Kinds of Authority Records

MARC authority records are distinguished from all other types of MARC records by the presence of code z (Authority data) in Leader/06 (Type of record). The formulation of a name, subject, subject subdivision, or node label heading in an authority record is based on generally accepted cataloging and thesaurus-building conventions, for example, Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd Edition (AACR 2) and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). The content of the remainder of the authority record follows the practice of the organization creating the record.

Kinds of records:

The MARC 21 Format for Authority Data identifies seven kinds of authority records in field 008/09 (Kind of record):

Established heading record (008/09 code a): An authority record in which the 100-155 field contains an established name or subject. An established heading record may also contain tracing fields for variant and related headings and notes recording such information as the sources used to establish the heading and series treatment.

Subdivision record (008/09 code d): An authority record in which the 18X field contains the authorized form of a general, chronological, genre/form term, or a geographic name that may be used only as a subject subdivision portion of an established heading.

Established heading and subdivision record (008/09 code f): An authority record in which the 15X field contains an established name or subject that may also be used as a subject subdivision portion of another established heading. (An organization may choose instead to create separate records for the established name or subject heading and the subdivision.)

Reference record (008/09 code b - untraced or code c - traced): An authority record in which the 100-155 field contains an unestablished name or subject. A reference record also contains either a 260 (Complex See Reference - Subject), a 664 (Complex See Reference - Name), or a 666 (General Explanatory Reference - Name) field to guide the user to the established form. Separate codes are defined in 008/09 for traced (code c) and untraced (code b) reference records. The distinction depends upon whether the heading in the 1XX field in the record is also given as a see from tracing in a 4XX field in another authority record.

Reference and subdivision record (008/09 code g): An authority record in which the 15X field contains an unestablished name or subject that may also be used as a subject subdivision portion of an established heading. (An organization may choose instead to create separate records for the reference and the subdivision.)

Node label record (008/09 code e): An authority record in which field 150 contains an unestablished term that is the authorized form used in the systematic section of a thesaurus to indicate the logical basis on which a category has been divided.