Contents

• Choosing a MARC record format
  • General instruction
  • Mixed content type resources
  • Hybrid resources
  • Single content type resources
• Content types and physical description fields
• RDA content, media, and carrier types
• Form/genre terms

Choosing a MARC bibliographic record format

General instruction

Choose the MARC bibliographic record format that is as consistent as possible with the content of the resource.

Your choice may be made easier by the fact that the bibliographic record format is not the only means of indicating the resource’s content. Options exist for expressing additional content types and additional details via MARC 006 and 007 fields. These fields will assist with faceting and indexing in HOLLIS. A list of how these  fields affect indexing and filtering in HOLLIS is here: https://harvardwiki.atlassian.net/wiki/display/LibraryStaffDoc/Resource+Types. Form/genre fields (MARC 655) are also recommended to improve search and discovery.

Mixed content type resources

MARC does not have a format for archival resources^*, so, for most analog archival resources, archivists choose p (mixed materials). If, likewise, a born-digital resource consists of multiple content formats, this will be your choice.

_{*MARC used to have encoding for a record format of “archival” b - Archival and manuscripts control, but it was made obsolete in 1995.}

Hybrid resources

If the resource is a hybrid of analog material and born-digital content, p (mixed materials) will still be your choice.

Single content type resources

If the resource consists entirely of born-digital content of a single content type, choose from among the MARC record formats the one that most closely matches the nature of the content of the resource. For example, if a resource consists entirely of born-digital video, choose “projected medium.”

The logic behind this choice is that MARC will then present you with other choices that are relevant to the chosen format. For example, if you choose “projected medium” in the leader, MARC-based cataloging and discovery systems will behave in expectation of related values in the 008 field such as v (video recording) in byte 33.

If MARC has a means of designating the content as special collection or unique (available only for text, musical notation, and maps), choose the “manuscript” code for this content over the default “published” type. For example, for an entirely textual resource, choose “manuscript language material” rather than “language material.”

Use m (computer file) only for resources consisting entirely of data sets or of computer software such as computer programs and games and the ancillary files for running such software, such as fonts, style files, and images used by the software. For other resources, choose the MARC format that most closely resembles the content in the definitions established by the Library of Congress and listed below.

As a practical matter, catalogers creating bibliographic records in Alma have access to a large number of templates and should consult their manager if they do not know which to choose, while catalogers using Connexion have the following choices defined by OCLC:

• • • Books
    • Computer files
    • Continuing resources
    • Maps
    • Mixed materials
    • Scores
    • Sound recordings
    • Visual materials

This is a list of the MARC record format options for byte 06 of the MARC leader as defined in the MARC format maintained by the Library of Congress.

• • • d - Manuscript notated music

Used for manuscript notated music or a microform of manuscript music.

• • • f - Manuscript cartographic material

Used for manuscript cartographic material or a microform of manuscript cartographic material.

• • • g - Projected medium

Used for motion pictures, videorecordings (including digital video), filmstrips, slide, transparencies or material specifically designed for projection. Material specifically designed for overhead projection is also included in this type of record category.

• • • i - Nonmusical sound recording

Used for a recording of nonmusical sounds (e.g., speech).

• • • j - Musical sound recording

Used for a musical sound recording (e.g., phonodiscs, compact discs, or cassette tapes.

• • • k - Two-dimensional nonprojectable graphic

Used for two-dimensional nonprojectable graphics such as, activity cards, charts, collages, computer graphics, digital pictures, drawings, duplication masters, flash cards, paintings, photo CDs, photomechanical reproductions, photonegatives, photoprints, pictures, postcards, posters, prints, spirit masters, study prints, technical drawings, transparency masters, and reproductions of any of these.

• • • m - Computer file

Used for the following classes of electronic resources: computer software (including programs, games, fonts), numeric data, computer-oriented multimedia, online systems or services. For these classes of materials, if there is a significant aspect that causes it to fall into another Leader/06 category, the code for that significant aspect is used instead of code m (e.g., vector data that is cartographic is not coded as numeric but as cartographic). Other classes of electronic resources are coded for their most significant aspect (e.g. language material, graphic, cartographic material, sound, music, moving image). In case of doubt or if the most significant aspect cannot be determined, consider the item a computer file.

• • • o – Kit

Used for a mixture of various components issued as a unit and intended primarily for instructional purposes where no one item is the predominant component of the kit. Examples are packages of assorted materials, such as a set of school social studies curriculum material (books, workbooks, guides, activities, etc.), or packages of educational test materials (tests, answer sheets, scoring guides, score charts, interpretative manuals, etc.).

• • • p - Mixed materials

Used when there are significant materials in two or more forms that are usually related by virtue of their having been accumulated by or about a person or body. Includes archival fonds and manuscript collections of mixed forms of materials, such as text, photographs, and sound recordings. Intended primary purpose is other than for instructional purposes (i.e., other than the purpose of those materials coded as o (Kit)).

