040 field

Summary: Instructions for catalogers about the codes they may encounter or need to include in the 040 field of bibliographic records. 

About the 040

The 040 field contains various codes that indicate the provenance of a bibliographic record; in other words, it documents the record's creator and subsequent editors, its language of cataloging, and the cataloging standards under which it was formulated. OCLC uses the 040 field in its processes to manage database quality in WorldCat. 

Original cataloging

For original cataloging created under RDA, records must contain an 040 field with:

• the institutional symbol EEM in both $a and $c
• the language code eng in $b
• the cataloging code rda in $e
  • $e always comes between subfield b and c

EXAMPLE:  040  EEM $b eng $e rda $c EEM

Copy cataloging

• The 040 can be a helpful indicator of the quality of a copy record; for instance, the institutional code $a DLC indicates the record was created by the Library of Congress
• In general, OCLC will automatically add the $d EEM if you make edits to a master record. More details about upgrading a master record are available here.