Ms. Hirons showed an example of 270 Address of source.  This field does
for computer files what the late lamented 265 used to do for serials,
give an address in fair approximation to the AACR2 locale for such
information.

I find it astounding that 265 was not simply made valid for computer
files, and used for this purpose, rather than having this information
shifted to 037 for other formats, and a new field created for this
format.  The purpose of FI, it seems to me, is to have the same
information in the same field across formats.

One problem with the shift to 037 for non computer file addresses Ms.
Hirons pointed out, which I had not realized, was than in OCLC displays,
a long address could force the 245 to appear on the 2nd or 3rd screen of
an OCLC display.  (Catss begins with a truncated display designed by the
client, so this is not a problem I had encountered.)

We can only hope that 265 or 270 will be made valid for all formats to
place this information back where it is more useful, and more in harmony
with AARC2.

BTW, 270 should not be confused with the url in 856; the 270 address is
for contacting the producers or providers of the computer file, as
opposed to accessing the file itself.



J. McRee (Mac) Elrod | Special Libraries Cataloguing, Inc.
[log in to unmask] | Metchosin, British Columbia, Canada