Record Label

This area of the record contains general information which may be needed in processing the record, constituted according to the provisions of ISO 2709.

Occurrence

The record label occurs at the beginning of every record. It is mandatory and not repeatable.

Table of Fixed-length Data Elements

Notes on Field Contents

(1) Record length

Five decimal digits, right justified, with zero fill where necessary, representing the number of characters in the entire record, including the label itself, the directory, and the variable fields. This data element is normally calculated automatically when the total record is assembled for exchange.

(2) Record status

A single character, denoting the processing status of the record.

c corrected record

A record to which changes have been made to correct errors, one which has been amended to bring it up to date, or one where fields have been deleted. However, if the previous record was a prepublication record (e.g.; CIP) and a full record replacement is now being issued, code 'p' should be used instead of 'c'. A record labelled 'n', 'o' or 'p' on which a correction is made is coded as 'c'.

d deleted record

A record which is exchanged in order to indicate that a record bearing this control number is no longer valid. The record may contain only the label, directory; and 001 (record control number) field, or it may contain all the fields in the record as issued; in either case GENERAL NOTE 300 field may be used to explain why the record is deleted.

n new record

A new record (including a pre-publication record, e.g., CIP). If code 'o' applies, it is used in preference to ' n '.

o previously issued higher level record

A new record at a hierarchical level below the highest level for which a higher level record has already been issued (see also character position 8).

p previously issued as an incomplete, pre-publication record

A record for a published item replacing a pre-publication record, e.g., CIP.

(3) Implementation codes

Implementation codes are so called because the codes in character positions 6 to 9 are not defined in the standard format ISO 2709 but are dependent on the individual implementation of the standard. One such implementation is UNIMARC, and the use of these codes in UNIMARC is defined as follows.

(3.a) Type of record

Needed by certain agencies. The domestic format assigns different functions to the same fields, subfields etc. depending on the type of record. Some are the equivalent of General Material Designations; but this is not always the case.

The code should be in accordance with the actual type of material being catalogued rather than with its secondary physical format. Hence there is no code for microforms: a microform containing printed text would be coded as "language materials; printed".

However, ISBD (ER), page 2, gives two options for cataloguing electronic resources which share the characteristics of another form: one is to catalogue the item as an electronic resource and add details of the additional characteristics; the other is to catalogue the item following the rules of the other relevant ISBD and add the electronic resource details. In the case of a digitised map, the first option would lead to a catalogue record with a character position 6 of '1'; the record would describe the item as an electronic resource with additional coded fields and notes giving the cartographic details. The second option would lead to a catalogue record with a character position 6 of 'e'; the record would describe the item as a map with additional coded fields and notes giving those details applicable to the electronic resource. The latter corresponds to the recommended treatment of microforms given above.

a language materials, printed

b language materials, manuscript

c music scores, printed

d music scores, manuscript

e cartographic materials, printed

f cartographic materials, manuscript

g projected and video material (motion pictures, filmstrips, slides, transparencies, video recordings)

i sound recordings, nonmusical performance

j sound recordings, musical performance

k two dimensional graphics (pictures, designs etc.)

l electronic resources

m multimedia

r three dimensional artefacts and realia

(3.b) Bibliographic level

The bibliographic level of a record relates to the main part of the record, or the primary bibliographic entity described in that record, the title for which appears in the 200 field.

Some cataloguing codes may not make a clear distinction between a multipart item (multivolume monograph) and a monographic series. In such cases an agency should use whichever of the values is more appropriate in the majority of cases. Where such a distinction is made, but cannot be determined in a particular instance, the item should be coded as a serial.

a analytic (component part)

bibliographic item that is physically contained in another item such that the location of the component part is dependent upon the physical identification and location of the containing item. A component part may itself be either monographic or serial.

The following are examples of materials that are coded 'a': an article in a journal; a continuing column or feature within a journal; a single paper in a collection of conference proceedings.

c collection

bibliographic item that is a made-up collection.

The following are examples of materials which are coded 'c': a collection of pamphlets housed in a box; a set of memorabilia in various formats kept together as a collection; all the manuscripts of an individual author.

This code is used only for made-up collections.

m monographic

bibliographic item complete in one physical part or intended to be completed in a finite number of parts.

