Question

Overview of record relationships (the record hierarchy) in Voyager cataloging.

Answer

Voyager uses MARC standard Authority, Bibliographic, and Holdings records, and a Voyager defined (non-MARC) Item record.

1. The Bibliographic Record contains all of the bibliographic information about the item: Title, Author, Subject Headings, etc.
2. The Holdings Record, also known as a MFHD, contains location, call number, copy number, and any specific holdings information. A separate holding record exists for every unique combination of location, copy, and call number.
3. The Item Record contains information to the unique piece in hand: the barcode number, item type, copy number, copy price, temporary location/item type, Enumeration/Chronology information, item status, etc.
4. The Authority Record contains the standardized forms of names for people, corporate bodies, meetings, titles and subjects. They provide authority control and establish a recognized form for an entity name.

Bibliographic, holdings and item records contain information about a book, serial, etc.  Authority records contain standardized forms for information used in bibliographic records.

Additional Information

See also:

• Cataloging User's Guide.
• Voyager Cataloging Online Training Video: "Record Hierarchy"

• Article last edited: 05-Feb-2021