504 - Bibliography, Etc. Note

It is common practice to put notes of all kinds into the 500 tag of the MARC record. This is a poor cataloging practice and prevents modern integrated library systems from providing the granular advanced searching functionality for which they are designed. 

BF&S defines a general note (belonging in a 500 tag) as: "A note that provides general information for which a specialized note field (i.e., a specific 5xx field) has not been defined." 

This post marks the beginning of a series of posts about various specialized notes fields.

The 504 tag contains, per BF&S, "a note about a bibliography, discography, filmography, webliography, and/or other bibliographic references in an item. Use field 504 also to indicate the presence of a bibliography, etc., in accompanying material that is described in the record. For multipart items, including serials, the note may pertain to all parts or to a single issue or part."

Subfield a contains the full text of the note, which almost always reads "Includes bibliographical references." It may also include details of where the bibliography will be found in the work (leaf 315, pages 89-94, etc.). If the work has an index that fact may also be included in this note.

Subfield b, when it is present, includes a single number indicating how many citations are included in the bibliography.  

Since this is the last Tuesday of the month it is time for the August 2024 Tuesday Tags Review Quiz. This is a 4-question self-check that will give you a chance to see how much you have learned about MARC tags this month (or where you may want to go back and re-read).