Specific Media Type

This element is dependent on General Media Type.

In addition, all of the Media Occurrence Elements are dependent on it. For each media occurrence within each copy of the archival materials, Specific Media Type must be specified before any of the Media Occurrence Elements can be created.

Choose the correct term from the Specific Media Type Authority List.

Generate multiple media occurrence descriptions for:

Mixed Specific Media Types
If the archival materials have mixed specific media types, generate a new media occurrence description for each specific media type. For example, a physical occurrence containing both negatives and photographic prints would have one media occurrence description for "negatives" and another for "photographic prints." Where it is easy to determine the extent of the various media types, multiple specific media occurrences should be generated.

Interfiled Specific Media Types
If the archival materials have interfiled specific media types, then choose the predominant specific media type for the physical description. For example, a physical occurrence mostly containing paper records with some illustrations would be described in one media occurrence for "paper." If necessary, the second specific media type may be indicated in Media Occurrence Note, but the preference is to generate new media occurrence descriptions to describe the additional specific media types.

Multiple Media Occurrences for the Same Specific Media Type
If the archival materials consist of multiple occurrences of the same specific media type, and each occurrence requires an individual description, then generate the number of media occurrence descriptions needed to adequately describe them. For example, a moving image may consist of multiple film reels, each of which may have different characteristics for running time or which need to be identified by a unique Element Number.