MARC 590 Local Note

MARC field 590 in the bibliographic format contains local notes. This field is repeatable. Its use is locally defined by an institution, and may vary depending on the needs of the library; for this reason, it should not be used in master records.

Commonly-used tags

Indicators
1st Indicator - Privacy 

[blank] - No information provided
0 - Private
1 - Not private

2nd Indicator 

Undefined

Subfield delimiters

ǂa - Local note (NR)
ǂ3 - Materials specified (NR)

Policy and formulation

Use for notes that are Folger-specific, but not copy-specific, such as the Folger call number for related material. This note generates the label "Folger copy" in the bibliographic record. A 590 is preferable to a 500 note with ‡5 DFo because we train users to think of "Notes" as the heading for information that applies to all copies of a title, and "Folger copy" as the heading for notes that apply only at the Folger. In most cases, the note is specific to a particular copy, so it goes in 852‡z for that copy, but in some cases the note applies to any copy held by the Folger.

History

MARC 590 in the bibliographic record was previously used for all copy-specific notes in Folger records. Later, MARC 876ǂz in the holdings record was used. Currently, copy-specific notes are recorded in MARC 852ǂz in the holdings record (and copied to a non-displaying MARC 852ǂz in the bibliographic record for easier keyword searching).

Examples

  • Related materials with Folger call numbers: for example, the bibliographic record for the guide to the microfilm set Lauderdale Papers, c1647-1682, from the British Library, London has the 590 note "Listing and guide to Folger Film Acc. 744."

590 ǂa Listing and guide to Folger Film Acc. 744. 590 ǂa Listing and guide cataloged as DA804.1.L38 C76 2001.

  • Additional copy of an item cataloged separately (for instance, due to extensive unique material)

590 ǂa For additional Folger copies of this edition, browse by call number PR2752 1851-1852 590 ǂa An additional Folger copy consisting of Hamlet alone is cataloged separately as PR2807.A493 Sh.Col.