This manual was developed to assist OCLC users and others who are preparing bibliographic descriptions of resources available through the Internet. The guidelines follow the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2d ed., 1988 revision (AACR2) and the Amendments 1993, as well as the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Electronic Resources (ISBD(ER)), 2d ed. draft, 1995. This manual provides a convenient single source of information by combining a discussion of cataloging rules, appropriate MARC fields, and illustrative examples.
This manual is intended to be used as a cataloging aid, and it does not supersede any existing authoritative documentation.
Chapter 9 of AACR2 includes special provisions for cataloging computer files available by "remote access." Remote access is defined in AACR2 as "The use of computer files via input/output devices connected electronically to a computer." This is contrasted with direct access, "The use of computer files via carriers (e.g., disks, cassettes, cartridges) designed to be inserted into a computer or its auxiliary equipment by the user."
The special provisions of AACR2, Chapter 9, for files available by remote access are applicable to Internet resources. They include the use of Area 3 for file description, the absence of physical description, and a note stating the "mode of access" to the file.
These guidelines include some directions for cataloging serial computer files. Computer file serials are cataloged on the computer files workform, using Bibliographic Level "s" with field 006 for the serial characteristics and field 007 for computer file characteristics.
An "interim compromise" on the issue of cataloging remote access versions of printed journals was announced August 1996 by CONSER. CONSER participants may choose to create two bibliographic records (one for the remote access version and one for the printed journal) or may note the existence of the electronic version on the bibliographic record for the paper copy.
The Library of Congress will create separate records for the remote access version and for the printed journal.
When two records are created, field 776 is to be used in each record to link to the other, and fields 530 and 856 are to be used in each record. If only one record is used, that for the paper serial, it is to contain fields 530 and 856 for the electronic version.
Digitized maps are to be cataloged on the map workform with an 006 for the computer file characteristics.
Some information is to be carried in special MARC fields. Subscription information and local access information are to be entered in field 856, Electronic Location and Access, a field developed especially for this kind of information. Appendix A contains current directions for field 856, and appendix B includes a selected bibliography. Because field 856 is continually undergoing revision/updating, one must watch for changes to that field as announced by MARBI, LC, and/or OCLC.
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