NB: this page has recently undergone a reorganization (May 2024). Please leave comments below should you have requests or comments about the structure of this page.

This page is largely, but not exclusively, maintained by the Metadata Standards Advisory Group.

If you would like to request that a metadata best practice be addressed or updated, please leave a comment on the Metadata Best Practices Suggestions page page.

For information related to our Library Service Provider, Alma, please see Alma documentation

Authority related work

• Names

• Name Access Points in Alma, June 12, 2018 (rev. 2026-01-26)

  •  (2018)

• Subjects

  • Harvard Library and SACO

  • Best Practices Manual for Culturally Correct Subject Headings (2023-05)

• Series

  • Guidelines for Handling Numbered Series that Become Unnumbered (or Vice Versa)) (rev. 2018-04-12)

• Titles

  • Best Practice for Cataloging Partial Compilations of a Single Author (2021-07)

• General

  • Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources

General Cataloging

• Encoding Levels at Harvard (2020-07-13)

• Transliteration of Materials in non-Latin Scripts (2020-05)

• Best Practice for RDA LC-PCC Policy Statement Conflict

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  • Best Practice for Genre/Form Added Entries (2018-11-01)

  • Best Practice: Genre Term for Web Archives (2019-02-08)

  • Best Practice for Keeping FAST Headings in Sync with LCSH (rev. 2025-04-11)

  • Library of Congress Policy Change: Form Subdivisions ($v) and LCGFT Expansion (rev. 2026-05-27)

Holdings

• Holdings Examples  (2018-12-07)

• Best Practice For 33x and 007 Fields in Alma (2021-03-18)

• Best Practice for MARC Fields with Privacy Indicators in Alma (2018-11-01)

• Best Practices for Recording Gift Information in Holdings Records (2019-02-07)

• ITS Instructions for Working with Retention Commitment Statements in Items and Holdings (2020-07-01)

• LTS: ReCAP Shared Collection – Alma coding for items and holdings (2023)

• LTS: Collection Management - Policy for Suppression and Deletion

Items

• Best Practices for Item Records: Description, Enumeration, and Chronology Fields (2021-03-02)

• LTS: ReCAP Shared Collection – Alma coding for items and holdings (2023)

• LTS: Collection Management - Policy for Suppression and Deletion

• Item Material Types

• Magnetic items

• ITS Instructions for Working with Retention Commitment Statements in Items and Holdings (2020-07-01)

MARC fields/subfields and related issues

• Best Practice for Use of ISBD Punctuation  (2019-03-28)

• Best Practice for Subfields Zero and One ($0 and $1) (2019-06)

• Best Practice for use of 914 (NO-WORLDCAT) (2023-02-08)

Local Fields

• Best Practice for Use of Local Headings at Harvard (2021-02-05)

• Best Practice for MARC21 Coding of Local Collection Names at Harvard (2024-03-21)

• Best Practice for MARC 21 Fields Describing Local Information (2019-06-20)

• Best Practice for Books Acquired through the Library of Congress European Mission (2022-09-08)

Reproductions

• Best Practice for Commercially Produced Tangible Reproductions (Microforms, CD-ROMs, etc.) (2019-07-22)

• Best Practice for Locally Produced Reproductions (rev. 2024-03-12)

  • Best Practices for NET Holdings for Locally Digitized Materials (2021-09-24)

• Best Practice for Unpublished Print Reproductions (Photocopies, etc.)  (2022-07-07)

  • Best Practice for Stand-Alone Unpublished Print Reproductions  (2022-07-07)

  • Best Practice for Holdings Records for Print Preservation Facsimiles  (2022-07-28)

Theses and Dissertations

• Cataloging Theses & Dissertations (Best Practice) (rev. 2019-04)

  • Best Practice for E-Theses and Dissertations

Archival Description

• Archival Description / ArchivesSpace Best Practices (rev. 2016-07-19)