Introduction

If you have found a matching record, the following guidelines explain how to edit the 250, 260, 300, and 4xx/8xx fields of that record.  When working with CIP records (DLC/CIP or NLC/CIP), previous CIP records, or UKM records, you may use some extra leeway in editing a record to match the book, since some information in the records may be erroneous.

These guidelines sometimes call for bracketing information or adding information in brackets. This procedure is intended to indicate that we cannot be certain that the bracketed information is actually present in all variant printings of the edition.  When information is changed or added, brackets should be used unless you are reasonably sure that a difference or omission is simply a result of cataloguer error or different cataloguing practises.  The exceptions to this pattern are in the 300 field (see below, section II.C) and the 500 quoted note for a series-like phrase (see below, section II.D.4).

Labels:  Information in a record appearing on a label may be accepted regardless of the field in which it appears. (Cf. I.C.4.a.-b.)

Examples:  Please note that the record in each example in the following sections is assumed to be the best (or only) matching record available.

HTML document last reviewed:  1 November 1999