Holdings record

Holdings records are attached to bibliographic records and show the extent of our local holdings of serials, multi-volume sets, standing orders and itemised series.

Successive-entry cataloging requires that a new (separate) bibliographic record be created each time the title or the issuing body (if it is used as the main entry) of the serial changes. The associated holdings must be recorded accordingly, often across several bibliographic records.

In Sierra, the holdings record is split into three parts: the record, the card and the holdings. These three records are linked so updating data in one place should update it in the others.

The record holds location information, SCODE3 (i.e. unsuppressed/suppressed/withdrawn information) and encoded holdings information (in the LIB HAS fields).

The card is used to check in serials we are currently receiving.

The holdings is a more human-readable form of the holdings (which is linked to the LIB HAS fields in the record).

Understanding holdings records

The easiest way to understand our holdings of a serial is to look at the holdings tab. This will show the ranges of holdings that we hold:

In this example, you can see that we hold numbers 1-7 of this journal (Hazards, S8106), but not numbers 8-14

Ranges will usually be structured to follow the numbering of the serial. Numbering patterns usually include some combination of volume number, issue number, month or season, and year.

The same data can be seen in the record tab in a MARC coded form, in the LIB. HAS fields:

In the bottom field you can see the subfields correlate to the numbering and dates of the journal (Hazards, S8106). Each field corresponds to a range in the screenshot above

If you update the ranges in the holdings tab, the LIB. HAS fields will update automatically.

If we only hold a small number of issues of a title, you can use the LIB. HAS field as a free text field to add the holdings information:

Here the holdings information has been entered into LIB. HAS in the record (Seed : the journal of organic living, S8108)

This information will also be duplicated in the holdings tab.