Best Practices for Recording Gift Information in Holdings Records

Harvard catalogers may record gift information in the MARC 21 holdings record. If your unit does not routinely record this information in holdings records, do not do so unless at the direction of a bibliographer, curator, and/or manager.

MARC 21 defines two fields for recording provenance information: the 541 and 561. Each of these fields may be used in the bibliographic or holdings record; however, if the information recorded is copy-specific or if the first indicator 0 (“Private”) is used, the fields should be placed in the holdings. Although both fields may be coded as public or private, in general, Harvard has tended to record private gift information in the structured 541 field and human-readable public gift information in the 561 field. For more on this, see Best practices for MARC21 fields describing local information.

Library of Congress MARC Documentation: 541 - Immediate Source of Acquisition Note  

Library of Congress MARC Documentation: 561 - Ownership and Custodial History

Please note that although it is no longer required that holdings notes include a $$5 with the holding library's code, you may see this subfield in older records.

008/07 - Method of Acquisition

Code byte 7 of the 008 as "g" for "gift".

541 - Immediate Source of Acquisition Note

The 541 may be used to record acquisition information. In addition to metadata about purchases and transfers, it can also preserve records of gifts. Information that should remain private should be coded 541 with first indicator 0. This will prevent private metadata from displaying in HOLLIS or in outside services such as LibraryCloud. Use of first indicator 1 will, conversely, make this information discoverable by the public.  Decisions about public or private status of this information should be made in consultation with bibliographers and in consideration of local unit practice. The 541 field is repeatable; if multiple 541 fields are present, each should have a subfield 3 indicating the specific material to which the field refers.

541 Subfields commonly used at Harvard:

541 0_  $$3 [specific materials] $$c [method of acquisition]; $$a [source of acquisition]; $$d [date of acquisition]; $$e [accession number, if used]; $$h [price].

Example:

541 0_ $$c Gift; $$a Sophie Coe; $$d 1991; $$e 91-B186.

541 0_ $$3 no. 1-6: $$c Gift; $$a Julia Child. $$5 sch

The 541 field can be searched in Alma by choosing Advanced Search > Physical Titles > Holdings > Acquisition note.

561 - Ownership and Custodial History

If a bibliographer, curator, or manager has directed the cataloger to record gift information in a public, human-readable note, a 561 may be used. A 561 with a first indicator of blank or 1 will display publicly, and a first indicator of 0 will make the field private. The field is repeatable; if multiple 561s are present, each should have a $3 indicating the specific material to which the field refers. The 561 is a free text field and exact wording should be determined by the bibliographer or curator.

Example:

561 1_ $$a Gift of Edwin Vernon Morgan.

561 1_ $$a Typed slip tipped in: The gift of Margaret E. Rich, Class of 1907. 

The 561 field can be searched in Alma by choosing Advanced Search > Physical Titles > Holdings > Ownership and Custodial History. It is also keyword searchable in HOLLIS.