Bib - Bad Form
What is this?
The Form fixed field (008/23 for most workforms, 008/29 for maps and visual materials) indicates whether the resource being cataloged has particular formats, such as being microform, electronic, or braille.
When is this trouble?
An electronic resource record used for a print book may confuse patrons, leading them to believe that you have electronic access to the material.
A microform record used for a print book may discourage patrons that don't have easy access to microform readers.
A record with an invalid code in the form fixed field may have other fixed field issues.
Exceptions
Your collection may not be segregated into locations by format, or you may have non-book format materials (say, in faux books) in book stacks.
Some materials may have been cataloged on multi-format records (print, electronic, and microfilm all on the same record). Depending on your catalog and your collection, this may or may not be confusing to patrons.
How to Find
If you are in Alma, there is an analysis to search for this issue in the "Looking for Trouble" folder. Go to the "Bibliographic" folder and look for the "Bad Form" analysis. By default, this analysis is looking for non-book materials (microform or electronic). Specifically it is looking for form codes that are not:
- blank - (no special format)
- d - large print
- f - braille
- r - print reproduction
This should find any records with codes like:
- a - microfilm
- b - microfiche
- c - microopacque (like microcard)
- o - online
- q - direct electronic (like cdrom)
- s - electronic (older code)
This may also find materials cataloged with invalid codes, or even older (obsolete) codes, like:
- g - punched paper tape
- h - magnetic tape
- i - multimedia
- z - other form of reproduction
You may want to limit by more specific locations or materials, such as searching for non-microform materials in a microform location.