[MinervaCats] Cataloging Tip: 263 field

[Ellen Conway]

Dear catalogers,

Today's tip is a brief one concerning the 263 field in the bibliographic
record.  This field is designated the "projected publication date".

The projected publication date will of course be found mainly in bib records
that have been created prior to the actual publication of an item.  It is an
optional field.  If a library chooses to create records for items that are
on order, the 263 simply provides the information of when it expects the
item will be available from the publisher.

The Cataloging Standards Committee has discussed the use of the 263 field
and has recommended that this field should be not be deleted from a bib
record until the material is in hand.  If one library has created the bib
and included the projected publication date, any other library that attaches
to the bib may remove the 263 when they physically possess the material .
Of course, it does no harm to leave the field in the record indefinitely,
but the information is unnecessary once every library attached to a record
receives their copy.

If you have any questions about the 263 field, please contact me.
Thanks,
Ellen

-- 
Ellen M. Conway
Maine InfoNet Cataloging Consultant
797-9464, cell ph. 329-5443
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