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)
RELATED:
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
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:
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.
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.