MARC 21 Concise Holdings: Item Information Fields (876-878)

Information for Translators and Other Users
Items highlighted in red indicate changes made after the 2003 edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats was published and are included in the 2004 printed edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats.


ITEM INFORMATION FIELDS--GENERAL INFORMATION

Fields 876-878 contain item level information about the pieces to the item specified in the holdings record. They contain various data elements that it may be desirable to record for specific items for use in acquisition or circulation applications, among others.

Linking Item Information to Holdings Items

For the following holdings configurations and levels, item fields are linked to the pieces to which they apply as indicated below.

Single physical part holdings item:

One copy, one 852 field
Item fields do not need linking subfield as all apply to the one holdings item. (Holdings are recorded at level 1 or 2 in Leader/17 (Encoding Level).)

Multiple copies, one or more 852 fields
Subfield $3 is used to link item fields to the appropriate copy in 852 field(s). (Holdings are recorded at level 1 or 2 in Leader/17 (Encoding Level).)

Multiple physical part holdings item:

Holdings in 866-868 (Textual Holdings) fields
Subfield $3 is used to link item fields to the appropriate part specified in fields 866-868. (Holdings are recorded at level 3 or 4 in Leader/17 (Encoding Level).)

Holdings in 863-865 (Enumeration and Chronology) fields
Subfield $8 is used to link item fields to the appropriate part specified in fields 863-865. Each part (volume or volumes) for which item level information is included requires a separate 863-865 field. (Holdings are recorded at level 3 or 4 with piece designation in Leader/17 (Encoding Level).)

Embedded holdings information:

When holdings information is embedded in a MARC bibliographic record, multiple 876-878 fields may be used only when the information does not include other holdings information fields that must be linked to a specific 876-878 field for intelligibility. When field linking is required, one 876-878 field and the other fields associated with it may be embedded in the bibliographic record. Separate holdings records must be made for each of the other 876-878 fields and its associated fields.

However, multiple 852 fields may exist in the record with related item information in fields 876-878, specifying the copy number to which they apply using subfield $t (Copy number) or the subset using subfield $3 (Materials specified).

Indicators

Subfield Codes

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