MARC 599 Local Note

MARC 599 Tag in the bibliographic and authority formats contains local notes. This field is repeatable. Please note: since this field is locally defined, its use can differ widely from institution to institution; all information below, including indicators and subfield delimiters, applies to the Folger only.

Commonly-used tags

Indicators
1st: Undefined

2nd: Undefined

Subfield delimiters
ǂa - Note text

Policy and formulation

  • Folger catalogers generally use the 599 field to record notes when reviewing each other's records, as part of cataloging training, NACO work, and general bibliographic record review. They can also serve a "note to self" function.
  • 599 notes are used in Connexion, and are removed before exporting records into Voyager or the central NACO file.
    • During some previous cataloging projects, catalogers recorded notes directly in Voyager records. Some of these still remain and are keyword-searchable, but do not appear in the main Hamnet view.
  • Generally, all text goes into subfield ‡a.
  • Add a new 599 note for each comment on a bibliographic or authority record. If the note is meant to be seen by colleagues (i.e. during record review), include your initials in brackets at the head of the field.
  • When responding to a previous comment, do not start a new 599; use bracketed initials to separate text (see examples below)

Examples

  • Cataloging training notes
599  ‡a [DJL] U/V mix-up [SEH] Reviewed & fixed 
  • Note to colleague in authority record
599  ‡a [ACK] The DNB record has a year range of 1946-1952 for the company. I've got an item from over ten years later. How should I handle this?
  • "Note to self" in authority record
599  ‡a Tech/transportation writer, music historian, and translator - 3 different Česeneks??

External links