088 - Report Number

Standard Technical Report Numbers (STRN), which are formulated according to the STRN Standard ANSI Z39.23-1983, will be found in the 027 tag. 

Other numbers used to identify technical reports belong in the 088 tag. 

Valid numbers will be in subfield a. Each canceled or invalid report number belongs in a separate subfield z. If no valid report number was assigned to a technical report you may find an 088 tag with no subfield a, just one or more subfield z's. Both indicators are undefined.

For example, The Pattern of Sino-American Crises is part of the Cambridge University Press International Studies Report Series and contains this:

 088 _ _ ‡a74012967

When searching in OCLC WorldCat the information in this tag (and in the 027) is included in the standard number index (keyword search label is "sn:"). Comparing the info on an item to the report numbers in a bibliographic record can be very helpful when matching a report, especially one with a generic title, to the correct record.