MARC 246 Varying Form of Title

MARC field 246 in the Bibliographic format contains varying forms of the title appearing on different parts of an item or a portion of the title proper, or an alternative form of the title when the form differs substantially from the title statement in field 245. In addition to standard use, the Folger uses field 246 to provide indexing for the first line of verse. This field is repeatable.

Commonly-used tags

Indicators
1st - Note/added entry controller (NB. the indicators originally served as flags controlling where on the card the information would print, and whether or not to generate additional cards to be filed elsewhere in the public catalog. Currently, they're used only to indicate whether or not the information should display publicly)

1: Note, added entry [i.e. the 246 will be displayed] 
3: No note, added entry [i.e. the 246 will not display] 

2nd - Type of title

#: No type specified
0: Portion of title
1: Parallel title
4: Cover title
5: Added title page title
6: Caption title
7: Running title
8: Spine title

Subfield delimiters

ǂa - Main title 
ǂi - Display text 
ǂ5 - Institution

Policy and formulation

• Set first indicator to '3' (non-displaying) for variant spellings, portions of title proper, and other instances where the content is implicit elsewhere in the record.
• Set first indicator to '1' (displaying) for alternative devised titles and titles introduced by ǂi (rarely used in book cataloging, but common for art and manuscripts)
• If the title proper contains words spelled according to archaic or non-standard orthographic conventions, provide additional title access for modern spelling.
  • Exception: if the title proper contains examples of converted i/j/u/v characters (see the Collation for a quick intro to the i/j/u/v issue, or refer to DCRM(B) Appendix G.4), provide the unconverted title proper in a 246 field.
• Initial articles are omitted. If an initial article is part of a transcribed title (e.g., a running title), set for non-display (first indicator '3') and add a MARC 500 General Note giving the full varying form of title.
  • Exception: initial articles are retained for the first line of verse
• If the portion of the title in the 245 ǂa contains a variant spelling of "Shakespeare" (i.e. "Shaksper," etc.), include an alternate title with the modern spelling of "Shakespeare."
• Common introductory phrases in ǂi include:
  • Dealer's title
  • Docket title:
  • First line:
  • Folger card catalog title:
  • Pennington title: (or short-form name of other catalogues raisonné; always give Pennington title for Hollar etchings)
• Use ǂ5 DFo with any copy-specific varying titles, such as a binder's title.

External links

• MARC 246 Tag
• OCLC MARC 246 Tag