Unicorn cataloguing guidelines

This document has two parts. One establishes guidelines for editing the Library's catalogue database during "gap periods" when a portion of the database has been sent out for authorities processing. These usually occur twice a year. We also look here at long-term standards for data entry in Unicorn.

ALLOWED on all bibliographic records:

• Create item (title): create or import an entirely new bibliographic record with a new call control number.
• Create item (call): add a new location or call number (volume) to existing or new records.
• Create item (copy): add a new copy to existing or new records.
• Duplicate item: remember to delete the old CONTROL NUMBER from new record.
• Modify item: information in the "Vol/Copy" part of the record.

NOT allowed on records during gap period:

• Remove item on record where the copy is the only one attached to the title record. This will remove the title record as well as the copy and may be later uploaded again from Gap.
• Modify item for information in the "bib" portion of the record (CONTROL NUMBER, fixed and variable fields).
• Replace current record in Smartport. This would overlay the record, which would, in turn, be replaced by the record from MARCIVE.

Standardization of data entry

Copy information

Barcodes

Physical barcodes will be placed in all items going to all locations with the exception of:

ACQ-OFFICE
CAT-OFFICE
CIRC-DESK
CNS (all home locations)
COLLECTDEV
ILL-OFFICE
INFO-OFFICE
HISTORICAL (unless instructed to do so)
HONS-DISS
MAP-ARCHIV
MICROFORM
PAMPHLET
PERIODICAL
RARE
STORAGE
THESES
VAULT



Exception locations will be assigned an automatic (AUTO) barcode in order to properly display holdings to the public.

• Complete listing of MUN Library Unicorn locations.
• Information on the prescribed placement of barcodes on physical items.

Type

Type is to be used in Unicorn only in defining circulation policies. For print monographs select BOOK, unless the title is to go to a CNS, MUSIC, or a REFERENCE location, or is an ATLAS, MAP, MICROFORM, or PAMPHLET. All CNS materials, including HONSDISS, THESES, FILE, etc. will be assigned type IN-LIBRARY (NONCIRC). If you have questions about applying this field see your supervisor.

• Complete list of item types.

Item type formats are more specific than the MARC FORMAT described below and should not be confused with HOME LOCATION (MAP and PERIODICAL, for example, can be both a type and a home location). Note that PERIODICAL is not synonymous with FORMAT SERIAL, nor does it infer a receiving department within the Library. Rather, it refers to a serial material type (journals) all of whose members share a common circulation policy within a particular library. Serials may also be assigned an item type of BOOKS, kept in BOOKSTACKS and still be considered FORMAT SERIAL.

Home location

This field indicates the collection within a library. With a few exceptions, principly Union list of serials locations and special collections like CMC's TESTLIB, GRENFELL's SWGC-NFLD, or HSL's HISTORICAL, the list consists of generic names which may be used in combination with any library. Thus any library can have a home location of FILE, VAULT, GOVDOC, or MEDIA connected with it. For most libraries BOOKSTACKS will probably get the highest percentage of new copies.

• MUN Library Unicorn locations

Current location

This is used in EDIT ITEM to temporarily assign a title to a location or collection differing from its normal home location. In some cases it will be set automatically by system activity, such as the current location CHECKEDOUT, while in most cases it is a mirror reflection of home location and is created automatically when first creating a copy. While we could use this to indicate a temporary location of NEWBKSHELF, we will not do so because of the amount of work involved in taking them out of that location once their week is up! Except for assigning values such as MISSING, BINDERY, or LOST, and allowing the system to automatically mirror home location here, we will not be using this field in Cataloguing.

Item cat1

This is used to identify specific non-print formats

Item cat2

This is used to identify special collections

Permanent?

This should be left at its default value of "Y". "N" will likely be used for Reserves and possibly for limited retention ("Library keeps latest edition only") materials.

Circulate?

This should be left at its default value of "Y", thus allowing the item type and patron data to prevent circulation of non-circulating items. A value of "N" will cause a message to display in the OPAC indicating that it cannot circulate.

Total charges

This may be used when RECONing older materials into Unicorn, or when reattaching "shadowbook" holdings to the correct bib record, to set the number of circulations the item has accumulated based on the "date due" slip. Do not change this field for items with a CHARGES value already in the catalogue, as this is reset automatically as circulation transactions occur on the system.

