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Home > Minerva > Cataloging > Manual > Ch 7: Publication, Distribution Area - MARC 260 Field

Chapter 7: Publication, Distribution Area - MARC 260 Field

MARC 260 field (R)

The 260 field is used to record all details about the place(s), name(s) and date(s) related to the publishing, distributing, issuing, releasing and manufacture of an item and must contain information about all three of these elements. Information for this field comes from the chief source of information, accompanying material or from a readily available reference source. Enclose information not found on the chief source of information in square brackets. This field is repeatable and it ends in a period.

Both indicators are blank.

Three subfields, |a, |b and |c, are required for most types of material. Non-published materials such as manuscripts or realia have subfield code |c only.

The following subfield codes may be used. The most frequent subfields are listed in the order in which they would be used. Punctuation and form of entry that appear in the examples below are prescribed by AACR2. See the MARC 21 website for more details.

  • |a Place of publication, distribution, etc. (R)
  • May contain the abbreviation "S.l." enclosed in brackets when place is unknown.
    • 260 Englewood , Colo. :|bLibraries Unlimited,|c1999.
    • 260 London :|bDent ;|aNew York :|bDutton,|c[1936?].
    • 260 [S.l.] :|bEagle Press,|c1842.
  • |b Name of publisher, distributor, etc. (R)
  • May contain the abbreviation "s.n." enclosed in brackets when name is unknown.
    • 260 New York :|bScholastic,|cc2000.
    • 260 Bangor , Me. :|b[s.n.,|cbetween 1942 and 1945].*
  • |c Date of publication, distribution, etc. (R)
  • May contain multiple dates (e.g., dates of publication and copyright).
    • 260 Boston :|bLittle Brown,|c2000, c1985.
    • 260 |c[between 1780 and 1793]. (Dates for a manuscript letter.)
  • |e Place of manufacture (NR)
  • |f Manufacturer (NR)
  • |g Date of manufacture (NR)
    • 260 New York :|bMuseum of Fine Arts, c1965.|e( Princton , NJ :|fTWR Printers,|g2002).

*Note that the final bracket follows the last "unknown" area.

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Place of publication, distribution, etc.: Subfield |a

The city is transcribed as spelled on the item. The state or country is abbreviated according to former postal rules (e.g., Calif. instead of CA). A list of the proper abbreviated forms is found on p. 1 - 2 of the Appendix. If the name of a state or country appears on the chief source of information in abbreviated form, use that form (e.g., CA). AACR2R states that well-known cities such as New York or London are not qualified by state or country unless they conflict with the name of another city. See p. 2 of the Appendix for a list of cities whose names may stand alone. Library of Congress has decided to add the name of the state to these cities instead of following the prescribed rule. Implement this cataloging rule when doing original work, but do not change any records that have the state added to these city names (e.g., New York , N.Y. ).

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Places of publication

The publication area usually contains only one place of publication. If a work is published in more than one city in the country of the cataloger, the first-named place is normally the one entered into the record.

On the title page:

University of California Press
Berkeley / Los Angeles / London

Transcribe as: 260 Berkeley :|bUniversity of California Press 

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Adding a second place of publication

A second place is usually added only if a city outside the cataloger's country is given first. For example if the "home" of the cataloger is in the United States but the first-named place is in another country and the second-named place is in the United States , both locations are entered. The second place is preceded by a space, semicolon and subfield code |a.

On the title page:

Oxford University Press
London / New York / Toronto

Transcribe as: 260 London ;|aNew York :|bOxford University Press

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Place of publication not known

As previously mentioned, the place of publication element must contain something . If the cataloger determines a location from a source other than the chief source of information, the place of publication is transcribed in square brackets.

  • 260 [ Los Angeles ]

If only the state or country is known, use that information. Do not abbreviate the name of the state or country in this case.

  • 260 [ California ] - Cataloger knows the place from alternative source.
  • 260 [ England ?] - Cataloger is guessing that England is the place.

If the cataloger has no idea of a probable city or country, the abbreviation "S.l." for sine loco, meaning "without place," is used. The "S" is capitalized because it represents the first word of the area or field.

Name of the publisher, producer or distributor: Subfield |b

The name of the publisher, producer or distributor is the second element of the publication area. The name appearing on the title page is preferred over names on the verso of the title page. This element is preceded by a space, colon and subfield code |b. If it is necessary, a second or third publisher or distributor may be added. Each one is preceded by the space, colon and subfield code |b.

