowsk@fas.harvard.edu), Summer Unsinn (summer_unsinn@radcliffe.harvard.edu), Karen Young (karen_young@gse.harvard.edu), Isabel Quintana, co-chair (quintana@fas.harvard.edu), Thomas Ma, co-chair (tma@law.harvard.edu).

maintained by: Metadata Standards Working Group

Purpose

This document covers both published and unpublished theses. It does not cover revisions, adaptations, or theses that are published commercially after they are submitted. Please note that DASH is not considered a publisher. Therefore, theses deposited in DASH are considered unpublished.

Leader

LDR/06: Select appropriate code, or use another code as needed for other formats.

a = non-manuscript language material (for published theses)

d = manuscript notated music

f = manuscript cartographic material

t = manuscript language material, including typescripts and print-outs (for unpublished theses, except for special collections/archival repositories)

008 Field

008/06 type of date =”s” (if only year given in 264)

008/06 type of date =”e” (if applicable, i.e. month or month and day included in 264);

008/07-10 date 1 = year

008/11-14 date2 = mmdd (if applicable, i.e. month month and day included in 264; use blanks for day if only month given);

008/24 content= “m” (theses) (if code is available, depending on format)

Example: 008 080829e201303^^xx^m^^^^^bm^^^000^0^eng^d

This example is for a thesis dated March 2013.

Thesis author

100 1_ |a Name, |e relationship designator.

Example: 100 1_ |a Gallogly-Swan, Katie Louise, |e author.

ORCID

If the ORCID for the thesis author is known, the link should be placed in subfield 1 of the 100 field, with an added 500 note.

Example:

100 1_ $a Burkhauser, Mary. $1 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9142-7269

500 __ $a Author's ORCID: 0000-0001-9142-7269.

The cataloger may optionally include ORCIDs for committee members in MARC 700 fields. 500 notes are not necessary for this use.

Example: 700 1_ $a Oja, Carol, $d 1953- $e degree supervisor. $1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5802-0587

Publication information (for published theses)

264 _1 |a Place of publication : |b Publisher, |c Date of publication.

Example: 264 _1 |a Stockholm : |b Stockholm University, |c 2014.

Date of production (for unpublished theses)

264 _0 |c date of production.

Transcribe from title page as it appears on the piece

Example: 264 _0 |c 2014.

264 _0 |c March 2014.

Degree Granted Date (optional)

500 |a Degree granted Month Year. (if this information is available)

Example: 500 __ |a Degree granted May 2014.

Thesis Note

Formatted

502 |b Degree |c Institution |d date

Example: 502 __ |b Ph. D. |c Harvard University |d 2014.

Unformatted

Optionally add a 2nd unformatted 502 if you want to add a term, or further information about the degree or the institution.

Example: 502 __ |a Thesis (Masters of Architecture in Urban Design)--Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2014.

Genre Heading

Prefer LCGFT terms:

655 7 |a Academic theses. |2 lcgft

OR

655 _7 |a Theses. |2 aat

These terms are available from the AAT: Theses, Doctoral dissertations, Masters theses.

Advisors, Committee Members (repeatable)

700 1 |a Name, |e relationship designator.

Example: 700 1_ |a Smith, John, |e degree supervisor.

700 1_ |a Smith, John, |e degree committee member.

Please see note under ORCID.

degree committee member: A person serving on a committee that supervises a student's thesis or dissertation.

degree supervisor: A person, such as an advisor or supervisor of thesis or dissertation research, overseeing either an academic degree or thesis.

(An alternative practice is used for electronically submitted theses at Harvard. The names will be entered as 720s since no effort is made to enter them using any cataloging criteria.)

Degree Granting Institution/Department (repeatable)

710 2 |a Institution, |e degree granting institution.

710 2 |a Institution. |b Subordinate body (if available) |t term defined by the community. [Thesis, Third Year Paper, etc.]

Example: 710 2_ |a Harvard University, |e degree granting institution.

710 2_ |a Harvard University. |b Department of Anthropology. |t Senior honors theses.

For Harvard Theses and Dissertations: use of access points for particular local programs or schools varies; please follow local practice.

Child Pages

Best Practice for E-Theses and Dissertations