520 - Summary, Etc.

According to BF&S, the 520 tag contains:

"An unformatted note that describes the scope and general contents of the described materials. Use for an abstract, annotation, review, summary, or a phrase describing the material.

"The level of detail in a summary may vary depending on the audience for a particular item. When no distinction between levels of detail in a summary note is required, subfield ǂa contains all the text.
When a distinction is appropriate, subfield ǂa contains a brief statement and subfield ǂb contains additional information."

The first indicator controls what will display preceding the note and tells you what kind of information you are looking at. 

blank = Summary -- Generates the display constant "Summary:"

520      A former poet laureate presents a new collection of essays delivering an unexpected view from the vantage point of very old age.

0 = Subject -- Generates the display constant "Subject:"

520   0   Image of trains loaded with tanks and other supplies speeding on the tracks.

1 = Review -- Generates the display constant "Review:"

520   1   "Combines the most frequently asked questions regarding AIDS with the most prominent US physician, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, resulting in an informative 38-minute production"--Video rating guide for libraries, winter 1990.

2 = Scope and content -- Generates the display constant "Scope and content:"

520   2   Series consists of minutes of meetings of the Board together with correspondence and other documents referred to in the minutes. The records reflect ...

3 = Abstract -- Generates the display constant "Abstract:"

520   3   The study examines the fertility history of American couples in metropolitan America and the motivational connections between the environment and fertility decisions and behavior. ǂb Phase I looks at the social and psychological factors thought to relate to differences in fertility. Phase II focuses on why some couples stopped at two children while others had a third or fourth during the first and second phase. Phase III examines how well attitudes and events of the early marriage determined the record of the later years of child bearing.

4 = Content advice -- Generates the display constant "Content advice:"

520   4   Contains violence ǂc UnityUK

8 = No display constant is generated.

The summary will be in subfield a. Occasionally there will be an "expansion" of the summary in subfield b. Subfield c (which is often but not always present) contains the source of the summary.

The record for Evan Thomas's biography of Sandra Day O'Connor includes a typical example of a 520 tag.