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Introduction | Bibliographic Record Display | Fixed Fields | Variable Fields | Saving Records | Creating New Records | Table of Contents (Voyager System) | Table of Contents (Top)]
The Bibliographic (Bib) record is the part of a cataloguing record that contains information common to all copies of a work, and thus can be shared among many libraries.
The record contains fixed and variable fields. While the author, title, and subject headings in the variable fields are the most important to catalogue users, some of the coding in the fixed fields also has an impact in the OPAC because it affects the index or search limits.
The Bib record may contain one or more call number fields, one of which normally (in current cataloguing practice), but not necessarily, matches the actual call number. The call number in the OPAC comes from the Holdings record, along with information about location and holdings that normally do not appear in the Bib record at all.
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When you display an existing bibliographic record, you see a window similar to the following:
See Managing Windows in Voyager for information about resizing and tiling bibliographic and other record windows.
When you display a bibliographic record, you see three tabs. The variable tags remain visible at all times; however, the information that appears at the top of the record varies depending on which tab is selected. (You may choose to hide the top section, in order to see more of the variable tags at once, by selecting Hide Fixed Fields from the Options menu, or by typing ALT-O + H. Note that this option must be reset for each record in which you wish to use it.)
The MARC record displays the fixed fields. If this tab is not currently displayed, you may call it up by clicking on the tab, or by typing ALT-M.
The System tab contains check boxes to suppress the record, and also mark the record for export.
You may display it by clicking on the System tab, or by typing ALT-S. Typing ALT-S + X marks the record to export.
The History tab shows who has worked on the record, with minimal information about what has been done. This information is amended and added to every time the record is saved to the database.
You may display it by clicking on the History tab, or typing ALT-Y. This can be useful in problem-solving, locating items, etc. Note that the History tab also tells you the Encoding Level from the Leader, which should be [blank] for Full Level when cataloguing is complete.
When a record is first opened, the MARC record automatically appears on top. The selected tab will be indicated with bold type.
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The fixed fields appear only when the MARC tab is selected.
The fixed fields as they appear at the top of the MARC tab cannot be modified directly. (Note that if you wish to edit the fixed fields directly, you may use the Fixed Field Editor in Gary Strawn's Cataloger's Toolkit.) Some problems can, however, be spotted without opening the fields. (Example: in the Leader, in a completed record the string of characters and spaces usually ends with: _a_4500. The "a" can vary in older records, and one of the zeroes in "4500" can vary for some reason, but if there is no blank in front of the "a" or its substitute, the Encoding Level is not Full Level, and should be corrected.)
Clicking on the label button (e.g. Leader), produces a list of subfields that identifies each position and the meaning of the character currently in it. For each subfield, clicking at the right gives a drop-down list of codes from which you can choose. You can also type in the code if you know it.
The Leader contains some important codes: Type of Record, Bibliographic Level (both of which can be used in changing record formats; see Changing Record Formats), and Encoding Level. Note that if the Record Status code in the Leader is "n" (New) it will automatically change to "c" (Corrected or revised) the first time the record is saved in Voyager.
The 008 fixed field has some different subfields depending on Type of Record and Bibliographic Level codes in the Leader; the one shown below is for a book. Most of the subfields work the same way, but in this case some of the codes are more than one character long. The dates must be typed in, and the codes for country and language can also be typed in, if you know them. Alternatively, you can type the first letter of what you think the code should be and use the down-arrow to move down (or the up-arrow from the following letter). You can also open up the list, and click on the one you want.
The 005 field is a system-created field which gives the date and time the record was last saved, down to a tenth of a second! This can tell you whether you have saved recently or not.
Tags 006 and 007 can be created by clicking on those buttons. When you do so, you are shown a set of tabs. Each tab represents a material type.
Select the appropriate tab and click on New, or type ALT-W, and you will be provided with the list and corresponding drop-down menus for the material type.
When you have completed the coding, click on Apply and then on Close. Clicking on Close without Apply is equivalent to Cancel.
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The variable fields appear within a grid with five columes. The first (background-coloured) column is called the Row Label; the others (for which you can set a different colour in the Colors/Fonts tab of Preferences (in the Options menu) are the MARC tag, the two indicators, and the text areas.
