TRAILS Cataloging

TRAILS Cataloging Policies

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TRAILS Bibliographic Record Policy

Submitted to the TRAILS General Council: September 20, 2018
Approved and Adopted: October 23, 2018
Reviewed and Updated: October 23, 2018

Alma is the primary shared library services platform for Treasure State Academic Information & Library Services (TRAILS) members. The purpose of this document is to outline the basic principles and practices identified by the Technical Services Committee/Cataloging subcommittee that guide decision making and enable the standardization of cataloging practices across the TRAILS Libraries. While workflows may vary from institution to institution, the basic principles and practices should remain the same. System wide policies and procedures are documented in the TRAILS FORUM. Institutions are strongly encouraged to share additional local policies and procedures.

There is no requirement to apply this policy retroactively to migrated records.

1. All bibliographic records (including temporary order records) will be contributed to the Network Zone (NZ).

  • The following exceptions are allowed:
    • Personal copies of materials on temporary loan for course reserves
    • Title borrowed on ILL from outside the consortia
    • Rented recreational reading collections
    • Suppressed bibliographic records created solely for financial tracking where discovery is not relevant
    • Brief records used to manage fast-adds, equipment circulation, room reservations, etc.
    • specific PDA/DDA/EBA programs (NOTE: Once purchased, such resources should be cataloged in the NZ)
    • Temporary records from MARCIVE or other vendors
    • Host bibliographic records created for bound with titles at a specific institution

2. OCLC is the preferred source for catalog records.

  • To the extent possible, bibliographic data in Alma should be synchronized with the corresponding data in the matching record in WorldCat.
  • Records remediated by MARCIVE or other sources, may be better than the corresponding OCLC record. In this situation do not overlay the existing Alma record without first upgrading the matching OCLC record.

3. Bibliographic records should adhere to national standards and system policies.

  • All individually cataloged bibliographic records for permanent additions to any library’s collection will be created according to national standards as defined by LC, PCC, and OCLC
  • The language of cataloging for all bibliographic records must be English.
  • Bibliographic data should never be edited contrary to national standards in order to accommodate the functionality of our current discovery layer. (Indexing and display for the public is controlled by the public interface and will be addressed by the Discovery subcommittee)
  • When multiple bibliographic records for a work, expression, and/or manifestation are available generally choose the most accurate and complete record to represent the resource. The following exceptions may apply based on format:
    • Continuing Resources – CONSER Records may be preferred over other more complete records due to their inclusion of publication pattern date rendered in the MARC 891 field. Alternatively choose the more complete non-CONSER record and add the publication pattern data prior to importing into the NZ. When adding publication pattern data to a bibliographic record use the 891 field and follow the General Policies and instructionsoutlined by CONSER. Additional information on utilizing this field can be found on the 891 Publication Pattern data page of the OCLC Bibliographic Formats and Standards.
  • No institution shall exclude data from source records based on individual campus preference. This applies to vendor record specifications, OCLC export settings, MarcEdit routines and normalization rules employed upon import. Exceptions to this rule are source record fields: 029, 59x, 69x and 9xx fields and obsolete MARC fields. A complete list of valid and obsolete MARC 21 data elements is available from the Library of Congress.
  • All bibliographic records added to the NZ must meet, and are encouraged to exceed, TRAILS approved minimal record standards. TRAILS minimal records will contain the following information:
    • Title
    • Creator (if applicable)
    • Date of production, publication, distribution, or manufacture
    • System Control Number (MARC 035) – Preferred system number is the OCLC number. This field is used for duplicate record detection in Alma.

4. Bibliographic record duplication within the NZ is to be avoided.

  • Duplicate bibliographic records for the same manifestation should not be added to the NZ and those discovered will be merged by appropriate staff (see TRAILS Cataloger Contact List)
  • Institutions may overlay a bibliographic record for one manifestation with the record for a different manifestation only if there are no holdings records attached from other institutions or if prior permission has been obtained by the institution(s) with attached holdings.
  • All locally activated titles should use the same bibliographic record for the same e-resource where possible. Due to the option of activating electronic resources at either the network or the local level, duplicate records for the same e-resource may be found and are acceptable in the NZ. (For more information regarding e-resources related policies please contact the E-Resources Committee)

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TRAILS Bound-With Cataloging Policy

Submitted to the TRAILS General Council: November 17, 2021
Approved and Adopted: December 15, 2021
Reviewed and Updated: December 15, 2021

For items that have a collective title and are bound-together in one volume

Create separate brief-level Host bibliographic records (HBRs) for each bound issue – attach holdings and item to this record.

Record will include the following fields (will create shared template):

  • Call number – include range of volume numbers (e.g. Q1.K17 v.46 no.13-22)
  • 245 – Title (Series title preferred)
  • 500 – Multiple titles bound together in a single volume. *
  • 774 1_ – $g Related parts (v., no. etc.) $a Main entry heading (title), $w Record control number (MMS ID no. from NZ) for each child title

These are minimum requirements; you may enhance the record as needed

*opted for this field rather than a 501 because a 501 is used when “the works that are contained in the item usually have distinctive titles and lack a collective title”, this example does not lack a collective title.

Records for the child titles do not have holdings or items and are contributed to the NZ.

In line with the current TRAILS policies, host bibliographic records and suppressed bibliographic series titles (with no items) are not contributed to the NZ.

Wait overnight for the “Related items” job to run, this will link the records by MMS ID so they will display together in both Alma and Primo when you search for the title(s).

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TRAILS - Treasure State Academic and Information Library Services

TRAILS
Treasure State Academic
Information & Library Services
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT 59717-3320
406.994.4432

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