Cataloging Pointers
2003-2004
Partners in Education

 

 The Fayette County
Media Services and School Libraries Newsletter
Aug     Sept     Oct     Nov/Dec     Jan     Feb     Mar     Apr     May 

August 
     As the school year begins remember to use the Cataloging Manual developed by FCPS Librarians. You received a hard copy in your notebook (02-03).  It can also be accessed on the web using Adobe Acrobat Reader at http://itech.fcps.net/trt11/libtechserv/Cataloging_document.pdf  

     A MARC Cataloging Power Point presentation concerning the most well used tags for basic cataloging can be viewed.  Please remember if you add new records which are not already in the UNION, they need to follow FCPS Standards. Beginning in September, this space will be used each month for a new tag in a Marc Record.  
    

September
     This month we will look at the 440 series tag. There are two tags that can be used for series. They are 440 and 490. Fayette County uses the 440 tag. The indexing capabilities with the 440 tag are much better than with the 490. When using the 440 tag, the second indicator is for non-filing characters (ex. A-2, An-3, The-4). There are three subfields you can use with the series. They are a, p and v. The a subfield is the series title. The p subfield is for a named part or section. The v subfield is for the numbered part or section. Punctuation for the 440 tag is a ; (semi-colon) at the end of the a subfield, when you are using the p or v subfield. If you use all three subfields then you will use the ; (semi-colon) after the a field and a , (comma) after either the p or v (whichever comes first). There is NO ending punctuation for the 440 tag. For more information about the 440 tag, visit the Library of Congress or Follett Tag of the Month.
     

October
    Ever had something in your library that needed a home, but you just couldn't find the right spot for it?  For MARC records, it is the 500 general notes tag.  This is the place for information that will not fit in any other tag. Some examples of information that could go in the 500 tag would be: originally published under a different title, translated from another language, etc. For more information about the 500 tag, visit the Library of Congress or Follett Tag of the Month.
   

November/December
      The 505 tag is the formatted content note tag. This tag can be used to content a group of items (ex. video series that is cataloged under the series and each video has a different title). In Subfield a, place a "space--space" between each title.

It can also be used for a table of contents of a book (ex. a book of short stories by different authors). In subfield a place a space/space between the title and author and place a space-space between each title.

For more information about the 505 tag check out the Library of Congress or Follett Tag of the Month. 
   
January
 The 508 and 511 tags can be used with audiovisual materials. The 508 tag is the Creation/Production Credit Notes. An example of this is a video or DVD that has a production notes (Producer, Director, etc.). The 511 tag is the participant/ performer note. This could be people who are performing on the video or DVD. This tag can also be used for audiocassettes that have performers.  An example would be the person who is reading a book on tape.  More information can be found on the Follett site for 508 and 511 tags or at the Library of Congress for the  508 and 511 tags.
February
 One thing Media Services has found when checking the UNION database, is that information that is local to one school is showing up in the 500 tag General Notes. Since the 500 tag travels to the union, it should not be used for information that is unique to your school.  Information about accelerated reader does not belong in the 500 tag.  Instead use one of the 590-599 tags (59X tags).  It is important to use the local note tags because this information  does not travel to the union.  Some examples of this information would be: If you owned an autographed copy of a book and wanted it noted; if pages were missing and you still wanted to circulate the book because it was out of print or if you only had part of a set and wanted to list what volumes you had. Follett has detailed information about the 590 tags. 
   
March
 Searching for information in the OPAC on a specific topic can sometimes be tricky. You may not always be able to use subject headings to find everything your library owns on a specific topic.  That is why it is important to have a 520 Tag - Summary, etc. The summary should not be long, but it does need to have as many keywords as possible.  It needs to provide an overview of the story if it is fiction. If it is nonfiction, it needs to provide as much information as possible with just a few sentences. The 520 Tag should not have flowery phrases or words that give opinions, (Ex. This wonderful story. The story may be wonderful but remember that is your opinion, not a fact). Here is more information about the 520 Tag from the Library of Congress and Follett's tag of the month.
     
April
 The 521 tag - Target Audience is one of the most misunderstood and under used MARC tag.  In Fayette County Public Schools Databases it is used for the Lexile information but can be used for a more general grade level or age level. It is a repeatable tag. This is NOT to be used for Accelerated Reader and Reading Counts.  When using the 521 tag for Lexile information, the first indicator is 8 (no display generated). Subfield a is the Lexile number and Subfield b should have the word Lexile. The 521 tag can also show reading grade level, interest age level and interest grade level. The first indicator shows what type of audience information you are displaying. For example 0 is Reading grade level. Below are examples of multiple 521 tags in a record.                                                
MARC View  What Students and Teachers See

Check out more information about the 521 tag from Library of Congress or the 521 tag at Follett.  
    
May
 The 526 tag is for study program information.  This is the tag you will use for Accelerated Reader and Reading Counts information.   Since different schools will have different information in this tag, it is filtered out of the union.   So if you pull down a MARC record from the union.  You will have to add the AR or RC information to your local record.  The tag will have the following information:  

526  0              aProgram name
                        bInterest level
                        cReading level
                        dTitle point value
Indicator 1:   0 is for Reading program ,   8 is for No display constant generated.

Optional additional subfields are:
                       x for nonpublic notes 
                       z for public notes


Contact bhardy@fayette.k12.ky.us at Media Services with comments/questions regarding this site.
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