Hi everyone, We’ve come across a new question about 490/800 MARC record tags. If your library provides series information in a call number/spine label, and a MARC record contains more than one 490/800 combo, which one do you use for the call number? One such example is The Ashes & The Star-Crossed King by Carissa Broadbent. It contains these MARC fields: 490 1# A Crowns of Nyaxia novel ; $v [2] 490 1# The Nightborn duet ; $v book two 800 1# Broadbent, Carissa. $t Crowns of Nyaxia novel ; $v bk.[2] 800 1# Broadbent, Carissa. $t Nightborn duet ; $v bk. 2. Our instinct is to select the first 490/800 combination for the call number. We also consult the Kent District Library What’s Next Books in Series <https://ww2.kdl.org/>, and for this particular bib, they use the first 490/800 combo. Any other insights into this process for us? How would you choose which series information to prioritize? Thanks! Amy and India -- India-Bleu Niehoff *(she/hers)* Cataloging Librarian State Library Division <https://library.utah.gov/> | 801.715.6722 250 North 1950 West, Ste. A Salt Lake City, Utah 84116-7901 <https://www.facebook.com/UtahStateLibrary/> <https://www.instagram.com/utahstatelibrary/> Sign up for our newsletter! <https://library.utah.gov/publications/>

Amy & India, This is one of the reasons we have decided not to include series info in our call numbers. Other reasons are discrepancies in series numbers (think Chronicles of Narnia – where does The Magician’s Nephew fit) as well as changes to series numbering (Magic Treehouse – changed with the Merlin Missions, etc.). Another complexity is editions with more than one title in the book. There are so many places to look up series info (on the book, in the catalog, author websites, Novelist, websites) that we decided it wasn’t a good use of our time to include on the label and then have to relabel or convince staff or patrons that our decision was the right one. Stephanie Bertin, MSLS (she/her) Collection & Resource Services Manager The County Library | Collection & Resource Services sbertin@slcolibrary.org<mailto:sbertin@slcolibrary.org> Phone: 801.948.7980 2197 E Fort Union Blvd., Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121 thecountylibrary.org [cid:image001.png@01DC1297.203295E0]<https://www.slcolibrary.org/> From: India-Bleu Niehoff <iniehoff@utah.gov> Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2025 11:07 AM To: technicalservices@lists.library.utah.gov Subject: [Technicalservices] 490/800 MARC record tags Hi everyone, We’ve come across a new question about 490/800 MARC record tags. If your library provides series information in a call number/spine label, and a MARC record contains more than one 490/800 combo, which one do you use for the call number? One such example is The Ashes & The Star-Crossed King by Carissa Broadbent. It contains these MARC fields: 490 1# A Crowns of Nyaxia novel ; $v [2] 490 1# The Nightborn duet ; $v book two 800 1# Broadbent, Carissa. $t Crowns of Nyaxia novel ; $v bk.[2] 800 1# Broadbent, Carissa. $t Nightborn duet ; $v bk. 2. Our instinct is to select the first 490/800 combination for the call number. We also consult the Kent District Library What’s Next Books in Series <https://ww2.kdl.org/> , and for this particular bib, they use the first 490/800 combo. Any other insights into this process for us? How would you choose which series information to prioritize? Thanks! Amy and India -- [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcQ1yATO1xNmocGT4z8mppe8U_b2oyUy_bNNioziOFuF0WHHtvVIDJEc3AhxwskwZHk2p0AJsethSOuTytwceGge70qIutcpekE6SqS0wq_M4alUV8sHP30ZOH8kM9wlwK9EeoYxAPsvdYO8hypqEBTJEw?key=PZ8Sr5dBG0fRprunWdf_Ww] India-Bleu Niehoff (she/hers) Cataloging Librarian State Library Division<https://library.utah.gov/> | 801.715.6722 250 North 1950 West, Ste. A Salt Lake City, Utah 84116-7901 [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXd_1-jr0IxiAwLQcexoiciTgHJNs7Tbc9f1fsgsFvRpECKw6IyLVZMnRXnBGwXss9qmytTAX-bt6Q1Y7f6pB21KaCz9gACnB6Dps76mZjauvdMx3g8GgrTcXjto9vaOm8OAprieSszKL_l8wSTBfZxzYPrk?key=PZ8Sr5dBG0fRprunWdf_Ww]<https://www.facebook.com/UtahStateLibrary/>[https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeLMmEJksEqDNDc4f3_dqkGMyyX5rxtvSFytrANMaore8px8bcYdvDNH8pbMhAOxQ_nTJ_EckEesOAjTTeTqsobq1DqvkSqsagxM4EsXFJOcER4eUmyw57iCFzYJgug0kk8USueDwGaeDOORUNXCdabzhE?key=PZ8Sr5dBG0fRprunWdf_Ww]<https://www.instagram.com/utahstatelibrary/> Sign up for our newsletter!<https://library.utah.gov/publications/>

