Title
Required
Repeatable
A word, phrase, character, or group of characters, normally appearing in a resource, that names it or the work contained in it
Table of Contents
Guidelines
- If a title, headline, byline, or image caption appears on the resource, transcribe it into a title field
- If no title, headline, byline, or image caption is visible, devise a unique and descriptive title
- Briefly describe the nature of resource, e.g. a map, or the subject of the resource, or both
- Choice and format of title elements should be governed by the relevant content standard
- Use inclusive descriptive practices
- See By Material and By Division for guidelines on constructing titles specific to corresponding resources
See Reparative Description › Workflows for workflows to follow in the event the Title element is found to be harmful, biased, offensive, outdated, or inaccurate.
Subelements
Title
Required
A word, phrase, character, or group of characters that constitutes the chief title of a resource, i.e., the title normally used when citing the resource
Guidelines
- Remove punctuation at the end of the Title—such as periods or colons—unless part of the title as seen on the item
- Remove brackets enclosing the entirety of the Title
- If brackets indicated the title was devised and not transcribed from the resource, see Supplied
- Remove any general material designation from the Title
- See MARC 245
Subtitle
Recommended if applicable
A word, phrase, character, or group of characters that contains the remainder of the title information after the title proper
Guidelines
- Move any text that follows a colon in the Title to the Subtitle
- Split the Title if it is exceptionally long by moving anything not deemed the primary title to Subtitle
- Remove any punctuation that separates the Title and Subtitle
- See MARC 245$b
Part Number
Required if Applicable
A part or section number of a title
Guidelines
- Add a Part Number to indicate sequencing in any form (e.g., “Book two,” “Part 1,” or “Supplement A”)
- Record all numbering/sequencing in a single Part Name using a comma to separate multiple numbering (e.g., “Volume 1, Issue 2”)
- Remove any punctuation that separates Part Number from other subelements
- See MARC 245$n
Part Name
Required if Applicable
A part or section name of a title
Guidelines
- Add a Part Name to record a name designation for a part or section of a work
- Remove any punctuation that separates Part Name from other subelements
- See MARC 245$p
Attributes
Primary
Required if Applicable
Used for a repeated element to declare that a particular instance of the element is most important
Guidelines
- Check Primary for one Title element if more than one Title element exists for a record
- If Primary is checked for a Title element, do not use the Type dropdown on that title
Supplied
Recommended if Applicable
Indicates whether the content of the element has been supplied from external sources, or from a source other than the ones prescribed by the content standard used
Guidelines
- If no title, headline, byline, or image caption is visible, devise a unique and descriptive title according the guidelines and check Supplied
- Do not check Supplied for the following as they are not replacements for missing titles
- Collection titles
- Container titles
- Titles describing correspondence, manuscripts, or other archival materials
- Do not enclose titles checked as Supplied in brackets
- Optionally, for an item record with a title from an external source such as a processing document, add a Title element accompanied by a Note element describing the title’s source with the Type: content
Type
Strongly Recommended if Applicable
Identifies what type of title is recorded
Guidelines
- When there are multiple titles, Type is strongly recommended for all additional Title elements except for the Title marked Primary
- Various title forms may be entered to enhance the possibility for discovery of a resource for:
- Single titles within a multi-titled resource
- To bring out titles contained within a main title
- To spell out abbreviated terms or numerals
- To modernize archaic forms
- To reformat erroneous title information
- To provide a descriptive title when the main title is not descriptive
- Select the Type according to the following definitions:
- Abbreviated: title as abbreviated for indexing or identification
- Select the appropriate choice from the Authority dropdown
- See MARC 210
- See Abbreviated Title Source Codes
- Translated: translation or transcription of the main title
- Alternative: varying form of the title if it contributes to the further identification of the item
- Uniform: used as a main entry in a bibliographic record when a work has appeared under varying titles, necessitating that a particular title be chosen to represent the work
- Abbreviated: title as abbreviated for indexing or identification
Language
Recommended
Indicates the language of the content of an element
Guidelines
- Select the language of the title from the dropdown
- Do not use the Language subelement of Title to record the language of the content of the resource
- If you are unsure of the language of the title, leave Language blank or select Undetermined
Script
Indicates the script used for an element
Guidelines
- Select the script of the title from the dropdown if it is a non-Roman script or not the default script of the title’s language
- Do not use the Script subelement of Title to record the script of the content of the resource
- If you are unsure of the script of the title, leave Script blank or select Undetermined
See Also
- Top-level Element: <titleInfo> for official MODS documentation from the Library of Congress
- By Material for access to Title element guidance for Clippings, Periodicals, etc.