SWAN Cataloging Working Group

Attendance:

Cataloging Libraries Present: Eden Morris (ADD), Paul Rubio (ADD), Christine Karns (BDD), Stephanie DeYoung (BLD), Marie Constuna (CSD), Susana Leyva (DGS), Kira Riddle (DGS), Victoria Bitters (ESS), Ann Marie Lindsey (GED), Rebecca Bartlett (LGS), Shelley Boscamp (LGS), Emily Parker (LGS), Diana DiPierro (LPS), Dani Erway (MED), Nikki Vaillancourt (NUD), Israa Abbas (OLS), Jenny Yasecko (OLS), Colleen White (OPS), Amanda Kaiser (SCD), Brittany Smith (SCD), Julie Tegtmeier (SCD), Joy Anhalt (TPS) 

SWAN Staff Present: Cynthia Romanowski, Angela Puckett, Diane Nickolaou, Samantha Dietel

Meeting summary for Cataloging Libraries Working Group (04/09/2026)

Meeting called to order: 10:00 AM

Quick recap

During the meeting, updates covered efforts to document catalogers willing to assist with Non-English language materials, the development of a related training course, and progress on switching 650s to genre headings using 655_4 for languages like Polish and Spanish. Discussions addressed handling sublanguages such as Maranao, adding language-specific entries, and best practices for duplicate ISBNs, including the use of subfield z. The group reviewed genre updates for Board and Picture books, the potential addition of bilingual indicators in series, and standards for awards language and when to omit years form travel guide titles. Additionally, a new sorting feature for travel guides in Aspen was discussed, along with an update to the training checklist that is now live. Open discussion included a demonstration of Amazon Business MARC setup for book orders.

Next steps

• Cataloging Library members to think about repercussions of adding a subfield z to older/original materials so that EDI will only select the newest ones.
• Cataloging Library members to contact Cynthia if they want to help each other out with specific Non-English languages.
• Cataloging Library members to check existing 586 entries to standardize the language
• SWAN to continue to fix Non-English language materials headings and fix the Toy and movable and Lift-the-flap books from 650s to 655s.
• SWAN to remove 650 _0 Large type books entries that have been appearing in the catalog. Cataloging Library members were reminded to remove this heading if it is not about large print books.

Welcome

Cynthia welcomed the group to the meeting and introductions were made by SWAN staff and attendees. Two newcomers of Brittany Smith from SCD and Shelley Boscamp from LGS. 

Non-English language catalogers update 

Cynthia shared an update about the documenting of catalogers willing to assist when cataloging Non-English language materials. She thanked those who have already responded and asked if anyone else would be willing to help, not actually catalog the materials, but to assist with their creation by providing additional resources that can be used or tips.

Cynthia mentioned that she was partnering with Nincy George of RAILS in creating a Non-English language materials course. This is to help build the confidence of the catalogers in creating original records for Non-English language materials and be able to build off their existing cataloging skills. Hopefully, this course will be developed over the summer and will be also available to others outside of SWAN.

Non-English language materials headings

Cynthia talked about the progress on moving the Non-English language materials to the 655a. She said that she was nearly finished moving Polish and Spanish languages to the 655_4 but also completed some of the less common languages. A reminder was given that these headings are only for books and AV that has a book.  

A reminder was given to put the subdivision |xBilingual for any book that contains 2 languages. If both languages are Non-English, both languages should have a 655 _4 entry for the language material with |xBilingual after. 

Discussion: The Cataloging Libraries were asked if sublanguages, such as Maranao, should have their own language materials genre entry or if it should be the broader language. In the case of Maranao, Library of Congress identifies the code for Maranao as phi so this dialect does not have a standalone code. Feedback given was to use the broader language for the sublanguage dialect in the 655 _4, e.g. For Maranao dialect use:

655 _4 Philippine language materials. 

The 546 would be in the format of Text in Broader language (Sublanguage) or In Broader language (Sublanguage). For example:

546   Text in Philippine (Maranao) or In Philippine (Maranao)

A question arose if they could submit additional language requests for item category 6 values, and SWAN answered yes by submitting a ticket. 

Additionally, Cynthia reminded everyone to add a corresponding 655 _4 entry for each language listed in the 041/546, except for English. For example, if the 041 lists eng|aspa|afre and the 546 has Text in English, Spanish, and French. There should be 2 entries for the Non-English languages listed. 655 _4 Spanish language materials and 655 _4 French language materials.

For multilanguage dictionaries, Cynthia suggested using the genre terms of Multilingual dictionaries.|2lcgft and/or Picture dictionaries.|2lcgft when appropriate. 

Finally, RAILS World Languages Group was recommended as a great free resource to use for tricky non-English materials with great turnaround. Cynthia suggested using MARCEdit to update the records with SWAN specific fields before importing them into WorkFlows. Additionally, she asked that people watch the spelling of the words “language” and “materials.” She stated that it was easy to misspell these words, but to check and see if they are spelled correctly as it makes it harder to fix via batch editing. A suggestion was made to use OCLC’s spell checker. This can be found under Tools à Check spelling or using F7.