Price

This will be set by acquisitions or by the price value displayed in 020|c of incoming new records and should not be touched within Cataloguing.

Shadowed copy

Setting this value to NO causes the particular copy to be hidden to all but staff. This will most likely be used for things like personal copy RESERVE items and LOST or MISSING copies.

Call number information

New call number

For Unicorn new call numbers, we will use the same format we have used within the Utlas/SPIRES 090 (|a only), except the "/" (slash) will be replaced by a space, and all alphas will be upper case. Be careful, especially when using Windows to copy and paste from 050, to keep extraneous spaces out of the call number field, particularly at the beginning of a call number. Multiple spaces are not collapsed into a single space for purposes of filing and searching. Remember to remove |b and the cutter decimal point as well if present in the New call number (but leave them in 050/055).

There is no need to enter the MUN call number into an 090 on Unicorn, either when it differs from the 050/055/060/082 or when it is the same, unless you are cataloguing a serial. Until such time as SIRSI implements the MARC21 format for holdings and locations for multi-library systems, serial records will continue defining summary holdings data in 090, using |a-|d. If there is no call number given in the title information area of the record, replicate your new call number in the appropriate variable-length field for the type of class number you are assigning. This could be the 050, 055, 060, 082 or 086. If you are not classifying the work (microforms, sound recordings, some govdocs), there will not be any call number besides the one appearing under new call number.

                    050 00    QC100.5|b.B46 1987
          new call number:    QC 100 .5 B46 1987
    

Note that when you create multiple volumes (call records) attached to a single title, a |z will automatically appear between the classification number and the first literal of the call number. Do not remove this, as it tells Unicorn that the information following is not part of the base class. In creating first volumes in a set it may be necessary to force |z in the call number to separate out the literal or volume information, as Unicorn will not recognize non-English language literals (Bd., Lfg., T., etc.) or years (in the case of an annual) as equivalents to a volume. Analytics (separately catalogued parts of a monographic series) will also have |z if they include a volume or number at their end. The system will always recognize "v." or "pt.", or "no." as volume information in an LC call number.

The various MARCIMPORT loaders for Unicorn will allow for the creation of call number, copy, volume, library, home location, etc. directly from field 949 of records created on LaserQuest, Bibliofile or OCLC. Click here for a fuller discussion on the preparation of externally-created records for uploading into Unicorn.

Literal information

Because of the variety of Unicorn sources for this data (CLSI, SPIRES, direct entry to Unicorn) there will be a variety of literal displays, particularly during the implementation phase. While it would be nice to have the time to go back and change all literal information to a standard form, this will not be feasible in the short term and perhaps not even in the long term. Since the spacing and literals utilized determine the sort of volumes in a call number sort, we will standardize on the literals included in the AACR2 "Roman alphabet abbreviations" (p. 602) with NO SPACES between literal and numbering. For example:

          Volume=        V.1       	Number=   NO.5
          Part=          PT.2B     	Band=     BD.14
          Opus=          OP.131    	Köchel=   K.492
    

Non-classified materials

This includes pamphlets, honours dissertations, theses, periodicals, and special issues. The "XX" automatic call number should be retained. These materials are usually filed alphabetically by author or title and this will be reflected in a call number display generated by the class scheme.

Class scheme

Use the classification scheme appropriate to your library and the type of call number you are using. Use "LC" when you are assigning a Library of Congress or LC-compatible (PS8000, FF, etc.) call number, even if you are doing this from the HSL. Use "NLM" when assigning a National Library of Medicine class number. Use "DEWEY" for Dewey decimal numbers. For non-classified materials, use the appropriate automatically generated scheme to produce a display note. For all others (gov docs, sequential "accession number" type numbers used for Microforms, sound recordings, etc.) use "ALPHANUM". For a complete listing of Unicorn class schemes click here.

Shelving key

This will be changed automatically when you change or add a new call number. Do not alter the information yourself.

Shadowed call number?

Used to hide a call record (a particular volume or library's holdings) from public view. Again, this may be of use in the Reserve module. Leave set to "N".

