This appendix is available on the Web at: lcweb.loc.gov/marc/856guide.html The Library of Congress and OCLC have not implemented all the indicators, fields and subfields described. Watch for information from OCLC that announces implementation.
This field contains the information required to locate an electronic item. The information identifies the electronic location containing the item or from which it is available. It also contains information needed to retrieve the item by the access method identified by the first indicator position. The relationship of the electronic location and access information in field 856 to the item identified by the record as a whole is identified by the second indicator. The information contained in this field is sufficient to allow for the electronic transfer of a file, subscription to an electronic journal, or logon to an electronic resource. In some cases, only unique data elements are recorded which allow the user to access a locator table on a remote host containing the remaining information needed to access the item.
Field 856 is repeated when the location data elements vary (subfields ‡a, ‡b, ‡d) and when more than one access method may be used. It is also repeated whenever the electronic filename varies (subfield ‡f), except when a single intellectual item is divided into different parts for online storage or retrieval.
The first indicator position contains a value that defines how the rest of the data in the field will be used. If the resource is available by more than one access method, the field is repeated with data appropriate to each method. The methods defined are the main TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) protocols.
The value in the first indicator position determines which subfields are appropriate for use. For example, when first indicator value 1 (FTP) is used, subfields ‡d (Path), ‡f (Electronic name), ‡c (Compression information), and ‡s (File size) are appropriate, whereas they would not be with first indicator value 2 (Remote login (Telnet)).
Value # (blank) indicates that no information about access method is provided. This value is used when subfield ‡g contains a URN and there is no URL recorded in subfield ‡u. When subfield ‡u contains a URL and subfield ‡g is also present with a URN, the indicator value for the appropriate access method of the URL is given.
Value 0 indicates that access to the electronic resource is through electronic mail (email). This access includes subscribing to an electronic journal or electronic forum through software intended to be used by an email system.
Value 1 indicates that the access to the electronic resource is through the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Additional information in other subfields may enable the user to transfer the resource electronically.
Value 2 indicates that access to the electronic resource is through remote login (Telnet). Additional information in subfields of the record may enable the user to connect to the resource electronically.
Value 3 indicates that access to the electronic resource is through a conventional telephone line (dial-up). Additional information in subfields of the record may enable the user to connect to the resource.
Value 4 indicates that access to the electronic resource is through the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
Value 7 indicates that access to the electronic resource is through a method other than the defined values and for which an identifying code is given in subfield ‡2 (Source of access).
The second indicator position contains a value that identifies the relationship between the electronic resource at the location identified in field 856 and the item described in the record as a whole. Subfield ‡3 is used to provide further information about the relationship if it is not a one-to-one relationship.
Value # (blank) indicates that no information is provided about the relationship of the electronic resource to the bibliographic item described by the record.
Value 0 indicates that the electronic location in field 856 is for the same resource described by the record as a whole. In this case, the item represented by the bibliographic record is an electronic resource. If the data in field 856 relates to a constituent unit of the resource represented by the record, subfield ‡3 is used to specify the portion(s) to which the field applies. The display constant Electronic resource: may be generated.
Value 1 indicates that the location in field 856 is for an electronic version of the resource described by the record. In this case, the item represented by the bibliographic record is not electronic but an electronic version is available. If the data in field 856 relates to a constituent unit of the resource represented by the record, subfield ‡3 is used to specify the portion(s) to which the field applies. The display constant Electronic version: may be generated.
Value 2 indicates that the location in field 856 is for an electronic resource that is related to the item described by the record. In this case, the item represented by the bibliographic record is not the electronic resource itself. Subfield ‡3 can be used to further characterize the relationship between the electronic item identified in field 856 and the item represented by the bibliographic record as a whole. The display constant Related electronic resource: may be generated.
Value 8 specifies that no display constant is to be generated.