Genre talk

SWAN has updated the catalog for Board books and Picture books, moving them from a 650 _0 to a 655 _7 |2lcgft. Aspen is displaying picture book, along with board book, as a format and this information is taken from the 655 _7. Cynthia mentioned that when the 655s of Board book and Picture book are within the same record, Aspen will choose Board book to display the format. She also warned that some of the older records were given “Board book” as a subject heading even though it was not a true board book and was a hardcover book. Cynthia also mentioned that Large print books should all be 655s. A member mentioned that they were still seeing 650s of Large type books and asked that people remember to remove them since we are no longer using this heading. SWAN will run a report to find and remove them from the system and will do this for other genres that do not belong as a 650.

Cynthia asked the group of Bilingual books or Picture books for children should be used as 655s even though they are not authorized headings. The responses were that “Bilingual books” could be too broad and “Picture books for children” was redundant as picture book denotes a children’s book. SWAN will pull these out of the records, and all should remember not to put those in the 650 unless the book is about those topics. 

The next project for SWAN will be moving Toy and movable books and Lift-the-flap books to the 655 _7 genre heading.

A link to the list of genres currently available in pdf is on PowerPoint slide 8 or found at https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeLCGFT/GENRE-FORM.pdf 

Series and Bilingual Books

The group was asked if a subfield l or subfield s for the term Bilingual should be added to series in the 830 when the item was a bilingual book. The group preferred to do two 830 entries for each language since the 830 is a repeatable field. This should also be applied to 800 series entries. An example:

830 _0 Science emergent readers

830 _0 Science emergent readers.|lSpanish

Duplicate ISBNs

Current practice is to add |z at the beginning of the 020 for the reused ISBN for all editions except the oldest/original record. A question was asked about a book that was published 10 years ago, and they use the same ISBN, how would they know which one to put the |z on? The answer was that the subfield z was not put on the oldest publication. 

Discussion: The Cataloging Libraries were asked if the process of placing a subfield z next to the ISBNs of the publications that were not the oldest/original. Searching for records that have a subfield z ISBN is not an issue because of Aspen grouping and WorkFlows showing results with the subfield z. A concern was brought up about changing it because it goes against bib standards for something that may not be really an issue if it is only encountered 10% or less of time. There was time to determine if it is a huge problem, but otherwise, this may be the cost of doing business. No definitive decision was made, and Cataloging Libraries were asked to think about the ramifications in adding a subfield z. 

A question was asked regarding Vox/Wonderbook ISBN that have the book ISBN? The answer was that a subfield z should be placed in front of the ISBN for the book. 

One member stated that Libraria lists multiple ISBNs and it becomes a problem. They list all ISBN associated with a title even if it is not the format ordered. A recommendation was made to ask Libraria not to do this and it was stated that a representative said they are working on streamlining process.

SWAN asked members if there was ever a time to remove an incorrect ISBN and the response was to leave it in if it is an incorrect number but make sure it has a subfield z in front of it. However, if you are sure that the ISBN is not for the record, e.g. Urdu bilingual book on a Gujarati bilingual book, please remove it. Cynthia suggested reporting these to OCLC whenever they are encountered in Connexion.

Awards Language

Cynthia showed how the Awards language (located within the 586) displayed in Aspen and asked the group if the language should be standardized. The group agreed it should be, but it will not be something that they will be responsible for going back and adding if it did not originally exist. If the 586 existed within the OCLC record, the group decided that they would review what was used in WorkFlows and use the same language. A suggestion was made to utilize established authorized headings, i.e. Academy Awards (Motion pictures) instead of Oscars, to make it easier to standardize. Cynthia stated that SWAN was cleaning-up the ones that they are responsible for: Bluestem, Monarch, and Lincoln awards. 

Travel guides

Cynthia updated the membership regarding the new sorting feature in Aspen that sorts the entries via publication year. However, the problem existed that many travel guides had the year somewhere within the title preventing them from grouping in Aspen and taking advantage of this new feature. An example given was Fodor’s Montreal and Quebec City and Fodor’s New York City. The Cataloging libraries decided that it was best to not put the year in these titles to allow them to group.

Discussion: A suggestion was made to follow cataloging standards and include the year in the title when it was part of the title, e.g. Best of 2025. 

Documentation update

Sam showed the final Training checklist that Lucas, Tara, Crystal, and she worked on. She demonstrated what happens when an area was selected for usage and showed how it was a one stop shop for training and documentation.   

Open Discussion

Rebecca highlighted the Amazon Business MARC setup and showed how LGS used Business Prime for MARC imports. She commented that the grids were rudimentary and required each title to be grid separately. Rebecca mentioned that this was only for book orders. When the members were asked who else was using this, it was discovered that LGS was the only library. One member mentioned that they tried it at their library and found it disappointing because it did not meet their needs. Rebecca stated that libraries are encouraged to meet with Amazon to provide feedback and help them improve this service and she will provide the instructions for setting this up in Amazon Business Prime. 

Decisions Made

1. No year in the title for Travel guides, e.g. Fodor’s New York City, unless it is part of the title, e.g. Best of 2025
2. Awards language to be standardized whenever possible so that using the Awards facet in Aspen is more user friendly.
3. Series used in bilingual books will have 2 8XX entries for the appropriate language. 

Next Meeting: On Zoom, Thursday, July 9, 2026, at 9:30 AM 

Adjourned: 11:50 AM