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Board Books and Other Children's Books

It is SWAN’s policy that board books do not share a bibliographic record with other formats of the title in Symphony; however, they are grouped with books in Aspen but have their own distinct format.  

Board books

Board books have cardboard pages containing mainly illustrations. Some may have lift-up flaps, different shapes, textures, etc. 

Board books.png

It is important to properly identify these materials to prevent them from being merged with regular books in Symphony and for format assignment in Aspen.

020    9781680527810|q(Board book)
300    1 volume (unpaged) :|bcolor illustrations ;|c13 cm
500    On board pages.
655 _7 Board books.|2lcgft  

Subject headings for board books and other children’s materials are required to have the LCSH + |vJuvenile fiction OR |vJuvenile literature. 

For example:

650 _0 Dinosaurs|vJuvenile fiction.

OR

650 _0 Counting|vJuvenile literature.  

Physical description of children’s materials

Children’s books vary greatly in size, texture, shape, etc., requiring the physical description of the item itself and accompanying materials to be more specific.  

Examples: 

500  On board pages in the shape of a bus. 
500  On board pages which illustrates objects with different textures. 

Big Books 

It is also important to properly distinguish oversize books (those over 29 cm in height or 25 cm in width) to prevent incorrect merging in Symphony. 

020    9781534457119|q(Oversize book)
300    1 volume (unpaged) :|bcolor illustrations ;|c50 cm
500    Oversize picture book.
650 _0 Oversize books.

Genre Headings 

Some of the most common genre headings for children’s materials:

655 _7 Board books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Lift-the-flap books.|2lcgft 
655 _7 Activity books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Alphabet books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Coloring books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Glow-in-the-dark books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Picture books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Pop-up books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Scented books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Sound books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Stories in rhyme.|2lcgft
655 _7 Textured books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Toy and movable books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Upside-down books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Wordless picture books.|2lcgft
655 _7 Instructional and educational works.|2lcgft       

To search for subject headings and genre terms: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects.html

Select LC Subject Headings (LCSH) OR LC Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT) from the dropdown menu.