020/ISBN Fields in MARC Records

When importing records from OCLC, you will note that there are often several ISBNs on a record. You probably have only a single item in hand and cannot verify the accuracy of the information for anything other than that item. You are wondering what to do with those other ISBNs. Help is here.

Note the binding or “qualifying” information which is often contained in subfield |q and use it as your guide. RETAIN or DELETE ISBN fields according to the material type of the item in hand.

 RETAIN ISBNs for items which are of the SAME material type. o Material type = Books: Regular print books of various bindings, whether hardcover, trade paper, library edition, etc. o Material type = Large Print: Large print books of various bindings, whether hardcover, trade paper, library edition, etc. o Material type = Audiobook: Audiobooks from various distributors/publishers may have different ISBNs and may be on the same record. o Material type = DVD: DVDs from various distributors/publishers may have different ISBNs and may be on the same record. o You have no way of knowing whether the items that carry these other ISBNs will be an actual match to the record you are importing, but don’t worry. That’s the next cataloger’s job. Meanwhile, the ISBN is in place so that the next cataloger can find your record and (hopefully) make a match. o Pocket-sized paperbacks are not usually found on the same records as full-sized books.  DELETE ISBNs for items which are of a DIFFERENT material type. o Regular print separate from large print. o Audiobook separate from print book. o Ebook. DELETE EBOOK ISBNs FROM PRINT BOOK RECORDS.  BINDING INFORMATION IS ABSENT and you are in doubt of the material type: o Search the unverified ISBN on Amazon or www.worldcat.org OR o Educated guess. (Example: National Geographic Kids titles are often published in both hardcover and paperback). OR o Delete the unverified ISBN from the record. Subfield |q

Subfield |q identifies “qualifying information” concerning the item associated with the number recorded in 020 subfield |a or |z. Most often, it denotes binding information such as (hardcover) or paperback. Note that the inclusion of qualifying information is OPTIONAL, but that where it is present, the use of subfield |q is REQUIRED. Use of parentheses is also optional. Links to the relevant Library of Congress & OCLC standards are here: https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd020.html https://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/0xx/020.html

In order to update our holdings on Novelist, WVLS staff must export the ISBNs of our new bibs. Any information in the 020 field OTHER than the ISBN AND WITHOUT a subfield is read by the program as junk which must be manually removed one at a time in order for the import into Novelist to work correctly. Here is a screenshot of such a record:

This is a screenshot of a record which has subfield |q. It will import into Novelist correctly without extra work:

This is not a Novelist “problem.” There are many library applications which require export/import of ISBNs, and in all cases, subfield |q functions as a “stop” to ensure that the 020 field has exactly 13 or 10 digits.

Unfortunately, not all records have subfield |q. When we set up our profile with BackStage, we asked that it be added when absent, and for the most part, it appears that they have done so. But workflows being what they are, we can’t always wait for BackStage before doing other cataloging tasks.

The absence of this subfield is probably not a big enough issue to justify going back through old records, but what we can and should do, is ensure that it is present or add it to the new records we import. But “Adding subfield |q is a pain!” you say. The keyboard sequence is: Backspace + Shift + Pipe (Vertical dash) + q

“I need 3 hands!”

But fortunately, we can add a macro that makes this much easier, and it is the easiest macro ever.

Admin  Settings  Macros

Choose an empty macro slot. You may need to go to ALT or CTRL or SHIFT if all of the No Modifier slots are full.

Type : Shift + Pipe (Vertical dash) + q

Save Settings  OK

Your macro (in this case, in slot F9) is now ready. To use, you may still need to Backspace to remove any spaces between the ISBN and the qualifying information (the macro can’t do that for you). The macro only saves a couple of keystrokes, but the keystrokes it will save are on opposite ends of the keyboard, and it will feel like much more.

I highly recommend you try it and I welcome your feedback on this or any other Bib Committee issue.