948 Statistics

Owned by Brett Barrie
Last updated: Dec 13, 2022 by Sophie Dong
4 min read

Recording cataloging statistics in 948 fields

Goal: To eliminate most of the need for Cataloging Services staff to manually record, collect, and report monthly and/or annual work statistics, thus saving time and potentially increasing accuracy. Having staff members record their activities in 948 fields in the Voyager bibliographic record allows these statistics to be automatically harvested and processed by the Integrated Library System Management group.


General guidelines:


  • For the vast majority of transactions, one 948 suffices. Do not create multiple 948s except in situations outlined under exceptions below
    • New title transactions assume: bib record; holdings record (including 866-lines for multipart titles); item record(s) and a piece count.
    • Added copy or piece transactions assume: holding record updates, including 866 lines; item records and a piece count.
    • Do not create 948 lines for holdings or adds transactions when cataloguing a new title
    • Do not create 948 line for holdings updates when doing an add.
  • Exceptions: use multiple 948 lines when:
    • Doing both retrospective conversion and reclassification of the same title. Create 948s for both retro and reclass transactions.
    • Adding volumes to titles which entail enhancing the bibliographic record. Create 948s for both adds (with piece count) and recat/bib record correction (with no piece count) transactions. This is especially common with adds to SCRC serials, but will also occur when volumes are being added at the time a title is being closed out.
    • Cataloguing or adding items with accompanying materials in another format. Create a 948 with a piece count for each format being handled.
    • Withdrawing pieces at the same time a title is being retrospectively converted, or, recataloged: create 948 for both the withdrawal (with a piece count) and the retro conversion or recat transaction (retro and recat transactions generally do not need piece counts.


Information within the 948 field


The 948 field stores pertinent information in both its indicators and subfields:


1st INDICATOR has a preset value of "2", indicating the Cataloging Services Department


2nd INDICATOR has a preset value indicating the departmental unit as follows:

1 = Catalog department librarians and supervisors
2 = Not currently used
3 = Cataloging unit in rm. 008
4 = Cataloging unit m Social Science and Area Studies I Government documents
5 = Cataloging unit in Belfer
6 = Acquisitions unit
7 = Cataloging unit in SCRC
8 = Other staff members


DATE ($a) is supplied by the system in the format YYYYMMDD


OPERATOR ($b) has a preset value indicating the individual operator's initials


LOCATION ($1) has the following possible values:

d = Government document collections
k = Martin Luther King Library
s = SU Libraries (Bird, Carnegie, and King + King), including maps/atlases, but excluding documents
#= None (used only for non-SU owning library records, i.e., SCRC and Belfer)


FORMAT($f) has the following possible values: 

a = Print monograph
b = Print serial
c = Direct access computer file
d = Architectural drawing
g = Graphic
k = Kit
m = Map
n = Microfiche / microcard
o = Microfilm
p = Motion picture film
q= Slide
r = Sound recording
s = Score
t = Master's thesis
v = Video
w = Website
x = Database
y = Remote electronic monograph
z = Remote electronic serial


TRANSACTION ($t) has the following possible values:

a = Adding paid copies / volumes
b = Adding gift copies / volumes
g = New gift title cataloging
h = Holdings / item record correction
m = Minimal record created
n = New paid title cataloging
o = Error correction
p = Partial withdrawal
r = Reinstatement
t = Transfer
u = URL correction
w = Withdrawal
x = Retrospective conversion
y = Reclassification
z = Recataloging / bib record correction


REASON FOR WITHRAWAL ($s) has the following possible values:

d = duplicate format
s = selector decision
m = missing (should be here; we can't find it)
1 = lost (by patron)
#= no reason (default)


PIECE COUNT ($p) has the following possible values:

0= Used for all transactions involving electronic titles and for new periodical titles, unless adding backset volumes at the time of initial cataloguing
1, 2, 3...= Used for non-electronic new titles, adds, transfers, withdrawals, reinstatements
#= Used for non-electronic corrections, recats, reclasses, retros


Two other pieces of record information in the machine-generated reports -- owning library and bibliographic level -- are supplied by Voyager, and thus are not needed in the 948 field.


Adding a 948 field to a record


The 948 field is added to a bibliographical record through the use of keyboard macros activated by the Macro Express software. Macro Express must remain open for the macros to work in Voyager.


Macros for a number of basic cataloging transactions have already been created and stored in a master file on the departmental G drive. This master file will continue to be updated as departmental functions and specific project needs change. The macros need to be imported onto the staff member's H drive, either individually or en masse.


It should be noted that SCRC has designed macros for many of their own needs, which are currently stored in a separate file on the G drive. Catalogers working on both general collections and SCRC materials will need to import macros from both files.


The keyboard commands to activate the macros are listed in Macro Express. The macros for the basic transactions involving monographic titles have all been programmed as CTRL+SHIFT+[TRANSACTION CODE KEY]. For example, the command for the withdrawal macro is CTRL+SHIFT+W. The macros designed for print serials and electronic titles have unique commands.


Given the generic nature of the basic macros, staff members may need to edit the location, format, or piece count subfields to meet the specific needs of their activities. A staff member may also be performing two or more transactions (e.g., retrospective conversion and reclassification) on a title at the same time. In those cases there should be a 948 field added for each transaction.


For some titles there will be multiple staff members performing separate transactions over time, with each person adding 948 fields. Staff members should not edit or delete any pre-existing fields. It is hoped that older 948 fields will eventually be removed from Voyager through a regularly-scheduled global procedure.