This is an old revision of the document!
July 2020 — Contact: Ann Kardos
The holdings statement for serials is recorded in the 866 field. All holdings statements require indicators 41 in the 866 field. For information on this field and indicator definitions, please see the Library of Congress MARC documentation for textual holdings at https://www.loc.gov/marc/holdings/hd866868.html.
Do not capitalize enumeration abbreviations. Add year when present on the piece (not necessarily the publication date). The full form of the year is used, entered in parentheses. For combined years, both years are entered with a slash between. For a publication which uses both numbers and months as 2nd-level enumeration, numbers are preferred, unless the serial uses only months in their numbering. Enter the month as it is shown on the piece. Exception: For Depository materials, use June, July, and Sept per Five College Policy agreement.
NOTE: For non-English language serials, always use the abbreviations for the foreign term that is on the piece, such as tome, band or fascicle.
Enumerations used in holdings statements include, but may not be limited to:
Example simple enumeration statements:
The series designation will precede the volumes included in that series.
There may be multiple series designations in one title. An enumeration statement with a series designation looks like this:
Holdings statements should ALWAYS REFLECT WHAT THE LIBRARY OWNS. We do not indicate what we do not yet own, and we do not denote that the library cancelled a title in the holdings statement. The 866 field denotes only what the library currently owns. If a title has ceased publication, this is denoted in the bib record. Go into OCLC and export the current bib record to reflect this. See instructions for Ceased & Cancelled Titles.
Gaps are indicated by a comma.
Previous practice: We indicated incompletes by placing brackets around the incomplete vol./year, or year, and adding a field (952$x in Aleph) recording what the library holds for each incomplete volume.
Current practice: As time allows, we are converting these holdings to a format more consistent with ANSI/NISO practice, by:
EXAMPLES:
> 866__ $a26 (1992)-[29 (1995)]-33 > 952__ $xIncomplete volumes: 29:1-6, 8-12
becomes:
> 86641 $av.26 (1992)-v.29:no.6 (1995), v.29:no.8 (1995)-v.33 (1999)
> 866__ $a1985-[1990]-1995 > 952__ $xIncomplete volumes: 1990:1-2,4-7,10-12
becomes:
> 86641 $a1985-1990:no.2, 1990:no.4-7, 1990:no.10-1995//
NOTES:
Use a semicolon to indicate a change in a publication's numbering system, when no issues are missing where the change occurs.
NOTE: Comma overrides semicolon. If a gap exists at the point where a change occurs, use a comma (for example, if no.155-156 are missing):
Last volume published only covers part of the year; no title change:
There is no need to enter v.77:no.8 (1998:Aug) because v.77:no.9+ was never published., although the bib. record will cite the last volume this way in the 362 field.
An entire number in the enumeration sequence was never published:
Do not indicate this “gap” with a comma. A semicolon may be used to indicate such a gap (especially if large or strange) although it is also permissible, per longstanding UMass policy, to not indicate such a gap. For clarity (see above), a note may be entered into the 952$z public note field, mentioning the missing volume.
Occasionally, years, months and days are needed in the holding string:
If a title contains supplements, indicated in the item description as “Suppl.” (bound alone) or “+Suppl.” bound with a regular issue, UMass policy has been to enter the following note in the public note field (952$z):
Supplements accompany some vols.
Very occasionally, we may consider it beneficial to mention a specific supplement in the HOL. Enter this supplement in an 867 field with indicators 41:
Per UMass policy, we record any indexes covering five years or more in the HOL record. Enter the index in an 868 field with indicators 41:
There is no need to add the words “Supplement” or “Index” since the system automatically supplies these(in bold) in the public (OPAC) view.
In many cases, the item descriptions used when linking the items will differ from the holdings syntax:
Holdings Syntax | Item Description |
---|---|
v.49 (1955/1956) | v.49 1955-56 |
new ser.:v.30 (1982) | n.s. v.30 1982 |
ser.2:no.108 (1977) | Ser.2 no.108 1977 |
1978/1979 | 1978-79 |
v.56:no.1 (1964), v.56:no.3-4 (1964) | v.56 1964 Inc. |
In the last example, a LACKS or HAS note should be entered in the Internal Note field of the Item.