SCILS
South Carolina Information and Library Services Consortium
SCILS Cataloging Policy
Approved 4/22/2008
Duplicate Records
In the SCILS Catalog, each unique publication of a title should be represented by only one bibliographic record. Every SCILS library is responsible for thoroughly searching SCILS database before downloading or creating any new records.
Search in Sirsi (SCILS database) until you find the record or until you are confident that it is not in the SCILS database. Below are required searches. If you find it, you do not need to continue to search. You need to make sure that you are searching all the bibliographic records in SCILS not just your own.
If you mistakenly download or create a duplicate record, you will need to transfer its order, item, and/or check-in records from brief bibliographic records or duplicate bibliographic records to existing SCILS MARC bibliographic records. If there are no order records or item record, the record can be removed.
Determining a duplicate
Duplicate bibliographic records can be determined by OCLC number and/or if the following fields in the duplicated records match:
Fields to check for matches (not all have to be present to be a match)
· OCLC (010) (does not have to match or be present)
· ISBN/ISSN (020,022) (does not have to match or be present)
· Author (100/110) (if present, should match)
· Title (245) (has to be present; should match)
· Pagination and description (300) (if present, should match)
· Publisher and Copyright (260) (should match, but not always)
· Edition statement (250) (if present, should match)
Fields that can be different and still be a duplicate if other information matches
· Call numbers (050, 090)
· Subject Headings (600,610,650,651))
· Notes (500)
Be conscious of typos and that choice of publisher and title are sometimes subjective.
A cataloger’s best judgment has to be used some times. Sometimes it requires the items in question to be pulled off the shelf to be compared with the item at the other school.
Cooperation is a must between schools to make sure that quality cataloging is maintained.
Monograph serials (See full policy)
When a title can be treated as a serial or as a monograph, the SCILS policy is to use a serial record for all regular publications (if it is published annually or more frequently). If a serial record exists, do not download a monograph record. Serial records are only going to be found by title, without the date information, or by ISSN if the item has one. (i.e. “2007 World Almanac” should be search as “World Almanac”)
When duplicate SCILS MARC bibliographic records are found in a library’s own collection, please notify the SCILS System Librarian with the title and record control numbers in question.
The retained bibliographic record would be one of the following, in successive order of preference:
1. A record with the fullest bibliographic description
2. If the same then the record with control number based on the OCLC’s number. Ex. O023568545
3. If both records have a control numbers based on a OCLC number, then choose to retain the greatest number of item or check-in records.
Very Important: Before deleting or transferring, move all unique access points from the record to be deleted to the record to be retained (subject headings, call numbers, local fields, notes, etc.).
When duplicate SCILS MARC bibliographic records with the same OCLC numbers but different content are found, further investigation is needed. For instance, if two SCILS MARC bibliographic records have the same OCLC numbers, title transcription, and LCCNs, but they have differing collations and the lack of agreement does not appear to stem from simple typographical error, holding libraries should be contacted to resolve the duplication.
If the duplication cannot be resolved by the holding libraries, the SCILS System Librarian should be asked to address the issue.