008 - Books

At the end of last month I covered the character positions (aka bytes) in the 008 tag that are consistent regardless of the Type of Record code and Bibliographic Level code in the leader. 

Today I am going to talk about what you will find in bytes 18-34 of a BKS (book format) record.

Records in the BKS format will have a Type code of "a" (language material) or "t" (manuscript language material) in the leader and a BLvl code of "a" (monographic component part), "c" (collection), "d" (subunit), or "m" (monograph). 

Within the 008 tag of a BKS record the specific positions indicated contain these elements:

• 18-21: codes for up to 4 kinds of illustrations in the work - blank means there are no illustrations
  
  
• 22: the intellectual level of the audience for which the work is intended (preschoolers, specialists, etc.)
  
  
• 23: the form of the work (microfilm, large print, braille, online, etc.) - blank means it is none of the specific formats for which there is a code
  
  
• 24-27:  the nature of the contents - up to 4 codes are used when the work is entirely, or mostly, certain types of materials (dictionaries, legal articles, legislation, discographies, etc.) - there is a code for biography but it is NOT used in BKS records
  
  
• 28: indicates if the work is a government publication and if so, what level of government (state, federal, county, etc.) published it - blank means it is not a government document
  
  
• 29: indicates if the work is, or is not, a conference publication
  
  
• 30: indicates if the work is, or is not, a festschrift 
• a festschrift is "a complimentary or memorial publication usually in the form of a collection of essays, addresses, or biographical, bibliographic, scientific, or other contributions. It often embodies the results of research, issued in honor of a person, an institution, or a society, as a rule, on the occasion of an anniversary celebration. A true festschrift generally mentions the person, institution, or society it commemorates on the title page, cover, etc."
  
  
• 31: indicates if the work does, or does not, have an index
  
  
• 32: this position is not currently defined
  
  
• 33: indicates the literary form of the work (short stories, speeches, poetry, etc.)
  
  
• 34: indicates whether the work is, or contains biographical material and of what kind (autobiography, collective biography, etc.) -- this specific coding is why the nature of contents code for biography is not used in BKS records

You can learn a lot about a record that will help you to know whether it matches what you have in hand from this coded information. Your ILS may also use this data to sort, limit, or filter search results.