Discussion Paper 2001-DP01

DATE: December 15, 2000
REVISED:

NAME: Recording Narrators in Fields 508 and 511 in the Bibliographic Format

SOURCE: Oakville Public Library

SUMMARY: This paper discusses the possibility of changing the scope of fields 508 and 511 in the MARC 21 bibliographic format. Because there has been inconsistent coding of "Narrator" in both fields 508 and 511, changing the definition of these fields would end confusion and standardize coding practices.

KEYWORDS: Field 511 (BD); Field 508 (BD); Narrator (BD)

STATUS/COMMENTS:

12/15/00 - Forwarded to the MARC Advisory Committee for discussion at the January 2001 MARBI meetings.

1/13/01 - Results of the MARC Advisory Committee discussion - MARBI decided that narrators should be coded only in field 511 to eliminate inconsistent coding practices and possible information retrieval problems. No one believed that redefining the first indicator value 3 (Narrators) in field 511 would assist in indicating the narrators' roles of participation when differentiating them from cast members. A formal proposal was not considered necessary for this change, however, LC will alter its documentation to reflect the new coding practice in the immediate future.

Discussion Paper 2001-DP01: Recording Narrators in Fields 508 and 511

1. BACKGROUND

1.1. Field 508

Field 508 (Creation/Production Credits Note) contains a note that states the credits for persons or organizations, other than members of the cast, who have participated in the creation and/or production of the work. It is used to credit the producer, director, film editor, consultant, etc., of a production. In the past, voice-over narrators (people who narrate, but who are not seen in productions) have also been described in field 508 because of their role as non-cast participants in productions.

1.2. Field 511

Field 511 (Participant or Performer Note) contains a note giving information about the participants, players, narrators, presenters or performers for items, such as films, musicals and recordings. It is used to credit on-stage performers in productions. The first indicator was originally defined as follows to generate a display constant at the beginning of a field:

Indicator 1 - Type of participant or performer
0 - General (i.e., no print constant generated)
1 - Cast
2 - Presenter
3 - Narrator

In August, 1987, Proposal 88-1/511 made the first indicator values 2 and 3 obsolete because of the following problems with these values:

The terms, "Cast:," "Presenter:," and "Narrator:" were not meant to be the only terms used at the beginning of the field and thus, these indicators were restrictive.
Notes beginning with "Narrator:" have always been handled two different ways. If the note pertains to a voice-over narrator, the information is coded as field 508 (Credits Note); otherwise, the information is coded as field 511 (Participants and Performer Note).
Other than 0 or 1, values had never been used extensively.

During the discussion of Proposal 88-1/511, several people suggested that value 3 (Narrator) remain in the field because of its usefulness to display. However, this suggestion was not approved.

DISCUSSION

The instruction to list on-screen narrators in field 511 and voice-over narrators in 508 is both ambiguous and difficult to verify. It may be difficult for catalogers to ascertain whether the narrator is on or off of the screen unless they view the item. Thus, because of the ambiguity of these states of "narrator," the differentiation between on-screen and voice-over narrators has been coded inconsistently by catalogers. Therefore, using only one field to indicate narrators would end this confusion and promote consistent coding practices. Using only field 511 to denote "narrators" would be advantageous because an indicator value for narrators was originally defined in it prior to format integration and thus, many existing records already contain narrator information in field 511. Likewise, because most narrators are considered to be part of production casts (i.e., performers rather than producers), field 511 is the most logical choice of field designation. However, because narrators have also been coded in both fields 500 (General Note) and 508 (Creation/Production Credits Note), the impact of this change may be an issue in bibliographic databases.

The 511 field could be defined as the following:

This field contains a note giving information about the participants, players, narrators, presenters, or performers. Both on-screen and voice-over narrators are recorded in field 511.

The definition of field 508 could be changed to:

This field contains a note that states the credits for persons or organizations, other than members of the cast, who have participated in the creation and/or production of the work.
The note is usually displayed and/or printed with an introductory term that is generated as a display constant. Both on-screen and voice-over narrators are recorded in field 511.

3. QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION

Is the differentiation between on-stage and voice-over narrators significant? Does coding these two types of narrators in different fields provide meaningful and accurate information to library users?
Is there a need to alter the practice of listing on-screen narrators in field 511 and voice-over narrators in 508? Has inconsistent coding of narrators in fields 508 and 511 had a detrimental effect on information retrieval?
Would defining only field 511 for narrators reduce inconsistent coding practices and improve retrieval of narrator information in bibliographic databases? Is there an impact on existing records? Could this change confuse catalogers further?
Is there a need to redefine the first indicator value 3 (Narrators) in field 511 to assist in indicating narrators' role of participation when differentiating them from cast members in bibliographic records? Would it also help to ensure consistent coding in field 511?

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