We might be crazy, because we went the other direction 😂 We include series information in 490, 800, 830, and in call numbers. We put just the series name and number in 490 and 830, and we put the author's name and series name in 800. We use Goodreads as our main authority on series names and orders, but there are some series and subseries, like Magic Treehouse, where we know we cannot trust what Goodreads says. We have a series information spreadsheet with information about complicated series we've had to figure out, links to what we use as the authority for that particular series, and what goes on the call number for the series. Here's what we have on our spreadsheet for Magic Treehouse: Magic Treehouse Magic Treehouse magic tr fantasy series <https://magictreehouse.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Books> Magic Treehouse Magic Treehouse Fact Tracker magic fa nonfiction fact trackers series <https://magictreehouse.fandom.com/wiki/Fact_Trackers> Magic Treehouse Magic Treehouse: Merlin Missions merlin m Magic Treehouse Magic Treehouse: Merlin Missions Fact Tracker merlin f some are missing. Ex. Magic Tricks from the Tree House, which explicitly says on the cover that it's a companion to Merlin Mission #22 Hurry Up Houdini Magic Treehouse Magic Treehouse Super Edition super ed Magic Treehouse Magic Treehouse Super Edition Fact Tracker super fa Here are a couple of examples of our Magic Treehouse call numbers: Twisters and Other Terrible Storms / <https://staff.spanishfork.bywatersolutions.com/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/detail.pl?biblionumber=60040> Osborne, Will. J QR / OSBOR, M / magic fa / bk 23 Tween / QUICK READS Book Juvenile 71 06/25/2025 Knights and Castles : A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #2 The Knight at Dawn <https://staff.spanishfork.bywatersolutions.com/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/detail.pl?biblionumber=11038> Osborne, Will. J QR / OSBOR, M / magic fa / bk 2 Tween / QUICK READS Book Juvenile 81 08/12/2025 09/02/2025 Ghosts / <https://staff.spanishfork.bywatersolutions.com/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/detail.pl?biblionumber=53834> Osborne, Mary Pope. J QR / OSBOR, M / merlin f / bk 14 Tween / QUICK READS Book Juvenile 61 08/01/2025 09/12/2025 Mummies in the Morning / <https://staff.spanishfork.bywatersolutions.com/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/detail.pl?biblionumber=119881> Osborne, Mary Pope J QR / OSBOR, M / magic tr / bk 3 Tween / QUICK READS Book Juvenile 50 07/15/2025 08/26/2025 This made me realize I need to clean up the MARC records for those series though. For The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King specifically, Goodreads has conflicting information but does provide this helpful tidbit on the series page <https://www.goodreads.com/series/350054-crowns-of-nyaxia>: Crowns of Nyaxia Series The Crowns of Nyaxia series will be 6 books total, broken up into three duologies: The Nightborn Duet, which follows the House of Night, The Shadowborn Duet, which follows the House of Shadow, and the Bloodborn Duet, which follows the House of Blood. So we treat the Crowns of Nyaxia as a series with three subseries, and use the more specific subseries name on the call number. Here's our record for that book: [image: image.png] and the call number is FIC / BROAD, C / nightbor / bk 2. We used to get series questions a LOT, and it felt like a silly use of our time. An interaction would go something like this: "Can you help me find the next book in the __ series?" "Sure, what's the book you just read?" Then we'd look it up in Goodreads, see what the next book was, go back to our catalog and search for that book, then go find the book on the shelf. So we've felt it's worth it to include series information on call numbers. Now we already have at least the basic series information on our shelves, and we're working on getting our catalog to match. But our