260  Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint) (R)

Definition

Information relating to the publication, printing, distribution, issue, release, or production of a work. Use field 264 for RDA cataloging, and prefer use of field 264 for all new cataloging.

For unpublished items or materials that are collectively controlled, field 260 may not be included in a record or may contain only subfield ǂc.

Information in field 260 is similar to information in field 264. Field 260 is useful for cases where the content standard does not make a distinction between functions.

For information on punctuation, see the Punctuation section below.

Guidelines

Use the following guidelines for entering data in field 260:

• Enter multiple place names or publisher names in separate subfields.
• Enter the qualification of a place in the same subfield as the place name.
• Enter the statement of the function of a publisher in the same subfield as the publisher's name.
• Enter multiple occurrences of other components, such as dates, in separate subfields only if a different type of component intervenes.
• Enter components of "real" imprints (carried in brackets and identified by the phrase i.e.) in separate subfields only if a different type of component intervenes.

Follow the PCC RDA hybrid bibliographic records guidelines when editing field 260.

For changes in publisher, see the Library of Congress/Program for Cooperative Cataloging guidelines, Implementing the Repeatability of the MARC 21 260. Enter any necessary access points in field 700, field 710, or field 711.

Use field 260 for the date or inclusive dates for a single manuscript or a collection, unless the date is part of the title.

Use subfields ǂa, ǂb, and ǂc for producer and distributor data. Use subfields ǂe, ǂf, and ǂg for generator data.

The producer is the person or corporate body with the financial and/or administrative responsibility for the physical processes whereby the file is brought into existence. The producer may also be responsible for the collection of data and their conversion into machine-readable form.

A distributor is a person or organization designated by the author or producer to reproduce copies of the file.

A generator is a person or corporate body with responsibility for the physical process by which a file is converted into machine-readable form (e.g., keypunching), but whose responsibility does not extend beyond data conversion.

If you are cataloging locally produced audiovisual items and off-air videorecordings that are not released, published, or similarly issued in multiple copies as an edition, you may enter only a date in field 260. Or, if you enter the date elsewhere in the record, you do not have to enter any information in field 260. See section 3.3.3, "Local Recordings" for more information.

If you are cataloging two-dimensional nonprojected graphic materials, use field 260 for publication data for both pre-AACR2 and AACR2 records.

1st Indicator

Sequence of publishing statements.

2nd Indicator

Undefined. The 2nd indicator position is undefined and contains a blank.

	Undefined

Subfields

Enter the date of production on an archival collection as a year or range of years. If you are cataloging a single manuscript, you may include the month and day in that order following the year, if appropriate.

Enter the date of publication of a continuing resource, even if it coincides with the date given in a formatted 362 field.

If no subfield ǂc is present (because the cataloging is not based on the first issue), do not use any final punctuation at the end of the data in subfield ǂb.

These are the dates of first availability of some of the major computer file media. Dates earlier than these cannot be a valid date of publication for that computer file medium. Earlier dates may represent such bibliographic events as release date in a different computer file medium, etc.

• 3 1/2 inch floppy disk: 1982
• 5 1/2 inch floppy disk: 1976
• 8 inch floppy disk: 1971
• CD-ROM: 1985
• DVD-ROM: 1996
• Electronic files remotely accessed via the World Wide Web: 1991

If the date of recording differs from the date of publication, enter the recording in coded form in field 033 and in textual form in field 518.

These are the dates of first availability of some of the major audio media. Dates earlier than these cannot be a valid date of publication for that audio medium. Earlier dates may represent such bibliographic events as date of sound capture, release date in a different audio medium, etc.

• Audio cassette: 1965
• Audio CD: 1982
• DVD-Audio: 2000
• LP: 1948
• MP3-CD: 2000
  
• MP3 file: 1995
  
• Playaway: 2005
• Reel-to-reel tape: 1954
• Streaming audio: 1999

These are the dates of first availability of some of the major videorecording media. Dates earlier than these cannot be a valid date of publication for that videorecording medium. Earlier dates may represent such bibliographic events as release date in a different videorecording medium, etc.

• Beta cassettes: 1975
• Blu-ray disc: 2006
• CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) standard play laser optical discs: 1978
• CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) standard play laser optical discs: 1978
• CED (Capacitance Electronic Disc) video discs: 1981
• DVD-Video: 1996 (Japan); 1997 (USA)
• Streaming video: 1999
• U-matic/U-standard cassettes: 1971
• VHS cassettes: 1976

Punctuation

For records containing ISBD punctuation, follow these instructions:

• Optionally, follow an initial subfield ǂ3 by a colon-space or a space-colon-space if following an open date
• Precede second and subsequent occurrences of subfield ǂa by a space-semicolon-space
• Precede each occurrence of subfield ǂb by a space-colon-space
• Precede each occurrence of subfield ǂc by a comma-space
• Enclose the text within any single or consecutive occurrences of subfields ǂe, ǂf, and/or ǂg within one set of parentheses
• Precede any parallel statement within a subfield by a space-equals-space
• Enclose any text within brackets as required by cataloging instructions
• Include incidental punctuation needed within any subfields, e.g., commas, periods (following abbreviations or initials), etc.
• Optionally, add a terminal period at the end of the field unless the last subfield ends with an ellipsis, exclamation point, hyphen, period (following an abbreviation or initial), question mark, closing bracket, or closing parenthesis

For records containing non-ISBD punctuation, see the cataloging instructions used to create the record.

For records containing minimal or no punctuation, include brackets and incidental punctuation needed within any subfields. Otherwise, omit the punctuation outlined above.

For more information on punctuation, including OCLC policy, see section 2.8, Punctuation.

Indexing

For indexing and searching information, see Searching WorldCat Indexes, field 260.

MARC 21

For more information, including content designator history, see MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data, field 260.