An individual record displays descriptive information about an item, including the author, title, publisher, date of publication, along with the Library's holding information. An individual record displays immediately if your search locates only one match, or, when more than one title appears in your results list, it will display once you select a particular title from the Display List.

Individual records may be viewed in one of three different formats. To learn more, select from the following menu:

Brief Record

• View an example of a Brief Record display for a book, journal or article.
   
  
• Provides basic bibliographic information about the item, such as author, title of book or article, publisher, date of publication etc., along with library holdings information such as the item's call number, location, volumes/issues owned if a journal or serial, and availability status. Records from the Article Citation Database will also display the name of the journal or publication in which the article is located, the volume/issue/date of the journal, and the article page numbers. (This information is shown in the "Source Info" field of the article record.)
   
  
• If the item is available online a linked URL will also be displayed in the Electronic Resource field. Selecting this link will access the online publication.
   
  
• Certain information in the record, for example, the author and call number, display as a hypertext link. Selecting one of these links will locate related records. For example, selecting the author will place you in a Headings List where you can access additional works, if any, by the author, and selecting the call number takes you to a Call Number List where you can browse for items on a similar subject.
   
  

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Full Record

• View an example of a Full Record Display for a book, journal, or article.
   
  
• Provides bibliographic and holdings information as in the Brief Record along with, among other things, subject headings and codes, standard numbers (ISSN/ISBN/LCCN), notes, etc. Journal and serial records may also show abbreviated title, frequency of publication, previous or subsequent title name(s), and in what database(s) or publication(s) it is indexed. Many, but not all, records from the Article Citation Database also contain a summary/abstract of the article.
   
  
• If the item is available online a linked URL will also be displayed in the Electronic Resource field. Selecting this link will access the online publication.
   
  
• Certain information in the record, for example, the author, call number, and subject term(s) display as a hypertext link. Selecting one of these links will locate related records. For example, selecting the author will place you in a Headings List where you can access additional works by the author; selecting the call number takes you to a Call Number List where you can browse for similar subject items; clicking on a subject term will open a Headings List which will allow you to identify other material in the same subject area.
   
  

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MARC Record

• View an example of a MARC Record display.
   
  
• MARC is a standardized, machine-readable format that provides the most complete bibliographic and descriptive details about an item. Most useful for users who understand the MARC system.
   
  

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Holdings Information
 

1. Call Numbers: Every item, whether a book, journal, video etc, in the NAL collection has its own unique call number assigned to it based on its subject matter or order of accession. It is used by NAL staff to locate the material on our shelves.
    
   The library uses two main call number classification systems: Library of Congress (LC) and the National Agricultural Library (NAL). Examples of a LC call number include SB45.H3, aSD11.A325, Videocassette no. 2747, and Fiche 123. Examples of a NAL call number include 400.D91P, 1.9 F7325PI, and 1 Ag84Ab.
    
   
2. Location: Designates where an item is housed in the library. Common locations are: Stacks, Reference, Folio, Newspapers, Dissertations, Special Collections, Audiovisuals, Current Periodicals Collection.
    
   Items with certain locations, for example, ARS National Arboretum and DC Reference Center, may not be housed at the National Agricultural Library.
    
   
3. Status: Generally notes the availability or circulation status of an item. Common statuses include: Available, Charged–Due on xx-xx-xx, Renewed–Due on xx-xx-xx, Missing or Lost, In Process.
    
   Note: Currently, many items in the catalog may show a Status of "No information available." These are generally older items that have not been through the circulation process. This status does not mean that the item is not available for use.
    
   
4. Holdings: Shows the volumes and/or issues of a journal or serial that are owned by the library.
    
   

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Moving Between Records

• A record will display by default in the Brief Record format. To choose another format, click the appropriate button located above the title.

• You can move through your search results at the individual-record level by selecting the Previous or Next button located at the top and bottom of the record screen.

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