[DCRM-L] Use of the Biographical or Historical Data field (field

Thu Sep 15 09:25:36 MDT 2022

I use the 545 field often with bound volumes of printed sheet music, but you should be aware that this field doesn't display in all systems. Worldcat for example, doesn't seem to display the note. I don't see a reason not to use the note for contextual biographical/family/historical information which provides illumination to the item in hand, but goes beyond a 561. If the information doesn't stem from local information in the item itself, but from more research, I don't think it would require a $5. Erin's point about whether including a $5 would depend on whether the information is relevant to any library's copy of the book, or just your library's copy would be the most important consideration here, I think.

Another reason that I like the 545 for contextual information beyond a 561 is that linked data problems with notes are slightly improved any time we can use a more specifically-targeted note for our work.
Good luck, andrea
 --
Andrea Cawelti (Ms.)
Ward Music Cataloger
Houghton Library
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA  02138

Phone: (617) 998-5259
FAX: (617) 495-1376
E-mail: cawelti at fas.harvard.edu

Coordinator, MLA Sheet Music Interest Group

Houghton Library is currently open, 10-5, Monday-Friday.
For more information, please contact us: houghton_library at harvard.edu

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Today's Topics:

   1. Use of the Biographical or Historical Data field (field 545)
      for bibliographic entries? (Myers, John)
   2. Re: Use of the Biographical or Historical Data field (field
      545) for bibliographic entries? (Erin Blake)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:00:18 -0400
From: "Myers, John" <myersj at union.edu>
To: "DCRM Users' Group" <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: [DCRM-L] Use of the Biographical or Historical Data field
	(field 545) for bibliographic entries?
Message-ID:
	<CAGRpK50reC63v4hWjdYPWhhU4Riq3vBOMOJhHeTy6wK9dB4OmQ at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Dear Colleagues,

I recently ran across a situation where we held a family Bible. There were enclosures tracing the genealogical journey of provenance through the family. I have recorded this information in a 545 Biographical or Historical Data field. While this could have been recorded in a 561 field, it seemed more family/history in nature, as well as being more complex than I am accustomed to seeing in field 561.

We have a further use case for fied 545, where we record the campus speaking engagement of a particular author, as justification for any items from that author's works to be added into our Special Collections.

My sense is that field 545 was developed primarily for the archival community. Since archival collections and their associated records tend to be unique, it would follow that the inputting agency would be the institution for which such a note would apply. In a bibliographic context though, if one were recording some biographical or historical context for the individual item held within a larger manifestation set, then it seems like the use of a $5 would be helpful, even in the local system. The presence of $5 can be incorporated into import and synchronization profiles in order to protect the instance of the field from being overwritten or scrubbed.

My questions to the assembly:

   - Have others used field 545 in this manner for their bibliographic
   collections?
   - For these use cases, is there a better field to use?
   - If field 545 is a good solution for these use cases, would the
   addition of $5 be perceived as valuable?

Thank you for your input,
John

John Myers, Catalog & Metadata Librarian Schaffer Library, Union College Schenectady NY 12308

518-388-6623
myersj at union.edu
pronouns: he/him/his
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:56:16 -0400
From: Erin Blake <erin.blake.folger at gmail.com>
To: "DCRM Users' Group" <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Use of the Biographical or Historical Data field
	(field 545) for bibliographic entries?
Message-ID:
	<CAFbkfaftqfO2DkyvHbnhuPw=w5-1RjAP0hbbgeUU8swor+AWvg at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

I can imagine 545 being used for books, but not for the bible example: the biographical information you have is about the former owners of that copy, not about "an individual or historical information about an institution or event used as the main entry for the item being cataloged" (
https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd545.html)

Whether or not to include $5 would depend on whether the information is relevant to any library's copy of the book, or just your library's copy.
For example, although it's true of all copies that the author had a speaking engagement on your campus, it's not relevant or useful to other institutions.

On the other hand, it would be useful to other institutions if a Biographical/Historical note said something like "In addition to being a [thing the Main Entry person is world-famous for], [World Famous Person] began their career in the field of [obscure field of this publication]"
because otherwise it might look like an Automated Authority Control match gone wrong.

Erin

______________________
Erin Blake, Ph.D.  |  Senior Cataloger  |  Folger Shakespeare Library  |
201 E. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC, 20003  |  eblake at folger.edu  | www.folger.edu <https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/-t5RCjRgpBtArRXC7R7_2?domain=urldefense.com>
  |  Pronouns: she/her/hers

On Thu, Sep 15, 2022 at 10:01 AM Myers, John <myersj at union.edu> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I recently ran across a situation where we held a family Bible. There 
> were enclosures tracing the genealogical journey of provenance through 
> the family. I have recorded this information in a 545 Biographical or 
> Historical Data field. While this could have been recorded in a 561 
> field, it seemed more family/history in nature, as well as being more 
> complex than I am accustomed to seeing in field 561.
>
> We have a further use case for fied 545, where we record the campus 
> speaking engagement of a particular author, as justification for any 
> items from that author's works to be added into our Special Collections.
>
> My sense is that field 545 was developed primarily for the archival 
> community. Since archival collections and their associated records 
> tend to be unique, it would follow that the inputting agency would be 
> the institution for which such a note would apply. In a bibliographic 
> context though, if one were recording some biographical or historical 
> context for the individual item held within a larger manifestation 
> set, then it seems like the use of a $5 would be helpful, even in the 
> local system. The presence of $5 can be incorporated into import and 
> synchronization profiles in order to protect the instance of the field 
> from being overwritten or scrubbed.
>
> My questions to the assembly:
>
>    - Have others used field 545 in this manner for their bibliographic
>    collections?
>    - For these use cases, is there a better field to use?
>    - If field 545 is a good solution for these use cases, would the
>    addition of $5 be perceived as valuable?
>
> Thank you for your input,
> John
>
> John Myers, Catalog & Metadata Librarian Schaffer Library, Union 
> College Schenectady NY 12308
>
> 518-388-6623
> myersj at union.edu
> pronouns: he/him/his
>
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