Subfield ‡a contains the fully qualified domain (host name) of the electronic location. It contains a network address which is repeated if there is more than one address for the same host. The convention for a BITNET address is to add .bitnet.
| 856 | 1# ‡a harvada.harvard.edu ‡a harvarda.bitnet |
Subfield ‡b contains the access number associated with a host. It can contain the Internet Protocol (IP) numeric address if the item is an Internet resource, or a telephone number if dial-up access is provided through a telephone line. This data may change frequently and may be generated by the system, rather than statically stored. Subfield ‡b may be repeated if all the other information in the field applies. A telephone number is recorded as follows: [country code]-[area code]-[telephone number]. Example: 61-49-215833 (a number in New South Wales, Australia); 1-202-7076237 (a number in the U.S., Washington, D.C.). If an extension is applicable, include it after the telephone number preceded by "x". Example: 1-703-3589800x515 (telephone number with extension).
| 856 | 2# ‡a
anthrax.micro.umn.edu ‡b 128.101.95.23 [Host name and Internet Protocol numeric address] |
| 856 | 3# ‡b 1-202-7072316
‡j 2400/9600 ‡n Library of Congress, Washington, DC ‡o UNIX ‡r E-7-1 ‡t vt100 ‡z Requires logon and password [Dial-up numbers with related settings for terminal emulation] |
Subfield ‡c contains information about the compression of a file. If a specific program is required to decompress the file, it is noted here. The filename in subfield ‡f may indicate the type of compression by an extension (the portion after a period (".") or the first space). The subfield may be repeated if two compression programs are used, noting the latest compression first.
| 856 | 1# ‡a maine.maine.edu ‡c Must be decompressed with PKUNZIP ‡f resource.zip |
Subfield ‡d contains the path, the series of logical directory and subdirectory names that indicate where a file is stored. The filename itself is recorded in subfield ‡f. This may be a surrogate path leading the user to the host where complete and current access information is stored in a locator table.
| 856 | 1# ‡a
wuarchive.wustl.edu ‡d /aii/admin/CAT.games ‡f mac-qubic.22.hqx |
Subfield ‡f contains the electronic name of a file as it exists in the directory/subdirectory indicated in subfield ‡d on the host identified in subfield ‡a. Subfield ‡f may be repeated if a single logical file has been divided into parts and stored under different names. In this case, the separate parts should constitute a single bibliographic item. In all other cases, a file that may be retrieved under different filenames contains multiple occurrences of field 856, each with it corresponding electronic name in subfield ‡f. A filename may include wildcard characters (e.g., "*" or "?") if applicable, with a note in subfield ‡z explaining how files are named. Note: Filenames may be case sensitive for some systems.
| 856 | 1# ‡a wuarchive.wustl.edu ‡d mirrors/info-mac/util ‡f color- system-icons.hqx 856 |
| 0# ‡a kentvm.bitnet ‡f acadlist file1 ‡f acadlist file2 ‡f acadlist file3 |
This subfield may also contain the name of the electronic publication or conference.
| 856 | 0# ‡a uicvm.bitnet ‡f AN2 |
Subfield ‡g contains the Uniform Resource Name (URN) for the electronic resource. A URN provides a globally unique location independent identifier that can be used for identification of the resource and thus facilitates access to the resource. The content of the subfield includes the initial "urn:".
| 856 | 4# ‡u
http://hdl.handle.net/loc.test/gotthome ‡g urn:hdl.loc.test/ gotthome |
Subfield ‡h contains the username, or processor of the request; generally the data which precedes the at sign ("@") in the host address.
| 856 | 0# ‡a uicvm.bitnet ‡f AN2 ‡h Listserv |
Subfield ‡i contains an instruction or command needed for the remote host to process a request.
| 856 | 0# ‡a uccvma.bitnet ‡f IR-L ‡h Listserv ‡i subscribe |
Subfield ‡j contains the lowest and highest number of bits (binary units) of data that can be transmitted per second when connected to a host. The syntax for recording the number of bits per second (BPS) should be: -. If only lowest given: - ; If only highest given: -.
| 856 | 0# ‡b1 -202-7072316 ‡j 2400-9600 ‡n Library of Congress, Washington, DC ‡o UNIX ‡r E-7-1 |
Subfield ‡k contains the password required to access the electronic resource. An FTP site may require the user to enter an Internet Protocol address or may require a specific password. Electronically accessed library catalogs may also require a password. If a system that requires a password will accept anything entered as valid, this subfield can be omitted from field 856. This subfield is used to record general-use passwords, and should not contain passwords requiring security.
