Summary: Instructions for handling laid-in material.

Laid-in material refers to ephemeral items left in resources by booksellers, former owners, etc.

Provisional workflow

Head of CMS and Head of SPC agreed to the following in April 2025 as an updated approach to laid-in materials. See previous workflow below. This may be subject to change.

For cookbooks and zines

- Leave all laid-in materials in their original places inside the piece in question.
- Flag the book with the pink Non-separated laid-in materials streamer.
- Insert 561 note that includes the $5 MiEM at the end
  - If there are 10 or fewer pieces of laid-in material, describe each one and note its location using page numbers.
    - Example: Handwritten recipe for banana bread between pages 10 and 11.
  - If there are more than 10 pieces of laid-in material, make a more generic entry instead.
    - Example: 17 miscellaneous items laid in between various pages of the book.
  - Use multiple 561s with $3 at the beginning of each field if you need to provide in-depth description of several pieces of laid-in material.
    - Examples:
      - $3 Letter. $a Letter written by author to owner containing information about the first draft ...
      - $3 Photocopy. $a 5 pages of photocopied material from the author's first draft, including ...
- If deemed useful for discovery and retrieval:
  - Add any 7xx fields relating to persons or bodies associated with laid-in material
- Place piece in provided plastic bags to ensure laid-in materials aren't lost

For other SPC materials

Or for cookbooks and zines where laid-in material does not have a signficant connection to the resource itself (bookseller's flyer, etc.).

Insert blue laid-in material flag
For materials requiring further description:
- Insert field 561
- Enter a free text note describing the item and its significance
- Include $5 MiEM at the end.
Use multiple 561s with $3 at the beginning of each field if you need to provide in-depth description of several pieces of laid-in material.
- Example:
  - $3 Letter. $a Letter written by author to owner containing information about the first draft ...
  - $3 Photocopy. $a 5 pages of photocopied material from the author's first draft, including ...
If there are many pieces of laid-in material that warrant description, the cataloger may opt to describe them collectively in one 561 rather than multiple.
If deemed useful for discovery and retrieval:
- Add any 7xx fields relating to persons or bodies associated with laid-in material

Previous workflow

Some laid-in material may warrant some detailed description by catalogers (see below), but in general, this isn't necessary. Special Collections staff will be providing generic acknowledgements of laid-in material in all cases.

Catalogers

CMS staff should use their judgment in determining whether laid-in materials are significant or relevant enough to warrant detailed description. For instance, materials like bookstore bookmarks, advertisements or coupons, etc., would not require dedicated description in a 561 note.

Insert laid-in material flag (for all cases of laid-in material)
For materials requiring further description:
- Insert field 561
- Enter a free text note describing the item and its significance
- Include $5 MiEM at the end.
Use multiple 561s with $3 at the beginning of each field if you need to provide in-depth description of several pieces of laid-in material.
- Example:
  - $3 Letter. $a Letter written by author to owner containing information about the first draft ...
  - $3 Photocopy. $a 5 pages of photocopied material from the author's first draft, including ...
If there are many pieces of laid-in material that warrant description, the cataloger may opt to describe them collectively in one 561 rather than multiple.
If deemed useful for discovery and retrieval:
- Add any 7xx fields relating to persons or bodies associated with laid-in material

SPC staff

Insert field 590 with MSS 466 and accompanied by appropriate box number
- 590 __ Laid-in material transferred to MSS 466, Box #. $5 MiEM
Insert field 655
- 655 _7 Insertions (Provenance) $2 rbprov $5 MiEM
Retain any additional 561 fields created by CMS staff

Contact	Autumn Faulkner Joshua Barton Tad Boehmer
Team	CMS
Updated	April 2025
Created	April 2019

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