This is an old revision of the document!
Revised July 2020
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.
Holdings statements should ALWAYS REFLECT WHAT THE LIBRARY OWNS. Holdings statements do not indicate what we do not yet own. The 866 field is a general statement of what the library currently owns and does not future-cast. Each time an issue is received by the library, update the end of the holdings statement by deleting the previous final issue held and adding the number and/or year of the new final issue held. Do not list each issue in a holdings statement. Individual issues are described in the Item Description field.
Do not use the 866 field to show all volumes/issues held by the library. The holdings statement is a general statement. Volume descriptions are reflected in the item record. Ideally, a title is fully linked and each title has volume information in the Item Description field. Use the 866 field with a general holdings statement and a subfield z for a public note to show that a publication has “incomplete holdings.” Alternatively, when the library owns a short run of several volumes/issues of a title, the 866 holdings statement can show what we hold with gaps denoted by commas.
An incomplete holdings statement looks like this:
If you come across an old title with a 952 field in the holdings record, this field must be removed. Please see instructions on Fixing Field 952 Incomplete Holdings information.
Do not capitalize enumeration abbreviations. Add the 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 second level enumeration, some titles use numbers and some use months. Always use what is on the piece. If the publication uses months, 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:
series designation will precede the volumes included in that series. Examples of series designations include, but are not limited to:
There may be multiple series designations in one title. An enumeration statement with a series designation looks like this:
The Item Description field in Aleph should be used when linking to describe individual items. Do not use the holdings statement to list each volume or individual runs of volumes unless specifically determined to be useful for patrons. Use the same descriptors as appear on the piece, in terms of volume enumeration. Under the General Information (1) tab, examples of the Item Description field include:
Do not use OPAC or internal note fields in the item record.
If a title contains supplements or indexes, this should be indicated in the Item Description field. Add “Suppl.” for a stand alone supplement or “+ Suppl.” if it is bound with a regular issue. Indexes should receive the same treatment, adding “Index” for a stand alone index in the item description, or “+ Index” if it is bound with a regular issue.
If it is useful to patrons to mention a specific supplement or index in the holdings record, enter supplement information in an 867 field with indicators 41. Enter index information in an 868 field with indicators 40. There is no need to add a public note for “Supplement” or “Index” because the system automatically supplies these in the public Discovery view.
If you come across an old title with supplement or index information in the 952 field in the holdings record, this field must be removed. Please see instructions on converting this information into the appropriate 867 or 868 fields.
Do not use fields 590 or 952 in holdings records. The use of these fields is no longer in practice at UMass.