Background -- Donor information is routinely captured (when requested by the collection manager) in order records associated with gifts added to the collection which are processed through the Acquisition Department. There are several disadvantages to this process from a permanent retention point of view:
order records are only retained for 2-3 years online
donor information stored in order records is not searchable except via boolean searching
order records are not generally accessible to patrons
In addition, technical services is eliminating the use of brief bib records and order records for gifts which can be added immediately to the collection without the need for original cataloging. As a result of these discussions and a request for a particular collection, the Database Management and Standards Committee has explored the options available for locating donor information in the bibliographic record for specific categories.
Solution -- 790-793 fields -- The 79x fields are local use fields which provide many advantages:
they will display to the public
they will not transfer to central
they will allow a relator code in the field to indicate the relationship of the entry to the title in question, such as donor
they are indexable in specific fields such as VAR AUTHORS, and VAR TITLES
In this solution, the fields will not be sent to BNA for authority control and the field will be protected from overlay.
790 -- author field (can be indexed in author and keyword)
791 -- corporate name (indexed in author and keyword)
792 -- conference (indexed in author and keyword)
793 -- title such as a collection name (indexed in title and keyword)
Policy governing use -- The use of this field for donor information is limited to collections where there is a need to gather the titles together (via searching) to reflect the collection as once constituted by the donor, i.e. the Reiss collection in arts policy in Fine Arts. How the collection should be reflected in the catalog, i.e. whether it should bear a collection name (793) or author entry (790), should be negotiated with the contact person in the technical services department (Cataloging, Special Collections Cataloging or Acquisitions) which will be processing the gift. A release is being developed for the donor to sign indicating that this information will be available to the public via the online catalog. Donor or collection entries in 79x fields are intended to be used for substantive gift collections, not for titles purchased on endowment funds or individual titles donated by a particular person.
Page last modified: 8 November 2011