Scope: This procedure identifies the added tracings that CMS rare materials staff use to make rare books in RMC readily searchable by publication date, publisher and/or printer, and provenance (former owner). It also describes our policies concerning when to add these tracings.
Contact: Margaret Nichols
Unit: Cataloging & Metadata Services
Date last updated: 07/1112/2019
Date of next review: March 2020
For pre-1800 European imprints and pre-1821 American imprints, we trace the publication date, printer, and publisher. For History of Science and Icelandic materials, we trace the date, printer, and publisher for all pre-1900 imprints.
650 _4 [Date] for publication date
651 _4 [Place]$v Imprints (printer/publisher's name)
Examples:
650 _4 1793
651 _4 London (England) $v Imprints (Millar, Andrew)
...
For imprints of any date, we trace provenance, i.e. the names of former owners of the book, using appropriate MARC relator terms in $e to designate their relation to the book. Add $5NIC at the very end of the field, since the provenance tracing is copy-specific.
...
The provenance note itself goes in 852 $z (a public note) on the MARC holdings record. We use this phrasing: "Provenance: name of former owner (form of provenance evidence)." For a book inscribed to someone, use this phrasing: "Provenance: Inscribed to x by y, date." Other phrasing may be needed for a more complex situation.
ExampleExamples:
852 00 $b rmc $k Rare Books $h BX1673 $i .L62 $z Provenance: Andrew Dickson White (bookplate).
852 00 $b rmc $k Rare Books $h PR4076 $i. H63 1966 $z Provenance: Inscribed to James McLaughlin by the author, June 6, 1967.
852 00 $b rmc $k Rare Books $h BS1754 $I. M79 $z Provenance: Prize book presented to Aaron Bishop for perfect Sunday school attendance, First Presbyterian Church of Enfield (Massachusetts), May 25, 1876.
We do not trace donors. (When we traced them in the past, confusion resulted when patrons searched under authors who were also donors.) Instead, we make put a 541 note field on the holdings record (with 1st indicator 1) for the donor's name, followed by $c Gift. If the donor wishes to remain anonymous, use 541 first indicator 0; this will prevent the information from displaying to the public.
Example:
541 1 $a M.H. Abrams $c Gift