Contents | Introduction | Description | Provenance, etc. | Notes
B.1: Introduction
In general, access to all parts of the bibliographic record is now increasing as systems become more powerful and more sophisticated and as users’ requirements are communicated to system suppliers. In considering access points to be provided, libraries should not necessarily be limited by the retrieval options available in their system at the time.
B.1.1: There are no specialized rare book codes for access points, and it is recommended that libraries devise policies based on AACR2, paying careful attention to any special needs arising from the characteristics of older books.17
B.2: General data fields
B.2.1: It is recommended that all names of persons/corporate bodies used in access points for general data are taken from the Library of Congress/NACO Name Authority File or, if not already included, are established in accordance with AACR2. Particular care should be taken to provide cross-references (through a linked authority file where available) to other forms of names for authors whose names are commonly found in both Latinized and vernacular forms.
B.2.2: At the minimum level, access points should be provided for all authors and those with major responsibility for the intellectual content of the edition, for example, editors, translators, and, for illustrated books, illustrators. At higher levels, access points should be considered for all those having any responsibility for any part of the content of the book. Relator terms or codes should be used if appropriate, especially in large databases; relator terms are more common, but the MARC 21 format provides subfields for both terms (e.g.
'printer') and codes (e.g. 'prt').18 Where the reason for any of these access points is not clear from the title-page transcription, notes should be made.
B.2.3: At the minimum level, titles should be indexed as found. At higher levels, authorized uniform titles should be provided, and also additional title access under different spelling (important for titles using old spelling) or different titles (half titles, running titles, etc.)
B.2.4: The limitations of searching for subjects by title keywords should be borne in mind (especially by libraries with non-English-language material), and consideration given to applying subject headings.19
B.2.5: In the light of existing secondary card files and/or known users’ demands, libraries should consider use of access by genre/physical characteristics, using the terms from approved thesauri in fields 655.20 If necessary, such access points can be applied very selectively, for example, only for catalogue records for which effectively they provide the primary access points (for example, a genre heading for bookplates for an album of bookplates). When these access points relate to copy-specific details (provenance, binding; see further below, section C), library location symbols should be added in accordance with the MARC Code List for Organizations, available via the web: http://www.loc.gov/marc/organizations/
B.2.6: Access by bibliographical references. Whether this is provided via a separate index or through keyword searching, retrieval will be facilitated by the use of standard citation forms. Cf. A.2.7.
B.2.7: Access by town of printing by normalized name using the MARC 21 field 752 for hierarchical place names. We recommend that names be entered in accordance with one of the controlled vocabularies for geographic place name, for example Library of Congress21 or the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names Online (TGN), but that where towns have been renamed or names have changed beyond recognition, either cross-references are provided or the earlier names/forms are indexed in addition to the later ones.22
B.2.8: Access by publisher, printer or bookseller (700/710, with subfield for relator term or code).23 Authority files should be consulted and otherwise AACR2 followed in constructing headings (cf. B.2.1).24
B.2.9: Bibliographical fingerprints (field 026). Fingerprints can act as a kind of ISBN for older books and are therefore useful for retrieving records. As fingerprints are constructed from several parts of the book and not simply from the title page, they are even useful for finding records for books lacking their title pages. Cf. A.2.8.
B.3: Local (i.e. copy-specific or item) data fields
B.3.1: Names recorded in notes on provenance and binding should be indexed in accordance with the Library of Congress/NACO Name Authority File or, if not included there, established in accordance with AACR2, with relator terms or codes and the appropriate MARC library location symbols, with the addition of shelfmarks or other brief identifying features where there are several copies corresponding to the bibliographical record (cf. A.3.5).
B.3.2: The use of standard terminology in these notes fields will facilitate keyword searching.
B.3.3: Provenance and binding are further discussed in section C.
Contents | Introduction | Description | Provenance, etc. | Notes