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Home > Minerva > Cataloging > How To's >How To Deal With Cataloging Errors

How To Deal With Cataloging Errors

Item records belong exclusively to the library that creates them.  Changes within an item record should only be made by the library that created it.  Bibliographic records, on the other hand, are a shared resource.  If not now, then some time in the future, items from multiple libraries will be attached to a given bib record. Certain general principles flow from this:

In general, staff of Minerva libraries must take responsibility for correcting errors within the bib records they have created or copied into Minerva,  whenever errors come to their attention.

When staff of member libraries encounter false unique records -- multiple bib records for clearly identical editions of a work -- they should follow the procedures, Eliminating Duplicate Bib Records, in order to consolidate multiple item records on the best bib record, irrespective of who created each bib record.

Please Do:

  1. Make obvious spelling corrections, as long as there is certainty that the variant spelling is not intentional, and is incorrect within the context of the work.
  2. Make obvious MARC designator corrections, if there is 100% certainty of the appropriateness of the correction, e.g. changing "Industry -- Maine -- Directories." to "Industry|zMaine|vDirectories."
  3. Add new subject headings as long as they conform to LCSH or MESH practice, including use of the proper indicator value ("0" and "2" respectively).
  4. Add local subject headings, as long as they conform to field / subfield conventions and carry an indicator value of "4"for Source Not Specified.
  5. Delete 090, 092, 096 or 099 fields if found in the bib record.  Any 9xx field in the bib record may be deleted, except 902 and 907 which should be left in place. (Do NOT delete 8xx or 9xx fields in item records.)

Please Do Not:

Delete any existing fields within the bib record, unless your library is responsible for their presence.

Updates

This document is updated as required, and in response to user suggestions and questions.  If you have comments in this regard, send feedback.