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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I'm keen to hear from list subscribers on local practices for coding of the MARC leader when cataloging single-item textual </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">manuscripts (letters, diaries, etc.).</span><br>
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<p>Following MARC guidance, the decision ought to be simple:</p>
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<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span>06 type of record = t : manuscript language material</li><li>07 bibliographic level = m : monograph / item</li></ul>
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<div>Is everyone applying these codes for such material?</div>
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<div>We (Yale) are reluctant to use code "t" for type of record, for fear that it will conflate such manuscripts with dissertations and theses (which are also coded "t") in our public catalog. Does your public catalog give you a mechanism to distinguish such
manuscripts from theses? I recognize that the distinction ought to be possible based on the "Nature of contents" code in the 008 fixed field -- where we can flag theses with code "m" -- but is this a distinction that's made in any OPACs?</div>
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<div>There's also a temptation here to code single-item manuscripts with record type "p" (mixed materials). This is cheating, but it allows an OPAC facet or search limit for archives/manuscripts to be based on a single fixed field value. *But* it appears that
OCLC will not accept records coded "p" and "m"; this is a major drawback, if true.</div>
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<div>As a slave to pragmatism, one begins to consider coding the records "p" and "c" (bibliographic level = collection), until a more elegant solution comes along (post-MARC?). </div>
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<div>Suggestions welcome.</div>
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<div>Francis</div>
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