• • • r - Three-dimensional artifact or naturally occurring object

Includes man-made objects such as models, dioramas, games, puzzles, simulations, sculptures and other three-dimensional art works, exhibits, machines, clothing, toys, and stitchery. Also includes naturally occurring objects such as, microscope specimens (or representations of them) and other specimens mounted for viewing.

• • • t - Manuscript language material

Used for manuscript language material or a microform of manuscript language material. This category is applied to items for language material in handwriting, typescript, or computer printout including printed materials completed by hand or by keyboard. At the time it is created, this material is usually intended, either implicitly or explicitly, to exist as a single instance. Examples include marked or corrected galley and page proofs, manuscript books, legal papers, and unpublished theses and dissertations.

• • • Do not choose a - Language material

Includes microforms and electronic resources that are basically textual in nature, whether they are reproductions from print or originally produced.

• • • Do not choose c - Notated music

Used for printed, microform, or electronic notated music.

• • • Do not choose e - Cartographic material

Used for non-manuscript cartographic material or a microform of non-manuscript cartographic material. Includes maps, atlases, globes, digital maps, and other cartographic items.

Content types and physical description fields

Introduction

Your first choice—selecting an overall format for the bibliographic record—is not your only option for expressing the content of the resource. By adding 006 and 007 fields, the content of the resource (born-digital or hybrid) may be expressed in a way that HOLLIS can use it to enhance discovery. (Adding 006 and 007 fields can also improve HOLLIS retrieval when creating MARC records for analog collections.)

The ways that HOLLIS display and faceting makes use of your choices are listed here: Resource Types

By adding 300 fields, users, public services archivists, and collection managers have a better understanding of the content of the resource at a glance.

General Instruction

Optionally, add fields coded 006 (additional material characteristics), 007 (physical description fixed field), and 300 (physical description) to convey more information about the nature of the resource.

Additional content types

Optionally, add 006 fields to express any number of content types that are different from the choice you made for the overall bibliographic record.

Adding 006 fields is also how you can be very specific about the contents of computer files, which might be desirable for born-digital resources. For a list of possible values, see https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/concise/bd008c.html and scroll down to byte 26 (type of computer file).

There are myriad additional choices, which can prove overwhelming, but are optional. For a full list of options, follow the prompts in Alma or consult the Library of Congress documentation https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/concise/bd006.html As of December 2023, only the first value in this field will be used for faceting in HOLLIS.

Physical description fields

At least one 300 field is required.

Optionally, add 300 and 007 fields to express the complexity of content types in a mixed content archival resource. Consult your own repository’s practice when formulating the 300 field or fields.

• • • 300 fields can hold more information about the kinds of content in the resource. A count of the number of digital files, a count of various content types, or the amount of digital storage that files occupy can be easy to ascertain and very useful to researchers, public services staff, and collection managers. The drop-down fields in ArchivesSpace provide a controlled list of file types. Many repositories will wish the collection-level physical extents in ArchivesSpace and the physical descriptions in Alma to match.
    • There are a variety of practices regarding the expression of multiple units of measurement within a single or multiple 300 fields.
    • Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) is very flexible regarding physical description, while Resource Description and Access (RDA) practice is prescriptive. Archivists may wish to conform to RDA practice when they have single-item resources that are fully accessible online.
    • There are a variety of practices regarding subfield coding.  Some repositories will opt to place the unit of measurement in a subfield f while others simply place it in the subfield a along with the measurement count.

• • • The addition of 007 fields, one for each format expressed in a 300 field will allow HOLLIS to retrieve and filter the bibliographic record based on the data in these fields.

RDA content, media, and carrier types

While archivists at Harvard rarely add RDA content, media, and carrier types for analog collections, some repositories may elect to add these to born-digital resource descriptions, especially those with three or fewer content types.

RDA content types

The full list of RDA content types is here: https://www.loc.gov/standards/valuelist/rdacontent.html

RDA media types

There is only one media type that is relevant to born-digital archival resources. For hybrid collections, you may wish to repeat the field with the applicable term. https://www.loc.gov/standards/valuelist/rdamedia.html

RDA Carrier types

The RDA vocabulary choices for carrier types are unlikely to prove practical for the discovery or management of born-digital archival resources. The current recommendation is not to attempt to assign an RDA vocabulary term. If the element is considered required, “other” may serve. Archivists who wish to explore the possible carrier types will find the list here: https://www.loc.gov/standards/valuelist/rdacarrier.html

Form/genre terms

Recommended Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) terms/hierarchies

Repositories may wish to refer to the AAT for more specific terms.

• • • Born digital
    • Electronic records
    • Digital file formats (includes audio, still image, and moving image file formats, PDF, and more)
    • Web archives