[Koha] Transcribing agency

[Hernandez, Heather H]

Hi!

I agree with Katrin—making the 040 subfields optional in Koha is fine.  But I think it's a very good idea to get an institution code and to use it, since it's very helpful if you eventually share your cataloging records.  (And it's a typical thing for a library to think when starting out that they are small and no one would ever be interested in their cataloging records, but you never know!!)

Also, if you are doing original cataloging (that is, you are also creating all the data that you are typing in), you will use the exact same code in the 040 $a and the $c.  (But you probably already know that!)  It is also extremely helpful to code the language of cataloging in the $b (using a language code available at https://www.loc.gov/marc/languages/ ).  IMO, those are the three fields that should be in a MARC21 040 field for an original record.  (The $e is IMO optional.)

If you are bringing in a record from another source, e.g., via Z39.50, and you make changes to it, adding a $d with your organizational code to the 040 is nice—it tells you (and others that might copy your record in the future) that you modified the record.

(And, really, most systems will tolerate any sort of "code" or data in the 040 subfields.)

Cheerio!
h2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ms. Heather Hernandez (she, her, hers)
Technical Services Librarian
Library catalog:  https://keys.bywatersolutions.com/
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Research Center
2 Marina Blvd., Bldg. E, 3rd floor, San Francisco, CA  94123-1284
415-561-7032 (office, generally M, W, F, telecommuting Tu,Th)
heather_hernandez at nps.gov<https://webmail.lmi.net/src/compose.php?send_to=heather_hernandez%40nps.gov>