Books With Accompanying Materials
Descriptive Cataloging | Children’s and Young Adults’ Cataloging Program (CYAC)
Many books for children are packaged with accompanying materials. These include read-along CDs, stickers, necklaces, stuffed animals, and much more. In the CYAC Program, these are cataloged as books, with the “extra” piece or pieces recorded as accompanying material. A videorecording with a booklet, or a CD with liner notes, would be cataloged by an audiovisual specialist.
Coding the information in the catalog record
In a catalog record, the MARC 21 300 field provides a physical description of the book or other item. Within that field there are subfields to record the extent of the item (usually the number of pages), other physical characteristics (such as whether it is illustrated), and dimensions (the height of a book). Subfield $e is where accompanying material that is physically separate from the book, or that is meant to be removed and used with the book, is itemized. Information on cataloging items that are not meant to be used with the book, such as a sheet of temporary tattoos or stickers that are not intended to be placed in the book, is found in the Toy & Movable Books document. RDA fields 336, 337, and 338 record the content, media, and carrier types.
A typical 300 field for a book with accompanying material will look something like this:
300 ## $a 1 volume (unpaged) : $b color illustrations ; $c 16 x 18 cm + $e 1 plush pig in box, 18 x 23 x 10 cm
336 ## $a text $2 rdacontent
336 ## $a tactile three-dimensional form $2 rdacontent
337 ## $a unmediated $2 rdamedia
338 ## $a volume $2 rdacarrier
338 ## $a object $2 rdacarrier
Subfield $e is always preceded by a plus sign. The first element after the “e” should be a number, followed by a simple designation of the type of material. Use a note, where needed, to provide fuller information.
If there is more than one type of accompanying material, the field will look more like this:
300 ## $a 1 volume (unpaged) : $b color illustrations ; $c 22 cm + $e 1 paper tiara + 2 removable invitations + 8 paper flowers + 1 ribbon and paper necklace + 1 paper doll with 6 cut-out accessories + 1 pair of paper wings with elastic strap
336 ## $a text $2 rdacontent
336 ## $a still image $2 rdacontent
336 ## $a tactile image $2 rdacontent
337 ## $a unmediated $2 rdamedia
338 ## $a volume $2 rdacarrier
338 ## $a sheet $2 rdacarrier
Some specific types of accompanying material
Software
A book with an accompanying CD-ROM will have + $e 1 CD-ROM in the physical description field, along with a note showing any technical information found on the item’s label or packaging:
538 ## $a System requirements for Macintosh: Power PC only; 16MB RAM; System 7.5.1 or higher; 4X CD-ROM drive; 256-color display.
Sound recordings
Books with accompanying sound recordings would show:
300 ## $a [42] pages : $b color illustrations ; $c 23 cm + $e 1 sound cassette (analog)
336 ## $a text $2 rdacontent
336 ## $a performed music $2 rdacontent
337 ## $a unmediated $2 rdamedia
337 ## $a audio $2 rdamedia
338 ## $a volume $2 rdacarrier
338 ## $a audio cassette $2 rdacarrier
If the duration is known, that is included:
300 ## $a 1 volume (unpaged) : $b illustrations ; $c 18 cm + $e 1 CD (23 min.)
336 ## $a text $2 rdacontent
336 ## $a performed music $2 rdacontent
337 ## $a unmediated $2 rdamedia
337 ## $a audio $2 rdamedia
338 ## $a volume $2 rdacarrier
338 ## $a audiodisc $2 rdacarrier
These require a note when any technical information is readily available, as well as when narrators and other performers are listed. The former goes into a 500 note as above; the latter can be included in 508 and 511 notes, respectively:
508 ## $a Music by Tom Petty ; costume designer, Susan Lyall ; editor, Susan Graff ; production designer, William Barclay ; director of photography, Frank Prinzi ; line producer, Alysse Bezahler ; co-executive producer, John Sloss ; executive producers, Robert Redford, Michael Nozik.
511 0# $a Narrated by: Ashok Kumar.
Toys, jewelry, stickers, etc.
If a book is accompanied by a separate item (as opposed to a toy incorporated into the book itself), include the accompanying item(s) in the 300 $e:
300 ## $a 1 volume (unpaged) : $b color illustrations ; $c 24 cm + $e 1 necklace
336 ## $a text $2 rdacontent
336 ## $a still image $2 rdacontent
336 ## $a tactile three-dimensional form $2 rdacontent
337 ## $a unmediated $2 rdamedia
338 ## $a volume $2 rdacarrier
338 ## $a object $2 rdacarrier
Attempt to be as specific as possible using neutral language, i.e., mention what an item is made of (plastic, cardboard, etc.) but not “in a decorative case,” or “1 sheet of stickers” but not “32 whimsical fairy stickers.”
If it seems important, include a 500 note with more specific information. For example, to keep the physical description field concise we might list only “1 charm bracelet” and add a note that the silvertone metal bracelet has five charms shaped like sea creatures.
Stickers meant to be removed from the book and used for other purposes are not considered “bibliographically significant” and do not need to be recorded if they are likely to be lost by the first child who checks the book out. However, other books come with stickers that are required for the book to be used as intended. See the Toy & Movables document for more information on how these are treated.
Material that is not recorded in the 300 field
Some material that comes with books does not belong in the 300 field. For example, the container that a boxed set comes in is not accompanying material. An item that is bound into the book, such as a page that folds out to poster-size or a sound panel attached to the back cover, is not accompanying material; it is part of the book itself. A note is added for this sort of thing, but not included in the physical description field.
500 ## $a On board pages with lovebug finger puppet attached to extended back cover.
500 ## $a Plastic guitar attached to extended back cover allows the reader to play along using five sound buttons, roll-bar that allows playing the melody note by note, and "whammy bar."
A note might also be made for an item such as 3-D glasses that are meant to be removed from the book and used with it:
500 ## $a Includes pop-up illustrations, 3-D glasses, a pop-out cylindrical map, and a removable glossary.
