Non-English Language Materials

The rules on this page have been approved in concept by the SCRAP committee, but the exact wording is still being adjusted. Please use these rules. Please send any feedback to SCRAP.

When cataloging foreign language materials, we cannot use foreign language catalog records. If there is not an English language record for the item in hand, create one, and link it to the parallel foreign language record. Add at least one Library of Congress subject heading as well as the appropriate subject headings for foreign language materials and foreign film subject headings.

How to recognize a foreign language record

Presence of a subfield b specifying the cataloging language.

Example:

040  ESUDE ‡b spa ‡c ESUDE

Please note that many English records now have a subfield b, eng.

Example:

040  ESUDE ‡b eng ‡c ESUDE

They may also include a subfield e for a different cataloging rule set.

Example:

040  BNM ‡e rdc ‡b spa ‡c BNM

The cataloging itself may be in a language other than English, use unfamiliar abbreviations, and include subject headings from a different thesaurus.

Example:

   040    UBP ‡c UBP ‡d PL# ‡d I5B
   100    Fromm, Erich ‡d 1900-1980.
   240 14 The dogma of Christ and other essays on religion, psychology, and culture. ‡p The present human condition ‡l Español
   245 13 La condición humana actual : ‡b y otros temas de la vida contemporánea / ‡c Erich Fromm ; edición a cargo de Rainer Funk 
          ; traducción Gerardo Steenks.
   246    Y otros temas de la vida contemporánea.
   250    2a. ed.
   500    Traducción de: The dogma of christ.
   504    Incluye referencias bibliográficas. (or Incluye bibliografías.)
   650  7 Psicología. ‡2 embne
   700 1  Steenks, Gerardo, ǂe tr.