Home → Cataloging in NC Cardinal → Item Cataloging → Kits
Last Updated 03/17/2025
Kits are a collection of materials, sometimes created by a library and sometimes by a publisher or vendor. It is important that kits be easily identified and distinguished from the individual included titles, both by patrons and catalogers. Before adding a new volume or item record for a kit, Item Catalogers should search the catalog to determine whether there is a matching record for the kit (if commercially obtained) or request that a Bibliographic Cataloger create a specific record for a kit that includes information about all materials included in the kit.
An Item Cataloger should not attach a multi-piece kit to a bibliographic record that is for only one of the items included in the kit.
For commercially obtained kits, a bibliographic record may be available through Z39.50 or from the vendor. For kits that include multiple different items (not bundled by publisher/vendor), a Bibliographic Cataloger should create a bibliographic record with a unique title in the 245 $a (not the title of any individual book in the kit), include the GMD $h [kit] in the 245, and ensure that the Kit icon is displayed in the catalog for patrons.
Also, the Bibliographic Cataloger must include appropriate information in the record about all the included materials. ISBNs for the included materials should NOT be listed in the 020 $a, but instead in the $z. This will prevent mis-matching with Z39.50 and batch bib imports. (You can learn more about the use of the 020 $z here.)
All titles of included items should be listed in the 500 or 505 and authors/creators should be listed in the 7XX fields, and a 100 should not be included unless all materials have a single author/creator.