Karen Coyle wrote: > > Fields 760-787 have strictly speaking never been "dual function" > > fields, because they are not defined in the MARC format as access > > points > > This got me excited and I popped into the online MARC documentation to > look at how it defines "access points" but I can't find that. I could > find a definition of headings, but that only covers X00-X30 (thus no > titles). Is there a definition of access points that I missed? Or are > you working from other knowledge, Kevin? If so, I'd like to hear more > about this distinction, because it is an important one and to me it > hasn't been clear in practice (from a systems developer point of > view). If it isn't made explicit in our current standards we should > try to make it clearer in any future ones.
Hmm, strange that they don't define "access point" in MARC. In Cataloger's Toolkit, searching the phrase "access points" (plural) in MARC21 Bibliographic brings up four hits, none of which is an explanation of the phrase. However, the phrase "access point" (singular) seems to be associated with "entry" in the keyword index, bringing up 147 hits. I don't know if any of those hits is actually "access point" and not "entry"--I didn't look through all of these to see if there is a definition of "access point" or "entry" (I am inclined to doubt it). In MARC21 Bibliographic, chapter on 76X-78X Linking Entries, under Linking Entry Fields (fields 760-787), it begins: "Fields carry descriptive data concerning the related item, the control number for the record of the related item, or both." Under Added Entries (fields 700-730), it says: "When an added entry is needed for a title used in a linking field, the added entry is recorded in the appropriate 700-730 field. Linking fields are not intended to take the place of added entries. Likewise, an added entry in field 700-730 does not take the place of a linking field, as it cannot cause a note to be generated or carry a record link." However, I am not sure how correct part of that last sentence is anymore. Is the addition of subfield $i to fields 700-730 intended to record data that are only for machine usage, or to help generate notes in human-readable output, or both? Kevin M. Randall Principal Serials Cataloger Bibliographic Services Dept. Northwestern University Library 1970 Campus Drive Evanston, IL 60208-2300 email: [email protected] phone: (847) 491-2939 fax: (847) 491-4345
