Understanding Indicators

An indicator is one of two character positions that follow a tag number. Each position is one character long and consists of an underscore or blank (for undefined) or a digit from 0 to 9. The meaning of each indicator varies from tag to tag and is defined by MARC standards.

You can edit an indicator directly in the MARC record.

Most indicators contain information that describe the tag. (For example, the first indicator of a 110 corporate name tag indicates whether the name is inverted or in direct order.) You may have fields that use both indicators, neither indicator, or only the first or only the second indicator. When an indicator is not used, it is an “undefined” indicator and is left blank.

Some indicators can determine nonfiling characters. These indicators determine how many leading characters Horizon ignores when it creates a list that you can browse alphabetically.

For example, the title The one and only has a nonfiling indicator of “4.” Horizon ignores the first four characters (the space after “The” counts as a character) and files the title using “One” in an alphabetical list.

If a nonfiling indicator is left blank, Horizon checks the article table when saving the record to see if it can enter an indicator for you. (For more information, see “Initial Articles” in the “Searching Setup” chapter of the System Administration Guide.)

 


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