The following are examples of materials which are coded 'm': a single part item (monograph); a multipart item (multivolume monograph); a separately catalogued single part of a multipart item; a book in a series; a separately catalogued special issue of a newspaper; a sheet map in a series; a complete series of maps, assuming the series was intended to be completed in a finite number of parts; a single globe.

s serial

bibliographic item issued in successive parts and intended to be continued indefinitely.

The following are examples of materials which are coded 's': a journal that is still being published; a complete run of a journal that has ceased publication; a newspaper; a monographic series.

(3.c) Hierarchical level code

This code indicates the hierarchical relationship (if any) between the record and other records in the file.

Organisations never creating records related hierarchically should always enter #. Organisations making links between records which are related hierarchically should enter the appropriate code 0, 1 or 2. In this context, code 0 indicates that, although the system does use hierarchical linking, the particular record is not related to others in the file. Codes 1 and 2 should be used only if records at other levels actually exist; records linked in this way must all be present in the same file.

If character position 5 contains ?o? then ?2? should be entered in character position 8.

# hierarchical relationship undefined

0 no hierarchical relationship

1 highest level record

2 record below highest level (all levels below)

(3.d) Undefined

Contains a blank.

# blank

(4) Indicator length

One numeric digit giving the length of the indicators. This is invariably 2 in UNIMARC.

(5) Subfield identifier length

One numeric digit giving the length of the subfield identifier; e.g. '$a'. This is invariably 2 in UNIMARC.

(6) Base address of data

Five numeric digits, right justified with leading zeros, indicating the starting character position of the first data field relative to the beginning of the record. Since the first character of the record is numbered 0 (zero), the number entered as the base address of data will be equal to the total number of characters in the label and directory including the field separator that terminates the directory. In the directory, the starting character position for each field is given relative to the first character of the first data field which will be field 001, rather than the beginning of the record. The base address thus gives the base from which the position of each field is calculated. This number will generally be supplied automatically by the computer when the UNIMARC record is finally assembled.

(7) Additional record definition

Three character positions containing codes giving further details necessary for processing the record.

(7.a) Encoding level

A one-character code indicating in general the degree of completeness of the machine record, and whether or not the item was examined when the record was created.

# full level (blank)

The item represented in the record was examined when the record was prepared for inclusion in a machine-readable database.

1 sublevel 1

The item represented in the record was not examined when the record was prepared for inclusion in a machinereadable database. For example, this may mean that the record was taken from a catalogue card and when tags, indicators and subfield identifiers were applied it was not always possible to add them with the same certainty of accuracy as it would have been if the original item had been examined.

2 sublevel 2

The record is a prepublication (Cataloguing In Publication) record. These records will generally be less than complete, e.g., the collation field may be absent or incomplete.

3 sublevel 3

The record contains less than full cataloguing and may or may not be subsequently upgraded to a full level record by the issuing agency. For CIP records use sublevel 2.

(7.b) Descriptive cataloguing form

A one-character code indicating the form of the descriptive cataloguing used in the record. It indicates whether the descriptive fields 200-225 have been constructed according to the provisions of the International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD).

An agency that catalogues its books in accordance with ISBD(M) but its serials only partially in accordance with ISBD(S) may enter code '#' in all records of books and 'i' in all records of serials, even though many of the serial records might by chance conform to ISBD(S) completely.

# record is in full ISBD form (blank)

All the ISBD data elements present in the record are in accordance with the provisions of ISBD.

i Record is in partial or incomplete ISBD form

Some of the fields but not all conform to the provisions of ISBD.

n Record is in non-ISBD form

None of the ISBD data elements present in the record are necessarily in accordance with the provision of ISBD.

(7.c) Undefined

Contains a blank.

# blank

(8) Directory map

This provides details of the length and structure of the directory entry for each of the UNIMARC fields.

(8.a) Length of 'Length of field'

One decimal digit giving the number of characters in the 'length of field' part of each directory entry. The value in UNIMARC is 4. This allows a maximum field length of 9,999 characters.

(8.b) Length of 'Starting character position'

One decimal digit giving the number of characters in the 'starting character position' of each directory entry. The value in UNIMARC is 5. This allows a maximum record length of approximately 100,000 characters.

(8.c) Length of implementationdefined portion

A decimal digit giving the number of characters in the implementationdefined portion of each directory entry. As a UNIMARC directory entry does not contain such a portion, the value in UNIMARC is 0.

(8.d) Undefined

Contains a blank.

# blank