Textual instructions about passwords are contained in subfield ‡z (Public note).
| 856 | 1# ‡a harvarda.harvard.edu ‡k guest |
Subfield ‡l contains characters needed to connect (i.e, "logon", "login", etc.) to an electronic resource or FTP site. For many general-use file transfer protocol servers, access is gained by entering the string "anonymous." An account number required for login may also be indicated. This subfield is used to record general-use logon strings which do not require special security.
| 856 | 1# ‡a unmvm.bitnet ‡l anonymous |
Subfield ‡m contains the name of a contact for assistance in accessing a resource at the host specified in subfield ‡a.
| 856 | 2# ‡a gopac.berkeley.edu ‡m Roy Tennant |
Subfield ‡n contains the conventional name of the location of the host in subfield ‡a, including its physical (geographic) location.
| 856 | 2# ‡a pucc.princeton.edu ‡n Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. |
For informational purposes, operating system used by the host specified in subfield ‡a is indicated here. Conventions for the path and filenames may be dependent on the operating system of the host. For the operating system of the resource itself (i.e., the item represented by the title recorded in field 245), rather than the operating system of the host making it available, field 753 (Technical Details Access to Computer Files), subfield ‡c (Operating system) is used.
| 856 | 1# ‡a seq1.loc.gov ‡d /pub/soviet.archive ‡f k1famine.bkg ‡o UNIX |
Subfield ‡p contains the portion of the address that identifies a process or service in the host.
| 856 | 2# ‡a madlab.sprl.umich.edu ‡n University of Michigan Weather Underground ‡p 3000 |
Subfield ‡q contains an identification of the electronic format type, which is the data representation of the resource, such as text/html, ASCII, Postscript file, executable application, or JPEG image. The intent of specifying this element is to provide information necessary to allow people or machines to make decisions about the usability of the encoded data (what hardware and software might be required to display or execute it, for example). The electronic format type also determines the file transfer mode, or how data are transferred through a network. (Usually, a text file can be transferred as character data which generally restricts the text to characters in the ASCII (American National Standard Code for Information Interchange (ANSI X3.4)) character set (i.e., the basic Latin alphabet, digits 0-9, a few special characters, and most punctuation marks) and text files with characters outside of the ASCII set, or non-textual data (e.g., computer programs, image data) must be transferred using another binary mode.) Electronic format type may be taken from enumerated lists such as registered Internet Media Types (MIME types).
| 856 | 40 ‡u http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm ‡q text/html |
Subfield ‡r contains the settings used for transferring data. Included in settings are: 1) Number Data Bits (the number of bits per character); 2) Number Stop Bits (the number of bits to signal the end of a byte); and 3) Parity (the parity checking technique used). The syntax of these elements is:
-- If only the parity is given, the other elements of settings and their related hyphens are omitted (i.e., ""). If one of the other two elements is given, the hyphen for the missing element is recorded in its proper position (i.e., "--" or "--")
| 856 | 3# ‡b 1-202-7072316 ‡j 2400-9600 ‡n Library of Congress, Washington, DC ‡o UNIX‡rE-7-1 ‡t vt100 ‡z Requires logon and password |
The values for parity are: O (Odd), E (Even), N (None), S (Space), and M (Mark).
Subfield ‡s contains the size of the file as stored under the filename indicated in subfield ‡f. It is generally expressed in terms of 8-bit bytes (octets). It may be repeated in cases where the filename is repeated and directly follows the subfield ‡f to which it applies. This information is not given for journals, since field 856 relates to the entire title, not to particular issues.
| 856 | 1# ‡a wuarchive.wustl.edu ‡d mirrors/info-mac/util ‡f color- system-icons.hqx ‡s 16874 bytes 8560# ‡a keptvm.bitnet ‡f acadlist file1 ‡s 34,989 bytes ‡f acadlist file2 ‡s 32,876 bytes ‡f acadlist file3 ‡s 23987 bytes |
Subfield ‡t contains an indication of a terminal emulation supported. Terminal emulation is usually specified for remote login (first indicator contains value 2 (Remote login (Telnet))).
| 856 | 2# ‡a maine.maine.edu ‡n University of Maine ‡t 3270 |
Subfield ‡u contains the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which provides electronic access data in a standard syntax. This data can be used for automated access to an electronic item using one of the Internet protocols. Field 856 is structured to allow the creation of a URL from the concatenation of other separate field 856 subfields. Subfield ‡u may be used instead of those separate subfields or in addition to them. Subfield ‡u may be repeated if the other information in the field applies.
