856 Electronic Location and Access

Field 856 in the MARC 21 Bibliographic, Holdings, Authority, Classification, and Community Information formats is used for Electronic Location and Access information to an electronic resource and contains information related to the resource. The field may be used in a bibliographic or holdings record for a resource when that resource or a subset of it is available electronically. In addition, it may be used to locate and access an electronic version of a non-electronic resource described in the bibliographic record, part of the resource, or a related electronic resource. In an authority record it contains the electronic location information about the entity authorized by the record.  Guidelines for the Use of Field 856, Revised August 1999, Prepared by the Library of Congress, Network Development and MARC Standards Office

Resources

• Guidelines for the Use of Field 856, Revised August 1999, Prepared by the Library of Congress, Network Development and MARC Standards Office.

This document gives guidelines on the use of field 856 and is current as of July 1999

• MARC 21 Concise Format for Bibliographic Data, Field 856

The MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data is designed to be a carrier for bibliographic information about printed and manuscript textual materials, computer files, maps, music, serials, visual materials, and mixed materials. Bibliographic data commonly includes titles, names, subjects, notes, publication data, and information about the physical description of an item.

 

This field contains the information needed to locate and access an electronic resource. The field may be used in a bibliographic record for a resource when that resource or a subset of it is available electronically. In addition, it may be used to locate and access an electronic version of a non-electronic resource described in the bibliographic record or a related electronic resource.  Field 856 is repeated when the location data elements vary (the URL in subfield $u or subfields $a, $b, $d, when used). It is also repeated when more than one access method is used, different portions of the item are available electronically, mirror sites are recorded, different formats/resolutions with different URLs are indicated, and related items are recorded.

• Guidelines for Coding Electronic Resources in Leader/06, Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Library of Congress

This document is intended to assist MARC users in deciding how to code records for electronic resources in Leader/06 (Type of record) and Computer Files 008/26 and 006/09 (Type of computer file).

• Cataloging Electronic Resources:  OCLC-MARC Coding Guidelines, Revised 1999 July 28, by Jay Weitz, Consulting Database Specialist, OCLC Library Resources Division.

This ... set of guidelines is intended to assist catalogers in creating records for electronic resources in WorldCat, the OCLC Online Union Catalog. These guidelines pertain to OCLC-MARC tagging (that is, content designation). Cataloging rules and manuals (such as AACR2) govern the content of records.

• Cataloging Internet Resources : A Manual and Practical Guide, Second edition

• ISBD(ER) : International Standard Bibliographic Description for Electronic Resources, Revised from the ISBD(CF): International Standard Bibliographic Description for Computer Files, Recommended by the ISBD(CF) Review Group. (Munchen : K.G. Saur, 1997).

Miscellaneous

Examples from LION database

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Updated September 24, 1999