007 Physical Description Fixed Field

Field definition and scope:

Field 007 contains special information about the physical characteristics of an item expressed in a coded form. The information may represent the whole item or parts of an item such as accompanying material. The coded information is usually derived from explicit information in other fields of the MARC record, especially from field 300 (Physical Description) and/or one of the 5XX Note Fields.

Field 007 has a generic tree structure, whereby values given in 007/00 (Category of material) determine the data elements defined for subsequent character positions.

National-level and Minimal-level record requirements for field 007 for all types of material are Optional. Requirements for specific 007 categories of material and their character positions vary. See the character position description within the specific category of material.

Field 007 is repeatable to allow for coding different physical formats covered by the same cataloging record. For example, a record which describes a videocassette available in Beta and VHS formats will have two separate 007 fields.

Guidelines for applying content designators:

This field has no indicators or subfield codes. The data elements in field 007 are positionally defined. The number of character positions in field 007 and the definition of each depend upon the code contained in 007/00 (Category of material) that identifies the category of material. The fill character ( | ) is not allowed in this position. The fill character may be used in any other character position when the cataloging agency makes no attempt to code the character position.

Each 007 tree structure for a particular category of material has a defined length and when it occurs, all positions must be present. Field 007 for motion pictures and electronic resources are the only instances where the length of the field may vary. These each have a basic set of defined character positions and an extension set that may follow the basic set. For example, for motion pictures the basic set contains eight positions (007/00-07) that should always be used. An institution may choose additionally to code position 007/08 through position 007/22. The coding of any character position in the extension set requires that the whole extension set contains a code or a fill character ( | ).

Code n (Not applicable), when it is defined for a data element, indicates that the character position definition does not apply to the record. Code u (Unknown or Unspecified), when it is defined for a data element, indicates that the position definition does apply to the record, but that information needed to code the position correctly is not known or not specified.

For more information on the character positions, select a topic:

007/00: Category of material

007/01-->: Character Positions by Category of Material

007: Composite Listing by Character Position

A How-To on 007 and the Different Types of Material

Input conventions:

Repeatability

Capitalization

Content designator history:

Coding and Repeatability Changes in Field 007