To save mousing: the first Row Label is marked when you first display the record. You can move it up or down with the arrow keys, and use F8 to get into a field to edit it. Tab to get out again.
F2 or Help gives a list of valid codes for wherever the cursor is when you press the function key. (This works for the MARC tag itself, the indicators, and for the delimiters in the text--but not in the fixed fields.)
The delimiter is on the F9 key.
Right clicking on the Row Label brings up a menu which includes copying or cutting the field, pasting before it, moving it up or down, and checking the authority file ("Validate Heading in this field"). If the heading is valid, it just says so; if not, the system performs a search in the appropriate Headings index (though it sometimes chooses Name when Name/Title is what you want).
Note that the system does not automatically resequence fields in tag number order, so it is best to insert the field where you want it. Fields can be resequenced in two ways. One is by using the right-click menu on the Row Label to move a field one place at a time; the other is to use the normal Windows commands: cut (on the right-click menu, or select the field and use the Cut command from the Edit menu or CTRL-X to cut), then select a field and choose Paste from the Edit menu or use the CTRL-V command to paste it in a new spot. This is more efficient if you are making a big move such as changing a 100 tag to a 700 tag. In some cases, the sequence in the bibliographic record may affect display in the OPAC.
The "move up" and "move down" commands actually do cut and paste the field. You cannot copy (say) a 100, move up a 650, and then paste in the 100 in another place without re-copying it.
To delete a field, left click on the Row Label to select the whole field, and press the Delete key on your keyboard. You will be asked for confirmation.
To edit a field, position your cursor in the proper place and type or delete as necessary. You will have to tab to get from one column to the next.
You are normally in the Insert mode when working with the field text, so you will have to delete, or highlight and type over anything you want to remove. The system will automatically add a new line when needed. If you make an error, it is most efficient to use the Backspace key to delete it, not the left arrow key plus Delete.
To add a new variable field, put the cursor anywhere in an existing field and press F3 to insert a new field before the one you are in, or F4 to insert a field after it. Again, you will have to tab from one column to the next. You have to fill in the indicators each time, using F2 help if necessary; they are not supplied automatically.
See Diacritics in Voyager for instructions on entering diacritics.
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When you have done enough work that you would not want to lose it, and when you have finished editing the record, Save to DB, or CONTROL-B to save, CONTROL-Z to save and close. Sometimes the system will save the record immediately, other times it has things to tell you first. If it finds any MARC errors, you will get a list, which you can leave open while you fix them.
If you have difficulty fixing any of these (sometimes they are in unusual fields we don't often encounter) remember that if you put your cursor in the right place and hit F2, you will get a list of all the valid codes. If still in doubt, ask for help.
Once any MARC errors have been corrected, Save to DB again, and you will see an Authority Validation box, which tells you whether the headings and subheadings in the record are valid (i.e. authorized). You now have the option of looking at the authority record, if there is one, searching the database under the heading, or creating a new authority record. (For some purposes you may suppress one or both of the Validation checks in your Preferences (though you should not do this for normal cataloguing). You may also modify the list of reports you get in Authority Validation. See Authority Validation for more about this.)
When you have finished with this box, click on Continue, and the record will then be saved to the database. Depending on your Preferences, you may get a dialog box to tell you it has been saved. Alternatively, you can watch the 005 box for a change in the numbers whenever the record is saved.
When you have saved the record, your user id will appear on the History tab, indicating that you created, merged, updated, or suppressed the record, or changed the encoding level.
Before the last time you plan to save the record, remember to go to the Status tab and click Okay to export (unless you are passing it on to a cataloguer for completion). You can still go back and make changes if necessary, but every time a record is saved with Okay to export checked, it is counted in a certain statistical report, so it is preferable not to do it too often.
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In most cases Cataloguing staff review and edit existing records. However, you may sometimes need to create a new one. New bibliographic records are created in three ways within the Voyager system:
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Page maintained by Elizabeth A. Read, readel@queensu.ca. Created: 10-10-2000 Updated by D. Rutherford: 2003-08-21 at 5:00:12 PM