We have several borrowers who do written reviews of the books they read. We want to add them to our automated library catalog. Where in the item record would you recommend putting them? I took cataloging class almost ten years ago and don't recall discussing where these would go. It is longer than a summary. Thanks!
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this is an interesting question. I'm wondering where you are putting the text of the review? are you proposing to put it in the bib record, or link to it on a web page?
I'd prefer to put it in the record somewhere but haven't found a suitable field yet. I want it to show up on the first screen of the record in our system so it's immediately visible with the other basic data. If that doesn't work out, perhaps linking to a webpage is a potential answer. I'd also like them to show up if someone looks up the word "reviews" in the catalog. Other ideas?
Well you could use the 590 field. it is for local notes so that would be best. see http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/5xx/590.html for instructions/explanation.
finally, if you have the book reviews stored elsewhere, like on another networked computer, you could use the 856 to link to the reviews. one relatively easy way to solve the lack of another networked computer would be to set up a facebook (or similar) account for the library. Create each book review as a separate file and then link directly from the bib record to the facebook file. This would also allow other people whom are friends of the library's fb page to add comments to the original review. if the library doesn't have a fb account already, you may want to read about the differences between the types of you can set up. https://www.facebook.com/help/groups?ref=contextual
I like the fb idea because you could accomplish multiple things with the page besides, like sending out news, new book announcements, etc.. and every time a review is posted the fb friends of the library will automatically see it
as for where it displays on the screen that will of course be somewhat dependent on screen settings. However, if your library is using a commercially purchased system changing what fields are displayed should be an option.