Relationship designators (in MARC fields 1XX and 7XX)

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A relationship designator describes the relationship of an entry to the resource being cataloged 

All 1XX and 7XX fields in RDA records should include subfield e with the appropriate relationship designator(s). 

  • Add subfield e to these fields if not already present 
  • In MARC tags 1XX and 7XX that contain subfield 4 with a three-character relator code, change subfield 4 to subfield e with the appropriate relationship designator  
  • Editing of existing Polaris records is recommended, but not required 

Prefer terms from Appendix I in the RDA Toolkit. If the Toolkit is not available or no appropriate term is found in the Toolkit, use a term from the MARC Code List for Relators. If no term is found, contact SHARE Bibliographic Services staff for assistance. 

Rev. 02-2025