catalog and our shelves are much more browsable and searchable now. We get a lot fewer questions about WHAT the next book in the series is and can move on to helping them find it, if needed. But a lot of people can find it themselves just fine, too. One of the things we've done to simplify things is only number the books that have an official number. If on Goodreads it says it's below book zero, it's preq 1, preq 2, etc. for each prequel (The Maze Runner is an example of a series with more than one prequel). If it's 1.5 or 2.7 or any other decimal number, we treat it like a novella. For novellas, we include the series name on the call number and then the title instead of a number. We decided the patrons can decide reading order for the more complicated stuff, but at least all of the books in the series will still be there together. I realize this is pretty intense and not something all libraries would want to do. But it's working pretty well for us! Tia Haycock (she/her) Technical Services Manager Spanish Fork Library <https://www.facebook.com/spanishforklibrary> <https://twitter.com/sf_library> <https://www.instagram.com/spanishforklibrary/> <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC38f8LBy3uWbTyJK-RCf9Ng> 801.804.4486 On Thu, Aug 21, 2025 at 12:33 PM Stephanie Bertin <SBertin@slcolibrary.org> wrote: > Amy & India, > > > This is one of the reasons we have decided not to include series info in > our call numbers. Other reasons are discrepancies in series numbers (think > Chronicles of Narnia – where does The Magician’s Nephew fit) as well as > changes to series numbering (Magic Treehouse – changed with the Merlin > Missions, etc.). Another complexity is editions with more than one title in > the book. > > > > There are so many places to look up series info (on the book, in the > catalog, author websites, Novelist, websites) that we decided it wasn’t a > good use of our time to include on the label and then have to relabel or > convince staff or patrons that our decision was the right one. > > > > *Stephanie Bertin, MSLS* (she/her) > > Collection & Resource Services Manager > > > > *The County Library | Collection & Resource Services* > > sbertin@slcolibrary.org > > Phone: 801.948.7980 > > 2197 E Fort Union Blvd., Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121 > > thecountylibrary.org > > <https://www.slcolibrary.org/> > > > > *From:* India-Bleu Niehoff <iniehoff@utah.gov> > *Sent:* Thursday, August 21, 2025 11:07 AM > *To:* technicalservices@lists.library.utah.gov > *Subject:* [Technicalservices] 490/800 MARC record tags > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > We’ve come across a new question about 490/800 MARC record tags. If your > library provides series information in a call number/spine label, and a > MARC record contains more than one 490/800 combo, which one do you use for > the call number? > > > > One such example is *The Ashes & The Star-Crossed King* by Carissa > Broadbent. It contains these MARC fields: > > > > 490 1# A Crowns of Nyaxia novel ; $v [2] > > 490 1# The Nightborn duet ; $v book two > > 800 1# Broadbent, Carissa. $t Crowns of Nyaxia novel ; $v bk.[2] > > 800 1# Broadbent, Carissa. $t Nightborn duet ; $v bk. 2. > > > > Our instinct is to select the first 490/800 combination for the call > number. We also consult the Kent District Library What’s Next Books in > Series <https://ww2.kdl.org/>, and for this particular bib, they use the > first 490/800 combo. > > > > Any other insights into this process for us? How would you choose which > series information to prioritize? > > > > Thanks! > > > > Amy and India > > -- > > *India-Bleu Niehoff **(she/hers)* > > *Cataloging Librarian* > > State Library Division <https://library.utah.gov/> | 801.715.6722 > > 250 North 1950 West, Ste. A > > Salt Lake City, Utah 84116-7901 > > <https://www.facebook.com/UtahStateLibrary/> > <https://www.instagram.com/utahstatelibrary/> > > > > *Sign up for our newsletter!* <https://library.utah.gov/publications/> > > > _______________________________________________ > Technicalservices mailing list -- technicalservices@lists.library.utah.gov > To unsubscribe send an email to > technicalservices-leave@lists.library.utah.gov >