| 856 | 1# ‡u ftp://path.net/pub/docs/urn2urc.ps |
| 856 | 40 ‡u http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/semdigdocs/seminar.html |
Subfield ‡v contains the hours that access to an electronic resource is available at the location indicated in this field. If the record is for a system or service, the hours of availability are recorded in, field 307 (Hours, etc.). This subfield is only used to record hours of availability of the specific location indicated in field 856.
| 856 | 2# ‡a pac.carl.org ‡b 192.54.81.128 ‡m CARL Situation Room ‡m help@CARL.org ‡n CARL Systems Inc., Denver, CO ‡v 24 hours |
| 856 | 3# ‡a locis.loc.gov ‡b 140.147.254.3 ‡m lconline@loc.gov ‡t 3270 ‡t line mode (e.g., vt100) ‡v M–F 6:00 a.m.–21:30 p.m. USA EST, Sat. 8:30–17:00 USA EST, Sun. 13:00–17:00 USA EST |
Subfield ‡w contains the system control number of the related record preceded by the USMARC code, enclosed in parentheses, for the agency to which the control number applies. The data in the subfield links field 856 to the USMARC record having the same data in a control number field. (The source of the code is USMARC Code List for Organizations that is maintained by the Library of Congress.)
Subfield ‡x contains a note relating to the electronic location of the source identified in the field. The note is written in a form that is not adequate or intended for public display. It may also contain processing information about the file at the location specified.
| 856 | 1# ‡a
wuarchive.wustl.edu ‡c decompress with PKUNZIP.exe ‡d /mirrors2/win3/games
‡f atmoids.zip ‡x cannot verify because of transfer difficulty |
Subfield ‡z contains a note relating to the electronic location of the source identified in the field. The note is written in a form that is adequate or intended for public display.
Subfield ‡2 contains the access method when the first indicator position contains value 7 (Method specified in subfield ‡2). This subfield may include access methods other than the four main TCP/IP protocols specified in the first indicator. The data in this subfield corresponds with the access schemes specified in Uniform Resource Locators (URL) (RFC 1738), a product of the Uniform Resource Identifiers Working Group of the IETF. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) maintains a registry of URL schemes and defines the syntax and use of new schemes; the Library of Congress will include an authoritative list based on that standard in the USMARC Code List for Relators, Sources, Description Conventions.
| 856 | 7# ‡3 b&w film copy neg. ‡d LCPP003B ‡f 3B44639 ‡2 file |
Subfield ‡3 contains information that specifies the part of the bibliographic item to which the field applies.
| 856 | 0# ‡3 Finding aid to the
Edgar F. Kaiser Papers ‡a gopher.berkeley.edu ‡b 128.224.55 ‡k guest
‡l anonymous ‡m Reference Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, tel. 510-642-6481 ‡n The Library, University of California, Berkeley ‡o UNIX ‡p 70 ‡q binary ‡s 2,394,394,444 ‡x The finding aid to the Kaiser papers is currently under revision. ‡z For further information about shipbuilding files, contact The Bancroft Library Reference |
Subfield ‡6 contains data that link pairs of fields that are alternate graphic representations of each other. The subfield contains the tag number of an associated field and an occurrence number. A complete description of subfield ‡6 and guidelines for applying it are provided in the 880 Alternate Graphic Representation section.
When holdings information is embedded in a USMARC bibliographic record, multiple occurrences of field 856 may be used if the information does not include other holdings information fields that must be linked to a specific field 856 for intelligibility. Subfield ‡3 may be used to specify the parts of an item to which information in field 856 applies.
Introductory terms or phrases such as Electronic resource:, Electronic version:, etc. are not carried in the USMARC record. They may be system generated as display constants associated with the second indicator value.
| Second indicator | Display contant |
| # (blank) | Electronic resource: |
| 0 | Electronic resource: |
| 1 | Electronic version: |
| 2 | Related electronic resource: |
| 8 | [no display constant] |
753 Technical Details Access to Computer Files
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.0) Uniform Resource Locators (URL) (RFC 1738)
USMARC Code List for Organizations
USMARC Code List for Relators, Sources, Description Conventions
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