008/33 (006/16) Books: Literary form

Character position definition and scope:

A one-character code used to indicate the literary form of an item.

Numeric codes 0 and 1 provide a generic identification of whether or not the item is a work of fiction.

Alphabetic codes may be used to identify specific literary forms.

A fill character ( | ) is used when no attempt has been made to code this 008 position.

Record requirements for National-level records: Mandatory; for Minimal-level records: Optional.

Guidelines for applying content designators:

Code:	Description:
0	Not fiction (not further specified)
1	Fiction (not further specified)
d	Dramas Indicates that the item is a dramatic work.
e	Essays
f	Novels
h	Humor, satires, etc. Indicates that the item is a humorous work, satire, or of similar literary form.
i	Letters Indicates that the item is a single letter or collection of correspondence.
j	Short stories Indicates that the item is a short story or collection of short stories.
m	Mixed forms Indicates that the item represents a variety of literary forms (e.g., poetry and short stories).
p	Poetry Indicates that the item is a poem or collection of poems.
s	Speeches Indicates that the item is a speech or collection of speeches.
u	Unknown Indicates that the literary form of the item is unknown.
\|	No attempt to code

Content designator history:

# - Non-fiction [obsolete, 1997] [CAN/MARC only]

c - Comic strips [obsolete, 2008]

Prior to the definition of 11 new codes and the change of name for this character position to Literary form in 1997, only the generic codes 0 (Not fiction) and 1 (Fiction) were used in USMARC.