Title information

Control number

Sometimes referred to as the flexkey, these will either be our old "RSN" from Utlas/SPIRES, or a newly assigned number from Unicorn with an alpha prefix of "a", "o" or "l". "a" numbers are generated by Unicorn, while "o" records are uploads from OCLC and "l" mark those non-OCLC records (LQ, for example) with an LCCN present. The control number may or may not match the MARC 001 of the record and may also be changed after batch uploading if desired for whatever purpose.

No. of volumes

This is set automatically when you add additional volumes or locations to the record. It corresponds to the number of call records (not copies) attached to the title record.

Record format

This is where the template is selected for the MARC format you will be using to enter data. For most titles use MARC (Books) or SERIAL, though you may also use MANUSCRIPT, MAPS, MRDF, MUSIC, or VM (Visual materials). MEMO is used to generate messages for Unicorn's INFORMATION DESK, while EQUIP and ROOM are non- MARC formats for the circulation MATERIALS BOOKING module.

Created by, Modified by, Previously modified by

These are automatically set by the login of the machine operator. There should be no need to change these or their accompanying date fields. Note that titles loaded by SIRSI in the initial or gap loads should have a CREATED BY value of SIRSI. Records edited locally will have the username of the person who modified them.

Date catalogued

This field should be set by the cataloguer when the bibliographic record is edited and considered ready for patron use (though patrons can see the record beforehand). We need this date filled in to enable us to generate shelflist cards later on. Format=DD/MM/YYYY

Shadowed title?

This will be used to hide whole bib records from public view in the OPAC. At system startup, there will be 150,000 short CLSI circ records in the shadow catalogue, though these will eventually be reassigned. This will probably be used to allow us to hold onto copy for whole titles declared missing or lost.

Descriptive information

This area represents the MARC record itself and is subject to the same editing standards used in SPIRES, LaserQuest, Bibliofile, OCLC, ISM, or elsewhere, except that blank values in the indicator positions will be just that and not the hyphens (-) displayed in LQ or SPIRES. DO NOT ENTER HYPHENS IN MARC INDICATOR POSITIONS ON UNICORN, BIBLIOFILE or OCLC! Subfield delimiters are entered using the pipe (|) symbol, just as they were in SPIRES, LQ and Bibliofile. Subfield |a, at the |a beginning of a field, is assumed and should not be entered. However, if another subfield precedes |a (as in 246 when |i is used), the |a must be explicit. If the field begins with a subfield other than |a, this must be entered as well (eg. |c in 260 or |t in 780/785). Here are some examples:

     245 14    The ecstasy of Rita Joe /|c...
     246 1     |iAt head of title:|aFinal report
     260       |c1986.
     785 16    |tHuman nutrition. Applied nutrition.
    

While batch-loaded SPIRES records will have both a CONTROL NUMBER and an 001, newly created title records will not have the 001 unless the 001 came with the uploaded record (as is the case with OCLC records). Do not bother to add an explicit 001 to the record as these would be generated automatically when exporting MARC communications format records from Unicorn (MARCEXPORT). As far as we can tell, the 001 serves no useful purpose within Unicorn once the control number is generated. In fact, the Unicorn 001 will often be different from the source 001, as is the case with OCLC numbers.

Please note that there is currently no means of entering publicly-displayable copy-specific information into a call/copy record in Unicorn. This means that we will have to enter this into the MARC variable-length fields in a 590 (not 535), noting the owning library/location of the copy described, in cases where more than one library holds the item. Here are some examples to guide you in creation of these:

     590  CNS/BOOKSTACKS copies 2-3 photocopies. (where multiple
          locations own the title.  If only CNS owns the title
          you may use "Copy 3 photocopy")
     590  QEII/RARE copy autographed by author.
     590  HEALTH/REFERENCE v.5 lacks p. 115-120.
     590  QEII/BOOKSTACKS has spine title: Blind Joe Death.
          (where the spine has binder s title)
    

Label

This area is used to display spine labels prior to printing. We will probably not implement Unicorn labelling, or at least not early in the implementation period.

Comments

Comments displayed here do not display to the public. This can be used for internal memos describing the piece represented in DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION.