Best Practice for MARC 21 Fields Describing Local Information

History

Historically, Harvard practice for certain local information fields required them to be put in holdings records rather than bibliographic records, to support Harvard’s single-record policy. With the change to a multiple-record approach, currently in progress, Harvard catalogers may now follow a practice used by the broader metadata community when using separate bibliographic records for different formats. 

Recommendation

Metadata Standards Working Group recommends placement of these fields as appropriate to the materials at hand.

• If the content of the field refers only to a single copy of the manifestation described in the bibliographic record, the field should be placed in the appropriate holdings record.
  
  
• However, if the material refers to all instances of the materials described in the bibliographic record (i.e., for unique materials or for the manifestation as a whole), the field should be placed in the bibliographic record. This will allow bibliographic records in Alma and Connexion to have greater consistency. For catalogers working with unique materials who would like to maintain the current display of Holdings information in HOLLIS (see below), MSWG recommends that these fields be present in BOTH the holdings and bibliographic records in order to maintain consistency with OCLC.

Note on Harvard's use of subfield 5

Instructions for when to use a subfield 5 are found below. For guidance on coding and fields protected by the use of subfield 5, please see related guidance found at Alma Merging Algorithms and Protected Fields.

Here you will find:

• All valid $5 Harvard local library codes
• List of fields which are protected by $5 local library codes
  • N.B.: Use of the MARC Organizational Code in an Alma record will NOT protect a field.  Only the use of the three character Harvard Library code will accomplish this.

Should you come across older codes that are no longer valid, care should be exercised to update these codes to the relevant library that has subsumed the collection.   

Fields to which this practice refers:

• 506 Restrictions on Access Note - bibliographic and holdings  
• 533 Reproduction Note - bibliographic (see also 843) 
• 540 Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Note - bibliographic (see also 845)  
• 541 Immediate Source of Acquisition Note - bibliographic and holdings  
• 561 Ownership and Custodial History - bibliographic and holdings  
• 562 Copy and Version Identification Note - holdings  
• 563 Binding Information - bibliographic and holdings  
• 583 Action Note - bibliographic and holdings  
• 843 Reproduction note - holdings  (see also 533)  
• 845 Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Note - holdings  (see also 540) 

Where should I put the information?

What goes in the bibliographic record?

• Information that applies to unique manifestations (e.g., archival collections, manuscripts)

  • Example: 561 1_ $$a Acquired from Bill Baird, 2015.    

Please note: 

• • Some units place this information in the holdings record, regardless of uniqueness.
  • Use of $5 in some MARC21 bibliographic fields may cause the field to be stripped upon ingest from OCLC.  Please see Alma Merging Algorithms and Protected Fields.

•  Specific types of information that apply to all instances of a manifestation

  •  Some restrictions on access
    • Example: 506 1_ $$a Available to subscribing member institutions only. 
      
  •  Some reproduction notes
    • Example: 533 __ $$a Print reproduction.

What goes in the holdings record?

• Information relating only to local copies when the manifestation is not unique
• Specific reproduction information when bibliographic record is provider neutral and for locally digitized content that has been cataloged on a single record with its source material 

Re: Subfield 5 - Please note the following: 

• • Prior to July 2019, Harvard practice was to require the use of the subfield 5 with the holding unit’s local 3-letter code when placing these fields in a holdings record.
  • As of July 2019, this practice is no longer required, although individual units may wish to continue the practice.  It does no harm to include this information should your unit wish to do so for reporting or other purposes.
  • Please note that the subfield 5 is still required to identify the holding library when local access points are placed in the bibliographic record for non-unique manifestations, such as for provenance or genre terms. See below.

Exceptions for some non-unique materials

• Information justified by holdings information may be included in the local bibliographic record (i.e., Alma, not OCLC) with the appropriate Harvard local library code in subfield 5 (e.g., item-level rare book genre terms, or traced provenance). When reference is required to specify which portion or which copy of the material is being referenced, this information should be placed in subfield 3 (see examples below).
  
• Local information of non-unique material that justifies bibliographic information may be included in the OCLC WorldCat record as justification for that information. Please note that use of a $5 in the 500 field in OCLC will block that field from Alma.  Even though this is local information, please make that clear in the text of the field, rather than the coding.

OCLC Example:  
500 __ $$a Date based on inscription on flyleaf of Harvard Theater Collection copy:  John Q. Smith, January 1, 1799.
264 _1 $$a New York : $$b George Blimey and Sons, $$c [before 1799]

Display, Reporting, and Privacy:

• Discovery and display

  • The following fields will display in HOLLIS

    • Bibliographic fields: 506, 533, 540, 561 (1st indicator # and 1), 563; 583 (1st indicator # and 1)
    • Holdings fields: 506, 541 (1st indicator 1), 561 (1st indicator # and 1), 562, 563, 583 (1st indicator # and 1), 843 and 845   
      • 583 (1st indicator # and 1) displays in an Access options: Action Note (for complete information on what is in this field, see Access Options section (holdings & items)
    • Please note that information entered in the bibliographic record will be displayed with the bibliographic information, while holdings information is displayed separately.  Access Services staff should take care to look in both areas for this type of information. For those libraries choosing to represent information about unique materials in the holdings record, this information should be duplicated in the bibliographic record.

  • The following fields are indexed in HOLLIS

    • Bibliographic fields: 541 (1st indicator 1), 561 (1st indicator # and 1), 562, and 563
    • Holdings fields: 541 (1st indicator 1), 561 (1st indicator # and 1), 562, 563

• Reporting in HART and Alma Analytics

• Bibliographic and Holdings fields are reportable in HART
• Holdings fields are available in Alma Analytics in Physical Items > Holdings Details
  • 541 Immediate Source of Acquisition Note 
  • 561 Ownership and Custodial History 
  • 562 Copy and Version Identification Note 
  • 563 Binding Information 
  • 583 Holding Local Param 08 
  • 843 Holding Local Param 10 

• Privacy

• Fields 541, 561, 583 have privacy indicators. To keep the contents of these fields private, they must be placed in a holdings record. Placing these fields in the bibliographic record may expose their contents to OCLC, any users who use Harvard's z39.50 catalog, and other metadata partners.  See Best practices for MARC fields with privacy indicators in Alma.

Examples in Alma

NB: For complete instructions on use of individual fields, please see the MARC21 documentation.

Use of Subfield 5

• Holdings examples

  • 561 1_ $$a Previously owned by Anthony Collins.
  • 561 1_ $$a Previously owned by Anthony Collins. $$5 hou (some units)

• Local Bibliographic record

  • 700 1_ $$a Collins, Anthony, $$d 1676-1729, $$e former owner. $$5 hou

Use of Subfield 5 with Subfield 3

• MMS ID 990014906060203941
  • Holdings record: 
    • 852 7_ $$b MUS $$c MERRHOU...
    • 561 1_ $$a Score belonged to Antonin Trantoul (1887-1966), tenor, to whom the pencil annotations appear to belong.
    • 852 7_ $$b MUS $$c GEN...
    • 561 1_ $$a ...Copy F has frontispiece portrait of Debussy, "D'après une photogr. d'Otto" (Otto Wegener).
  • Local bibliographic record:
    • 700 1_ $$3 Merritt Room copy $$a Trantoul, Antonin, $$d 1887-1966, $$e former owner, $$e annotator. $$5 mus
    • 700 0_ $$3 Loeb Music copy F $$a Otto, $$d 1849-1922, $$e photographer. $$5 mus

506 Restrictions on Access Note

• Bibliographic examples

  • 506 1_ $$a Closed through 2024. 
  • 506 0_ $$a Collection is open for research. 

• Holdings examples

  • 506 0_ $$a No restrictions on access copy. $$f Unrestricted $$2 wikidata
  • 506 1_ $$a Originals closed; use digital images. 

533/843 Reproduction Note

• Bibliographic example

  • 533 __ $$a Print reproduction.

• Holdings example

  • 843__ $$a Photocopy. $$b Cambridge, Mass : $$c Harvard University, Tozzer Library, $$d 2008. $$e 262 pages ; 28 cm. 

540/845 Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Note

• Bibliographic example

  •  540 __ $$a Restricted: Information on reproduction rights available at Reference Desk

• Holdings example

  •  845 __ $$3 Transcripts $$a Confidential, copying limited; $$d Student named on document. 

541 Immediate Source of Acquisition Note

• Holdings example

  • 541 0_ $$c Purchase; $$a Baldwin's Book Barn; $$d 19821215; $$e 83M-1074a $$f Schaffner fd. 

561 Ownership and Custodial History Note

• Bibliographic example

  • 561 1_ $$a From the collection of Rudolf Kolisch. 

• Holdings examples

  • 561 1_ $$a Donor unknown, 1948? 

  • 561 0_ $$a One of several stolen Harvard books recovered from an auction house in 2010. It is suspected that other items recovered at same time were stolen prior to 1992. Identified through DIV accession number on entry in old card catalog. 

562 Copy and Version Information Note

• Holdings examples

  • 562 __ $$a Author's inscribed presentation copy, with handwritten note tipped in. 
  • 562 __ $$a Autograph of Smith V. Ridgeway, Philadelphia. 
  • 562 __ $$a Incomplete copy: wanting page 8. 

563 Binding Information Note

• Bibliographic example

  • 563 __ Full bound in calf with 5 raised bands. 

• Holdings example

  • 563 __ $$3 sect. 1-3, 5-6: $$a Bound in original paper covers. 

583 Action Note

• Bibliographic example

  • 583 0_ $$a reviewed $$c19950601 $$h Classification Department $$o title $$x determined to be unclassified 

• Holdings example

  • 583 0_ $$a housed $$c 20181220 $$i envelope $$2 pda 

(For more information on the use of the 583 at Harvard, see Guidelines for use of 583 for conservation actions)