Form of name

Give the name of the publisher, distributor, etc., in the shortest form in which it can be understood and identified. Omit accompanying wording that implies the publishing function. On pages 3 and 4 of the Appendix is a partial list of publishers that may be used in a shortened form. Add additional names as you come across them.

  • 260 London :|bMacGibbon & Kee
  • 260 Berkeley :|bKicking Mule Records
  • 260 New York :|bDodd, Mead

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Shortening names

Use care in shortening names. Do not change the meaning of the phrase. Do not shorten the form of a name if confusion with another publisher will result.

  • The Horn Book, Inc. becomes Horn Book.
  • Thomas Y. Crowell Co., Inc. becomes Crowell.
  • W.H. Allen is not shortened to avoid confusion with another publisher. Note: no space between initials in the publication area.

Forenames may be shortened to initials.

  • Frederick Warne & Co. is shortened to F. Warne.

Caution: certain elements of firm names may not be shortened. Never omit multiple surnames. Transcribe what appears on the chief source of information. Forms of the names may vary from one item to the next because publishers merge or change names.

  • Harper & Brother, Publishers is shortened to Harper.
  • Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. is shortened to Harper & Row.

Do not shorten the name of a firm when the entire name is descriptive of the type of material produced by the firm or of its viewpoint.

  • Aviation Book Co. is not shortened.
  • Architectural Book Pub. Co. is not shortened.

The word "press" needs careful consideration. Press should be retained if the body is in fact a printer. It may also be needed to distinguish between two different corporate bodies. When entering the University of Maine Press retain "Press" because the University of Maine is also a publisher, but Viking Press, Inc. and Bradbury Press, Inc. become Viking and Bradbury because they are commercial publishers not printers. If the name of the publisher or distributor appears in the title and statement of responsibility area in a recognizable form, it may be shortened.

  • 245 14 The cataloging-in-source experiment :|ba report to the Librarian of Congress /|cby the Director of the Processing Department.
  • 260 Washington :|bL.C.

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Two or more publishers or distributors

If an item has two or more publishers, distributors, etc., use the first-named with its corresponding place. If the names are linked, as frequently happens if both a publisher and distributor are named, then both should be included.

  • 260 Chapel Hill :|bPublished for the Institute of Early American History and Culture by the University of North Carolina Press
  • 260 London :|bBBC-TV ;|aNew York :|bReleased in the U.S. by Time-Life Video

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Name unknown

If the name of the publisher or distributor is unknown, the abbreviation "s.n." for sine nominee, meaning without name, is used in square brackets and is preceded by a space, colon and subfield |b. If both the place and publisher are unknown both "S.l" and "s.n" are used and enclosed in one set of square brackets.

260 New York :|b[s.n.]

260 [S.l. :|bs.n.]

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Date of publication, distribution, etc.: Subfield |c

The third element of the publication area is the date of the item. The date is preceded by a comma and subfield code |c.

Date of publication given

The date is the year of publication, distribution, etc. of the edition as it appears on the item. This means the date of the first impression or printing of an edition. An impression consists of all of the copies of a publication run at one time from a set of photographic plates, type, etc. If the publication sells well, a publisher will frequently use the same plates or type form to make more copies. This would be a second printing or impression. Always prefer the date of the first printing.

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No publication date given

If no date of publication is found on the item, use the following guide in the order of preference given. Use square brackets if the date(s) are not taken from the chief source of information.

Year of publication as found on material accompanying the item:

  • 260 London :|bVirginia,|c[1985].

The latest copyright year as found on the item, indicated by the letter "c" preceding the date; recordings frequently use the letter "p" for pressing date.

  • 260 New York : |bLittle Brown,|cc1989.
  • 260 New York :|bPolydor,|cp1979. 

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Date unknown

The date element for the publication, distribution, etc., area must include a date. The only exception is for naturally occurring objects such as a gem or a mineral specimen. Any date not found on the chief source of information should be in square brackets.

The cataloger has knowledge of the date from a source other than the chief source of information:

  • |c[1989].

The cataloger is not absolutely certain the date is correct:

  • |c[1994?].

The cataloger is giving an approximate date:

  • |c[ca.1950].

The item was published sometime in the 1990's:

  • |c[199-].

The item was published sometime in the 1900's:

  • |c[19--].

The cataloger has knowledge that narrows the date of publication to this span of years:

Next: Chapter 8