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MARC DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 2013-DP05

DATE: May 31, 2013
REVISED:

NAME: Defining Indicator Values for Field 588 Source of Description Note in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format

SOURCE: CONSER, OCLC

SUMMARY: This paper discusses defining the first indicator position of the 588 field as a display constant controller to facilitate the correct creation of the captions to the note and enable the data in the field to be treated more as a data element that could be readily mapped to other formats or used for other purposes.

KEYWORDS: Field 588 (BD); Source of Description Note (BD)

RELATED:

STATUS/COMMENTS:
05/31/13 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.

06/29/13 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: Agreed that the paper should come back as a proposal. Preferred Option 1. Consider defining subfield $i for text when needed. Define # value in Indicator 1 as "no information provided". Remove "title from cover" in Example 1.


Discussion Paper No. 2013-DP05: Defining Indicator Values for Field 588

1. BACKGROUND

This paper discusses defining the first indicator position of the 588 field as a display constant controller. The captions Description based on and Latest issue consulted are commonly input in field 588 under AACR2 while RDA illustrates use of Identification of the resource based on in place of Description based on. CONSER and other institutions have opted to continue use of the shorter Description based on caption instead of using Identification of the resource based on creating the potential of diverging practices among serial and monograph catalogers. These captions are lengthy, complex, and frequently misspelled.  These issues would be eliminated by defining the first indicator position as a display constant controller. Such an indicator would simplify creation of the note and treat the designation following the caption more as a data element that could be readily mapped to other formats or used for other purposes.

Field 588 is currently defined the Bibliographic Format as follows:

Field 588 was added to the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format in 2009. Its implementation has allowed libraries greater flexibility to track and control administrative metadata primarily of interest to catalogers. In particular, it allows for greater control over public displays and identification of issue or part information for use in the automated creation of authority and publication pattern data.

Like field 500 where most 588 data was previously recorded, the field was implemented with undefined indicators and no display constants, requiring catalogers to continually supply needed captions in the text of the field.

2. DISCUSSION

The captions Description based on and Latest issue consulted are commonly input in field 588 under AACR2 while RDA illustrates use of Identification of the resource based on in place of Description based on. CONSER has opted to continue use of the shorter Description based on caption instead of using Identification of the resource based on creating the potential of diverging practices among serial and monograph catalogers.

These captions are lengthy and complex. Both Description and Identification are frequently misspelled so that catalogers are often in the position of giving this element more attention than ought to be needed. Unnecessary variations in the captions (e.g., Latest issue consulted versus Latest issue examined versus Most recent issue consulted) add complexity to automated programs attempting to make use of data identified by the caption.

These issues would be eliminated by defining the first indicator position as a display constant controller following the pattern already established for a number of other note fields (i.e., 505, 511, 516, 520, 521, 522, 524, 526, 555, 556, 565, 567, 581, and 586). Such an indicator would simplify creation of the note and treat the designation following the caption more as a data element that could be readily mapped to other formats or used for other purposes.

A single indicator value should be defined to represent Description based on and Identification of the resource based on, the choice of specific caption to be displayed would be determined by individual libraries or based on the coding of the catalog instructions used in 040 $e or elsewhere in the record. Another single indicator value should be defined to represent Latest issue consulted, and a final single value should be defined to indicate that no display constant should be generated.

3. OPTIONS

3.1. Option 1

In field 588, redefine the first indicator as a Display constant controller with the following values where value blank is redefined as "No display constant generated."

First Indicator
Display constant controller
#- No display constant generated
0 - Description based on or Identification of the resource based on
1 - Latest issue consulted

3.2. Option 2

In field 588 redefine the first indicator as a Display constant controller with the following values, changing value blank to obsolete and defining value 8 as "No display constant generated" in line with the majority of other display constant controller indicator values in other 5XX fields.

First Indicator
Display constant controller
# - Undefined (Obsolete)
0 - Description based on or Identification of the resource based on
1 - Latest issue consulted
8 - No display constant generated

4. EXAMPLES

4.1. Example 1:

Current Practice:

588 ## $a Description based on: Vol. 2, no. 2 (Feb. 1984); title from cover.

Proposed Practice:

588 0# $a Vol. 2, no. 2 (Feb. 1984); title from cover.

4.2. Example 2:

Current Practice:

588 ## $a Latest issue consulted: 2001.

Proposed Practice:

588 1# $a 2001.

4.3. Example 3:

Current Practice:

588 ## $a Cannot determine the relationship to Bowling illustrated, also published in New York, 1952-58. $5 DLC

Proposed Practice:

588 ## $a Cannot determine the relationship to Bowling illustrated, also published in New York, 1952-58. $5 DLC

or

588 8# $a Cannot determine the relationship to Bowling illustrated, also published in New York, 1952-58. $5 DLC

5. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

5.1.  Do you agree with the recommended practice of coding an indicator in place of use of spelled-out captions in $a?

5.2.  Do you agree with use of a single indicator value to represent both Description based on and Identification of the resource based on?

5.3.  Do you prefer Option 1 redefining blank or Option 2 making blank obsolete?


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