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Decouple the bib-level material type of Music into Scores and Sound Recordings

The bibliographic material type of Music inexplicably combines scores (Leader/06 c or d) and sound recordings (Leader/06 i or j) into a single facet. This makes no sense and makes standard statistics reporting extremely difficult as scores are usually reported with books (they are, after all, pieces of paper bound between covers) whereas sound recordings are usually reported with other media. Scores should be separated out as its own bib-level material type.

190 votes
Michael Cohen (UW-Madison) shared this idea  ·   ·  Admin →
Closed  ·  AdminLili Daie (Product Manager, Ex Libris) responded  · 

“Music” is one of the seven different distinct bibliographic material types used by the MARC standard: https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bdintro.html

This is defined as: “Music (MU) - used for printed, electronic, manuscript, and microform music, as well as musical sound recordings, and non-musical sound recordings. Material may be monographic or serial in nature”.

As adherence to the MARC standard is important to many of our customers (as also reflected in the comments to this idea), we will keep these distinct seven formats, and not add or subtract from them.


Alma also provides a “Resource Type” category, which is more granular and is based on a combination of fields – this includes the following non-musical types:

Audio nonmusical – Physical: LDR pos. 06 = i AND LDR pos. 7 = m AND 008 pos. 23 != a,b,c,o,f,q,s (MARC 21), LDR pos. 6 = i (UNIMARC) or LDR pos. 06 = i AND LDR pos. 7 = m AND has 125 (CNMARC)

Audio nonmusical – Electronic: LDR pos. 06 = i AND LDR pos. 7 = m AND 008 pos. 23 = o,q,s (MARC 21), LDR pos. 6 = i and 106 $a/0 = s (UNIMARC) or LDR pos. 06 = i AND LDR pos. 7 = m AND has 135 (CNMARC)

Audio nonmusical – Component Part: LDR pos. 06 = i AND LDR pos. 7 = a (MARC 21)

For more information, see: https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/010Getting_Started/050Alma_User_Interface_%E2%80%93_General_Information/Searching_in_Alma#The_Resource_Type_Field


Without dissociating the material type field from the MARC standard, if there is a need for an update to the more flexible Resource Type field - we would like to hear more and better understand this need so that we can provide a solution.

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  • Sally Smith commented  · 

    We have started getting more records for audiobooks recently and have noticed this issue much more. These have LDR pos 6 i "Non-musical sound recording" which is clearly wrong for them to sit under a Material Type "Music" in Alma

    I think that this one should be prioritised for change.

  • Manu Schwendener commented  · 

    NERS 7450, open for voting now.

    "Decouple bib-level Material Type: Music into 'Score' and 'Audio'."

  • Wade Guidry commented  · 

    One simple adjustment would be to change the MU material type icon in Alma from a treble clef to an ear, or something denoting audio in a more general way. The current icon of a treble clef can be misleading, since those titles are often actually audio books and other non-musical recordings.

  • Elizabeth Karges commented  · 

    @Yoel, for the material type, we'd like to see "Music" changed to "Audio Recording" or something more broad. We have a lot of lectures recorded on CDs that are being called Music, which is preventing us from accurately reporting on our collection. These are displayed as "Audio CD" in Primo, so I'm not sure why they would have a different designation in Alma. Shouldn't they match?

  • Tammy Siebenberg commented  · 

    Why are audiobooks not classified as Books given that MARC 21 says: "electronic ... monographic in nature"? Audio recordings are electronic.

    "Books (BK) - used for printed, electronic, manuscript, and microform textual material that is monographic in nature."

  • Tammy Siebenberg commented  · 

    This request is somewhat similar to "Add generic physical material types to the current table."

  • Simon Hunt commented  · 

    I agree that the Material Type index is largely worthless. However, the Resource Type index is much more granular, and is available as both an Alma search index and an attribute in the Bibliographic Details folder in Analytics. It has its quirks, but is much better for stats and other functions.

    Here's the documentation on how the Resource Type is calculated:

    https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/010Getting_Started/050Alma_User_Interface_%E2%80%93_General_Information/Searching_in_Alma#The_Resource_Type_Field

    (Cross-posted to Alma-L.)

  • Ulrike Joosten-Wilke commented  · 

    Leader Position 6 is clear:
    c - Notated music = scores
    d - Manuscript notated music = manuscripted scores
    i - Nonmusical sound recording
    j - Musical sound recording
    Please use it to distinguish as you do with the other materials in this facet.

    Moreover we (University of Arts Berlin) opened a case #00741773 because to our opinion this missing distinction is a failure or a bug.

  • Jane Daniels commented  · 

    I don't catalogue music at all but I'm all for anything that tells us (via Alma) and users (via Primo) what the resource that they are looking at is. It would be interesting to know how other LMSs (ILSs) allied to KBs and discovery layers perform in this regard. perhaps then we can design a solution so that the .mrc coding is used appropriately? Worth a Task & Finish Group approach? Perhaps the music libraries/archives could take the lead on this one?

  • Jenny Grasto commented  · 

    I agree. Designating an audiobook as 'Music' in Alma is confusing. Currently the designations for assigning the Alma Material Type is:

    https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/010Getting_Started/050Alma_User_Interface_%E2%80%93_General_Informatiom/Searching_in_Alma#Fields_that_Identify_the_Bibliographic_Material_Type.

    I would instead suggest using the OCLC definitions and terms for Type of Record, found here, which breaks up Alma's 'Music' category into Sound Recordings (musical OR non-musical) and Scores (notated music OR manuscript notated music): https://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/fixedfield/type.html

    This is the level of granularity needed for the various reports libraries are required to provide. It also would align better with the cataloging standards.

  • Lesli M Moore commented  · 

    Audiobooks and soundtracks are not the same kind of audio. There should be a lot better granularity for bib level material type.

  • Tammy Siebenberg commented  · 

    Librettos should also be separated out as unique material types. They are related to music but have no musical notation.

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