Metadata Best Practices
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. 2018-08-14)
Subjects
Series
Titles
General
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
Subject/Genre/Form
- Best Practice for Genre/Form Added Entries (2018-11-01)
- Best Practice: Genre Term for Web Archives (2019-02-08)
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
Special Fields/Topics
- Hierarchical Place Name (MARC 752) (rev. 2018-02-18)
Best Practice for Recording Audience and/or Creator/Contributor Characteristics (MARC21 fields 385 and 386) (2023-10-17)
- Best Practice for Foreign Language Summaries in Bibliographic Records (2024-03-12)
- Citations for Répertoire international des sources musicales (RISM) (2019-05-22)
- Best Practice for Encoding MARC Records for Born-Digital Archival Resources (2024-07-01)
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)
LTS Information
- Alma Merging Algorithms and Protected Fields (LTS–includes list of valid Harvard local library codes)
Reproductions
- Best Practice for Commercially Produced Tangible Reproductions (Microforms, CD-ROMs, etc.) (2019-07-22)
- Best Practice for Locally Produced Reproductions (updated 2024-03-12)
- Best Practice for Unpublished Print Reproductions (Photocopies, etc.) 2022-07-07
Theses and Dissertations
- Cataloging Theses & Dissertations (Best Practice) (rev. 2019-04)
Archival Description
- Archival Description / ArchivesSpace Best Practices (rev. 2016-07-19)
Batch Jobs and Imports
Macros, etc.
The Metadata Standards Working Group recommends the use of macros, text strings, and other tools that will create greater consistency of metadata while reducing repetitive stress injuries.
- Connexion macros, constant data, text strings, keymaps
- Alma templates, etc.
Related Areas
Metadata Related Committees, Working Groups, Programs
Cataloging Discussion Group Presentations
Harvard Library Information and Technical Services pages
Harvard Library Technology and Systems documentation
Special Collections Printed Material Cataloging Discussion Group outside links
Connexion Users Research Page
Link to Historical Documentation
MARC, RDA, and General External Resources
General
ClassWeb Plus: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:clsweb
Extended Date Time Format: http://www.loc.gov/standards/datetime/edtf.html (revised 2018-10-22)
PCC guidelines on using ISO 639-3 language codes in bibliographic and authority records: https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/scs/documents/ISO-639-3-guidelines.pdf
RDA
RDA Toolkit (original): http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:rdatoolkit
LC vocabularies: http://id.loc.gov
Feedback Form to submit LC-PCC Policy Statement revisions, questions, and other feedback about the Official RDA Toolkit and related documentation
Public Tracking Spreadsheet to review/check status of submitted feedback
MARC21
MARC21 Bibliographic documentation: http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/
OCLC Technical Bulletins: https://help.oclc.org/WorldCat/Cataloging_documentation/Technical_Bulletins
Relationship designators
PCC Guidelines for the Application of Relationship Designators in NACO Authority Records (2018-11)
PCC SCT Training Manual for Applying Relationship Designators in Bibliographic Records (2015)
RDA Toolkit, Appendices I, J, K, and M
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