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3.13. Advanced Reader Copies, Donated Items, Copy Notes, and Digital Bookplates

Last Updated 11/03/2023

Advance Reader Copies

Advance/d Reader Copies (ARCs) or Advanced Reading Editions (AREs) are promotional materials sent out prior to publication. They are generally marked as such and usually marked "Do Not Sell". Libraries should not add these items to the NC Cardinal catalog. Some libraries may choose to circulate as pre-cataloged or non-cataloged "donations".

Gift, Donated, and In Memoriam Items

Library system specific information including gift or donation information should not be included in bibliographic records within NC Cardinal, which are shared by the entire consortium. Catalog the item as you would normally, following the recommended MARC templates for the item type (i.e., book, Blu-ray, etc.). NC Cardinal recommends that libraries use a book plate, plaque, or some other form of acknowledgment for gifted items OUTSIDE of the catalog.

For internal records, libraries may wish to

• Create an item statistical category. For example: donation: yes/no
• Use an Excel spreadsheet to track donations
• Create a COPY-level note for each individual barcode

To create a copy (item level) note:

    1. Search the catalog for an existing record and open the record.

    2. Click on the Edit option under the copy you will be adding the note to.

    3. In the Holdings Editor, locate the Notes field and click on the Item Notes button.

    4. Enter the note content in the pop-up window. Do NOT mark the note public.

    5. Use one of the following for the Title field:

• Gift
• Donation
• In Memoriam

    7. In the Note field, include the donor’s or “In memoriam” name. For example: “Book donated by John Doe”

    8. To add a copy-level note while adding a new item, first save the information on the Item Attribute window, close it, and re-open it. You will then see the Copy Notes button.

Item Tags and Digital Bookplates

Alternatively, a library may wish to use an Item Tag instead of an Item Note, because unlike Item Notes, Item Tags are searchable within the catalog.  Some stipulations apply:

1. NC Cardinal is currently limiting the "Type" of Item Tag to Digital Bookplates as these are already in use by some libraries.
2. NC Cardinal asks that you create a standardized list of labels to apply uniformly to your Item Tags.  For example, for all donations in memory of an individual or group, you might create the label "Donated by [insert name here] in memory of [insert name here]."  You would then use that same template for all subsequent in kind donations.
3. Please try to limit the number of characters in your label/s to no more than 30, including spaces.  We realize this may not be feasible in all circumstances given the length of names, organizations, etc., so there is some wiggle room, and you do not necessarily have to include the names in that character count.

In order to keep the OPAC from getting too cluttered with additional text or information under each individual item, it is preferred that you use these sparingly and try to limit the number of characters as much as possible.

Additionally, before you begin creating Item Tags for your materials, you may first wish to check and see if they are already searchable in your OPAC or not.  If they are, you will see Digital Bookplate in the Keyword dropdown menu in the catalog:

If you do not see this option, please submit a help ticket or email NC Cardinal at help@nccardinalsupport.org so that this option can be turned on for you.

Creating and adding an Item Tag follows similar steps to those described above for Item Notes.

To create an Item Tag:

1. In the Holdings Editor for an item, locate the Add Item Tags field and click on the Item Tags button:
   
   
   
2. Select Digital Bookplate from the Select tag type... dropdown menu in the window that appears:
   
3. Enter the appropriate label into the Enter tag label field.  If you have previously created labels for other items, these will appear in the label dropdown menu.
   
   
   
4. Click the Add Tag button and then the Apply Changes button:
   
5. As you would whenever editing an item, click the Apply All, Save & Exit button to finish.
   

Once an Item Tag has been added to an item, it will appear below the item's call number in the catalog.

If you need to delete an Item Tag, click the Remove button next to the tag in question in the same New Tags window where you create and add Item Tags (pictured above).