International gov docs
- MSU TechServices
Summary: Instructions for cataloging government documents produced by international bodies & countries.
General info
No stickers or stamps are needed for these materials, aside from the gov doc date stamps applied by Acquisitions. Received materials are generally routed as follows:
- Monographs → copy cataloging or cat sep shelves
- Serials → adds to CatMan (currently Lynn); new titles to a serials cataloger (Loretta Fiacco, Emily Sanford, or Joshua Barton)
- Hybrids → gov doc hybrid shelf
All international gov docs are now sent to Remote Storage (though a few exceptions may occur when pieces have a reference location).
Monographs and serials treatment
- assign appropriate LC call number
- use location rs
- unless piece has a special reference location
Hybrids treatment
These are analyzed issues of serial titles, but the usual cross-linking between a main serial bib and monographic bibs for each issue is not performed. Instead, these issues are checked in to a suppressed bib (they do not have individual order records) and then assigned the same kind of call number as a serial analytic (with the caption in the bib call number).
Only old titles are treated this way. New titles are handled as cat seps.
- catalog serial issue as monograph
- include appropriate 490/830 reflecting transcribed/authorized heading for serial title
- assign serial call number
- already written on the streamer
- add caption numbering to call number in bib record
- use location rs
- unless piece has a special reference location
- use the workstat for monographic materials
- no overlay command used in 949 string
- no caption in volume field; that is reflected in bib call number instead
- after export, edit bib location in Sierra to reflect rs instead of mn
As of June 2018, international gov docs are cataloged like normal print resources, with just a few extra considerations.
Historically, these materials received red stickers, were sometimes given special call numbers, and were housed in the Main Library on 3 West. These practices are generally obsolete now.
Note that US government documents are handled by a record loading procedure facilitated by Catalog Maintenance, and assigned SUDOC call numbers. Catalogers almost never see US gov docs in their workflows.
Contact | Autumn Faulkner |
Team | CMS |
Updated | March 2020 |
Created | June 2018 |