Holdings and the Cataloger's Note

Page Contents

General Holdings Information

Serials Holdings

Cataloger's Note

Holdings information

• Shelfmark/Call number -- Use when appropriate, some libraries choose to keep this information private
• Copy notes -- See Copy specific notes for examples of these kinds of notes.
• Provenance and binding -- See Provenance for examples of these kinds of notes.
• Serials sequence information -- This field is for serials items only, see Serials Holdings below.
• Status -- Click the appropriate radio button to update the status to verified or unverified. (See Criteria for Matching for a discussion of verified versus unverified matches.)

Entering Serials holdings

All issues held should be reported, however in the case of extremely scattered issues of a long-running serial, abbreviated holdings may be explained in the Copy Note to avoid an extremely lengthy Serial Sequence.

No spaces are used within either a range of numbers or a range of dates. Volume numbers (when present) and year dates are followed by a colon, then the issue numbers or detailed dates are given. Regardless of the style of the publication, only arabic numbers are entered.

1. V.1:no.1-15
2. 1688:Jan.-Mar.

When both issue numbers and dates are present, give the issue numbers first, followed by a space and the dates in parentheses.

1. No.1-13 (1700:Mar.1-Apr.20)
2. V.1:no.1-v.2:no.5 (1722:Jan.-1723:May)

Commas are used to indicate holdings gaps in both issue numbers and dates; a semi-colon between numbers or dates indicates a known gap in publication.

1. No.1-55 (1744:Jan.3-1745:Jan.17)
   --- A complete run
2. No.1-10,15-22
   --- No issues held between no.10 and 15
3. V.2:no.6,v.3:no.7-12 (1755:June,1756:July-Dec.)
   --- Lacking issues between v.2:no.6 (1755:June) and v.3:no.7 (1756:July-Dec.)
4. 1641:Mar.1-15,June22;Aug.15
   --- Lacking issues between Mar.15 and June22, no issues known to be published between June22 and Aug.15

All months have a 3 letter abbreviation except June, July, and Sept. Dates reflect issue dating, NOT publication dates.

Foreign language publications usually indicate their volume and issue numbers in their language of publication; these may be used.

1. Buch:1
2. Parte.2-4

In some cases, especially with newspapers, numeration may restart from "no. 1" at the beginning of a new year. In these cases use [n.s.] to indicate a new series of numbers, and if there is no gap in holdings omit the comma.

1. No.1-52[n.s.]no.1-23 (1715:Mar.1-1716:July1)
2. No.1-27,[n.s.]no.15-23 (1715:Mar.1-June22,1716:Apr.22- July1)

When no issue numbers are present, complete, or almost complete, years can be indicated without using any months or days. If the year has a few missing issues, add an explanatory copy note.

1. Serial Seq.: 1643-1645
   --- Complete years, no Copy Note necessary.
2. Serial Seq.: 1643-1645
   Copy Note: Six issues lacking in 1644.
   --- Includes a copy note detailing which issues are missing.

Cataloger’s Notes

A Cataloger's note is used to notify ESTC that the contributing library, based on examination of the book, is reporting or querying a point on which the contributing library’s copy is at odds with a record. One common reason will be to report a leaf (i.e. blank, advertisement, imprimatur) which completes a gathering and is not reported in the ESTC record. More serious problems may involve differences in transcription or contents and typographical errors in the record. ESTC staff will take responsibility for resolving these inconsistencies and upgrading the record based on the information provided by the contributing library. Resolution may include querying the contributing library on particular points, or asking the contributing library to report the item for a new record.

The cataloger's note field is used for non-urgent queries or comments. If your query needs an immediate response, it is best to contact one of the ESTC catalogers directly or email Patricia Hargis.

In a Cataloger's Note, the following fields are should all be filled in:

• Library: Put in your library's ESTC code.
• Date: Put in the current date.
• Note: Put in the text of your query or comment.

See the help topic Basic steps in searching and matching for more information on how to access the Cataloger's Note fields.