Updated 7/1/2022
The MoMA library receives most of its items through unsolicited donation. This means that for any title we are given, we must double check to make sure we don’t already own a copy. Or that if we do, we make the conscious decision to retain additional copies. Deduping is the first step in handling any materials donated to the library so that no further effort is expended on items we don’t want to keep.
When searching for existing copies in Alma, , the following fields in a bibliographic record must match the bibliographic information found in the physical item for the record to be considered a match.
020 – ISBN (if present)
100 – Author/Artist
245 – Title
260 – Imprint including place of publication, publisher and date published
300 – Physical description including the pagination and dimensions
008 – Language (also appears as a Millennium fixed field at the top of the record)
If the above mentioned fields are all the same in the item and in the record, it is safe to consider the record a match for the item.
Some notes about particular fields:
020 – ISBN field : 10 digit ISBN’s now correspond to 13 digit ISBN’s and vice versa. If the same 10 digit or 13 digit ISBN appears in both the item and record, it can be considered a match. Sometimes an item will only have one ISBN, but a record will have both the 10 and 13 digit ISBN’s. Only one ISBN in a record needs to match one ISBN in an item.
It is also common to find a number of different ISBN’s for different language editions in the same book. For this reason, it is especially important to make sure that the language of the item matches the language in the record.
100 – Author/Artist field : this field is meant for the individual most responsible for the intellectual content of the item. Some records will not have a primary author field but instead one or more added author fields (700 fields). Please look for 700 fields if a 100 field does not exist.
260 – Imprint field : the imprint field is especially important to check because different publishers will often publish slightly different editions of the same item. This situation often occurs with exhibition catalogs. A museum or gallery may publish an exhibition catalog and another publisher may publish a similar, but slightly different trade edition. Only a professional cataloger can tell if a separate record is needed for each edition. Whether or not we will keep both a museum edition and a trade edition is an acquisitions decision.
300 – Physical description field : it is important to check the physical description field because a publisher my publish two different items, like a large catalog and a small brochure, which may appear similar bibliographically, except for the fact that they are very different in size and obviously content.
Once it has been determined that a bibliographic record in Alma matches an item in hand, the next step is to go to the Item record summary view to:
Make sure MoMA has a copy, not just the Frick or Brooklyn Museum
Check to make sure the status of the MoMA copy is not Lost, Missing, Damaged, or long overdue (3+ years)
Check the location of the cataloged copy - if the cataloged copy is in Special Collections or Artists Books, we might want to keep a second copy.
If a duplicate book is signed, it should be given to the Head of Library Services, who will determine if it should be kept.
Double check the item in hand for a barcode, labels, or markings to make sure it is not, in fact, the one already in the collection. If so, stop and return that item to regular shelves.
Finally, if the determination is made the item is in fact an unwanted duplicate, place the item on the dupe shelves for eventual disposal.