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How To Catalog a Book

A book in Arctos should “represent an instance of a published text”.

Collection Type

Caution

Do not rely on the collection name or code to indicate whether the cataloged items are books.

Some institutions prefer to record books in a separate collection.

Examples of Book collections:

But books may be integrated into any collection.

Examples of observations recorded in collections not specifically designated as book collections:

Cataloged Item Type

However you choose to organize your book data, a book should be cataloged as type MaterialEntity.

Identification

A book is identified with the taxon name Book. In order to more fully identifiy a book, the identification should be made using the A {string} taxa formula. Where the taxon (A) is Book and the {string} is the book title. So the book titled Flora of the Russian Far East: Flora Exsiccata would be identified as

Book {Flora of the Russian Far East: Flora Exsiccata}

Add a Citation

As a book is also a publication. Adding it as a publication in Arctos and citing the identification as a voucher of the publication will allow for recording all of the usual information associated with a publication. See How To Create a Publication and How To Create a Citation for instructions.

Part

A book should use the part name object. There is no need for the part name “book” as the identification provides this information. Technically, no part is required when cataloging a book unless object tracking or a part location attribute will be used to locate the book within the collection and/or the book may be loaned.

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