Learning the 856 Field

I've started a new phase of my project--adding links of digital versions of pamphlets to our catalog! This is a pretty simple task since I spent a lot of time making sure digital versions I found were exactly the same as the pamphlets we have. The fact that I have so many to add also shows me how important this project really is for the library. While we did have about 2-300 links already in the catalog, I have been adding just as many. This allows patrons to view our resources when special collections is open-or more clearly. The digital versions don't replace the real thing, but many users prefer the ease of online access.

What I have to do to the MARC record is add what is known as the 856 field. The 856 field means Electronic Location and Access. The first indicator I use is 4 which simple means HTTP. The second indicator I use is 1 which means version of resource. I use this because we hold the pamphlets in special collections, but this means there is a digital version. I use two subfield codes: u and z. The first means "uniform resource identifier" and is where the URL goes. The second is a public note field. I use this note to give credit to the owner of the digital copy and it shows up as the link users can click to view the item. Below are 2 screen shots of how the field looks in Millennium and how it looks on our OPAC.

If you want to know more about the 856 field check out: http://www.loc.gov/marc/856guide.html

A record I've added the 856 field to.

What the record now looks like in the OPAC.