4.1. Matching Record Basics

NC Cardinal's shared catalog contains millions of items. In order to keep the catalog streamlined, and make the process of finding materials and requesting holds as patron-friendly as possible, NC Cardinal requires that items with matching content share bibliographic records. If a matching bibliographic record already exists within NC Cardinal, catalogers should not add or import a new or additional record. 

 

Selecting a Matching Bibliographic Record

You may find that you have several choices when matching a resource with the appropriate catalog record (or that you have only a few that may not actually match).

If several title records appear to be for the same item:

• Add your holdings to the most accurate and complete MARC record.
• If two or more MARC records are equal in quality, select the record that has the most copies.
• When in doubt, refer the records to a Bibliographic Cataloger.

Finding the Best Record

When choosing the right record for your resource, the following information must be closely examined:

• ISBN (020 field) or other ID numbers (024, 028)
• Title information (245 $a, $b)
• Author (245 $c — also 1XX, 7XX, 511, 508)
• Edition statement (250)
• Publisher (264 _1 $b)
• Date of publication (264 _1 $c) and/or Copyright date (264 _4 $c)
• Print size (i.e. Large print vs. regular print)
• Right number of discs (A/V) — 300
• UPC (A/V) — 024

 

Format

Look at the format icons displayed in the catalog when examining potential matches. Verify that a format icon appears in the catalog and matches the information in the bibliographic record. If not, please refer the record to a bibliographic cataloger. See Use of Single Bib Record for Books for additional information about when to combine records.

Physical materials (books, audiobooks, videos, etc.) should never be attached to e-resource records — such as e-book or e-audiobook formats. Some bibliographic records for print resources may contain 856 links to digital (pdf or online) copies of the print resource. These are not considered to be e-book records, as they do not require patron authentication and are accessible to anyone with the link (whether or not they are a library patron). Such digital copy links should be retained in the bib record for the physical material.

You should also pay attention to any discrepancies in statements of responsibility, subtitle, narrator (for audiobooks), director/producer/actors (for videos), table of contents, or other notes. These differences and/or any significant differences in the MARC fields are an indication that you may have a non-matching resource.