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Concise Formats - 2008 Archive >> Authority >> 1XX

Heading Fields

This is an ARCHIVED VERSION of the 2008 electronic edition of the MARC 21 Concise Formats. Please see loc.gov/marc/concise/ for the most up-to-date version of the electronic MARC 21 Concise Formats.

1XX fields contain names, uniform titles, and terms used in headings or subdivisions to headings. They are usually constructed according to generally accepted cataloging and thesaurus-building rules.

In a MARC authority record, a heading is the content of a 1XX, 4XX, or 5XX field that documents the form of name, title, or term used for indexing and retrieval or organizational purposes in a file. The content designation of the subelements of each type of heading is consistent across the 1XX heading and 4XX/5XX tracing fields.

Headings -- General Information

Two types of headings are defined in the authorities format:

Established heading

Authoritative form of a heading that is used as a main entry (1XX), added entry (700-730), or series added entry (440 or 800-830), or as the lead element in a subject access (600-651, 654-657) field in bibliographic records. In authority records, established headings are used in fields 100-155 (headings) and fields 500-555 (tracings) for established heading (008/09, Kind of record, code a or f) and subdivision (008/09, Kind of record, code d) records.

Unestablished heading

A heading that is not authorized for use in other MARC records as the lead element of a main, added, series, or subject access field. The unestablished heading may be a variant to the established form, a heading used only for authority file organizational purposes, or an incomplete piece of an established heading. This heading is not used in bibliographic records. In established heading records an unestablished heading may be used in a 4XX (tracing) field. In reference, subdivision, reference and subdivision, and node label records, the 1XX (heading) field contains an unestablished heading.

Headings may be names, name/title combinations, uniform titles, topical terms, chronological terms, genre/form terms, subdivisions, extended subject headings or node labels.

Name heading

A heading that is a personal, corporate, meeting, or jurisdiction (including geographic) name.

Name/title heading

A heading consisting of both a name and a title portion. The name portion may be a personal, corporate, meeting, or jurisdiction name. The title portion may be a uniform or conventional title, a title page title of a work, or a series title.

Uniform title heading

A heading consisting of a uniform or conventional title, a title page title, or a series title that is not entered under a personal, corporate, meeting, or jurisdiction name in a name/title heading construction.

Topical term heading

A heading consisting of a topical subject term.

Chronological term heading

A heading consisting of a chronological subject term.

Genre/form term heading

A heading consisting of a genre/form subject term.

Subdivision heading

A heading consisting of a general (topical or language), form, geographic, or chronological subject subdivision term. An extended subdivision heading contains more than one subject subdivision term (subfields$v, $x, $y, and $z).

Extended subject heading

A name, name/title, uniform title, topical term or genre/form term heading that includes one or more general, form, geographic, or chronological subject subdivision terms (subfield $v, $x, $y, or $z).

Node label heading

A heading consisting of a term used in the systematic section of a thesaurus to indicate the logical basis on which a category is divided. The dash (--) that precedes a subject subdivision is not carried in the MARC record; it may be generated based on the presence of subfields $v, $x, $y, or $z.

Heading Usage in Authority Records

Only the 1XX field in established heading records may be used as access points in bibliographic records. Name, name/title, and uniform title headings may be used as main or added entries (008/14, code a); name, name/title, uniform title, topical term, genre/form, and extended subject headings may be used as subject added entries (008/15, code a), and name/title and uniform title headings may be used as series added entries (008/16, code a). Subdivision headings may be used only in extended subject heading added entries.

Heading Usage in Authority Structures

A heading may be categorized as being suitable for either a name or a subject authority structure. Headings that are formulated using descriptive cataloging conventions (008/10) are suitable for a name authority structure. These headings encompass name, name/title, and uniform title headings in established heading and established heading and subdivision records and unestablished forms of these types of headings in reference records. Certain note and tracing and reference fields are used only in records for headings suitable for name authority structures.

Headings that are formulated using subject heading system /thesaurus building conventions (008/11) are suitable for a subject authority structure. These headings encompass names, name/title combinations, uniform titles, topical terms, chronological terms, and genre/form headings (and extended subject headings using these types of headings) in established heading and established heading and subdivision records. Unestablished forms of these types of headings are used in reference and, reference and subdivision records. Unestablished headings are also used in subdivision and node label records. Certain note and tracing and reference fields in the format are used only in records for headings suitable for subject authority structures.

A name portion containing open-ended date ends with a space when it is followed by other data in the same subfield; it does not end with a space when it is followed by another subfield.