655 Index Term - Genre/Form

Field definition and scope:

Field 655 contains terms indicating the genre, form, and/or physical characteristics of the materials being described.

A genre term designates the style or technique of the intellectual content of textual materials or, for graphic materials, aspects such as vantage point, intended purpose, characteristics of the creator, publication status, or method of representation.

A form term designates historically and functionally specific kinds of materials as distinguished by their physical character, the subject of their intellectual content, or the order of information within them.

Physical characteristic terms designate historically and functionally specific kinds of materials as distinguished by an examination of their physical character, subject of their intellectual content, or the order of information within them.

Examples of genre terms for textual materials are: biographies, catechisms, essays, hymns, or reviews. Examples of form and physical characteristic terms are: daybooks, diaries, directories, journals, memoranda, questionnaires, syllabi, or time sheets.

The field may contain terms constructed from a faceted vocabulary. For each term found in the field, an identification is given as to the facet/hierarchy in the thesaurus from which the term came. In addition, identification is given as to which term is the focus term of the expression.

Standard published lists are used for the genre and form terms. The lists are identified either by the second indicator (Thesaurus) or by subfield $2 (Source of term).

The National level record requirement for this field is Optional.

Field 655 is repeatable.

Guidelines for applying content designators:

For indicator and subfield code definitions and examples, National-level (NLR) and Minimal-level (MLR) record requirements, and designator repeatability, see table below:

Position	Description	NLR	MLR	Repeatability
Field 655	Index Term - Genre/Form	O	O	R
Indicator:
First	Type of heading	M
#	Basic	A
0	Faceted	A

Second	Thesaurus	M
0	Library of Congress Subject Headings	A
1	LC subject headings for children's literature	A
2	Medical Subject Headings	A
3	National Agriculture Library subject authority file	A
4	Source not specified	A
5	Canadian Subject Headings	A
6	Répertoire de vedettes-matière	A
7	Source specified in subfield $2	A

Subfield code:
$a	Genre/form data or focus term	M	O	NR
$b	Non-focus term	M	O	R
$c	Facet/hierarchy designation	M	O	R
$v	Form subdivision	A	O	R
$x	General subdivision	A	O	R
$y	Chronological subdivision	A	O	R
$z	Geographic subdivision	A	O	R
$0	Authority record control number or standard number	O	O	R
$1	Real World Object URI			R
$2	Source of term	A	O	NR
$3	Materials specified	O	O	NR
$5	Institution to which field applies	O	O	NR
$6	Linkage	A	O	NR
$8	Field link and sequence number	O	O	R

Input conventions:

Punctuation

Spacing

Subfield $y imprint date data

Display constant

Content designator history:

Until field 755 (Added Entry - Physical Characteristics) was made obsolete in 1995, physical characteristics were recorded in field 755 instead of field 655.

First indicator - Type of heading [new, 1993]: In 1993, the first indicator was defined. Records created prior to this change may contain a # (blank) meaning undefined.

Second indicator - Thesaurus [redefined, 2002]: In 2002, the second indicator was redefined from "Source of term" to "Thesaurus" and values 0-6 were added to specify the particular thesaurus used to establish a genre/form heading.

Subfield $0 - Authority record control number [new, 2007]

Subfield $0 - Authority record control number [redefined, 2010]

Subfield $1 - Real World Object URI [new, 2017]