MARBI Discussion Paper No. 2008-06: Coding deposit programs as methods of acquisitions in field 008/07 of the MARC 21 holdings format

Discussion Paper 2008-DP06: Coding deposit programs as methods of acquisitions in field 008/07

1. INTRODUCTION

The Biblioteca Nacional de España and other Spanish libraries have been able to code for “Legal deposit” and “Depository library” in the IBERMARC holdings format in the past. Because an estimated 80-90% of all processed materials obtained by the Biblioteca Nacional de España come from its Legal Deposit program, the ability to code for “Legal deposit” has been very beneficial to its collection management activities.

The Biblioteca Nacional de España currently identifies items on “Deposit” as resources received from a person or entity by agreement in order to preserve them. Ownership and use of the resources continue to belong to the person or entity. Resources acquired through Deposit are different than items acquired through “Legal deposit, ” however. Because of this, IBERMARC includes codes for both “Legal deposit” and “Deposit”. According to the Biblioteca Nacional de España, items acquired by legal deposit are free and belong to the collecting library.

IBERMARC also differentiates items acquired through a depository library program. According to the Biblioteca Nacional de España, these resources are freely received by agreement from a publishing institution that is not commercial, for example, by a government agency. However, unlike items acquired under legal deposit, these resources do not belong to the receiving library.

DISCUSSION

2.1 Code “d” (Deposit) in field 008/07

Field 008/07 (Method of acquisition) of the MARC 21 Format for Holdings Data describes how reporting organizations acquire bibliographic items. Code “d” (Deposit) identifies items acquired through deposit programs. It has been traditionally coded for “Legal deposit,” “Depository” and other deposit programs, depending on the type of program in which an institution participates. For example, the British Library currently codes field 008/07 (Method of acquisition) code “d” (Deposit) for items acquired through its Legal Deposit program (Please see: www.bl.uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/legaldep/). Likewise, several American university libraries participating in the U.S. Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) code field 008/07 (Method of acquisition) code “d” (Deposit) for items acquired through the FDLP.

2.2 Defining codes for Legal deposit and Depository library in field 008/07 (Method of acquisition)

For the Biblioteca Nacional de España to continue to differentiate Deposit, Legal deposit and Depository library methods of acquisition, new codes could be defined in field 008/07 (Method of acquisition) for “Legal deposit” and “Depository library.” Although this may be beneficial to Spanish libraries, it will disrupt the coding practices of other MARC 21 users who have traditionally coded 008/07 code “d” (Deposit) for all kinds of deposit programs. Likewise, the distinctions between legal deposit and depository library programs may differ in countries around the world.

2.3 Coding field 541 (Immediate source of acquisition note)

Field 541 (Immediate source of acquisition note) subfield $c (Method of acquisition) may also be coded to indicate the method of acquisition. For example:

541 ##$3Videocassette;$aCopyright Collection$cCopyright deposit;
$dReceived: 1/16/85 from LC video lab.

In this case, field 008/07 (Method of acquisition) would be coded “d” (Deposit) for deposit programs, in general, and then field 541 (Immediate source of acquisition note) subfield $c (Method of acquisition) may contain more precise information about the actual method of acquisition.

Field 541 (Immediate source of acquisition note) is currently defined as:

541 - IMMEDIATE SOURCE OF ACQUISITION NOTE (R)
- Indicators
  - First - Privacy
    - # - No information provided
    - 0 - Private
    - 1 - Not private
  - Second - Undefined
    - # - Undefined
- Subfield Codes
  - $a - Source of acquisition (NR)
  - $b - Address (NR)
  - $c - Method of acquisition (NR)
  - $d - Date of acquisition (NR)
  - $e - Accession number (NR)
  - $f - Owner (NR)
  - $h - Purchase price (NR)
  - $n - Extent (R)
  - $o - Type of unit (R)
  - $3 - Materials specified (NR)
  - $5 - Institution to which field applies (NR)
  - $6 - Linkage (NR)
  - $8 - Field link and sequence number (R)

If machine processing of the information in field 541 (Immediate source of acquisition note) subfield $c (Method of acquisition) is desirable, the Spanish could use a controlled vocabulary.

QUESTIONS

3.1 Would it be beneficial to define codes for “Legal deposit” and “Depository library” in field 008/07 (Method of acquisition)?
3.2 If so, how will this affect current usage of field 008/07 code “d” (Deposit)?
3.3 Is it feasible to code field 541 (Immediate source of acquisition note) subfield $c (Method of acquisition) instead of field 008/07 code “d”? Can the method of acquisition coded in field 541 subfield $c be successfully processed by machines?
3.4 Would using a controlled vocabulary in subfield $c allow for machine-processing of the data?