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Unit: Cataloging & Metadata Services
Date last updated: 05/05/2017
Date of next review: March 2018
Genre Terms
(Coded 655 _7 , with $2 rbgenr at end)
2024
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As of March 2023, the terms formerly contained in six different thesauri in RBMS Controlled Vocabularies (Genre Terms, Binding Terms, Type Evidence, Paper Terms, Printing & Publishing Evidence, and Provenance Evidence) have now been combined in a single linked data file on this site, hosted by the Library of Congress Linked Data Service: Controlled Vocabulary for Rare Materials Cataloging. All terms are coded 655 _7, with $2 rbmscv at the end. Subdivisions (such as by country and century) are no longer used. Institutions that wish to continue to subdivide these terms are welcome to continue to do so, but with the terms coded as local (in our case, with $2 NIC at the end). Subdivision continues to be useful to us at Cornell in the case of terms that apply to many items in the collection, such as Plays, Novels, Diaries, Broadsides, Sermons, Poems, and Addresses. For other terms, the cataloger can search our local catalog to determine how often the term has been used, and then use their own judgment as to whether or not to subdivide the term in the case at hand. Do not go back and delete the subdivisions from catalog records created previously.
If you decide to subdivide a term, subdivide by country and century. (Exception: for terms that apply exclusively to the United States, such as Fourth of July sermons, subdivide by state and century.) For 20th-century materialsWe typically subdivide genre terms by country and century. For 20th-century novels, we subdivide the terms by country and decade. Each decade runs from 19x1 to 19x0.
Examples:
Plays $z France $y 18th century. $2 rbgenrNIC
Novels $z United States $y 1901-1910. $2 rbgenr NIC
Note: Like other thesauri, the Controlled Vocabulary for Rare Materials Cataloging is a living entity, subject to change over time. It pays to check periodically, before using a given term, to see whether its authorized form has changed.
Genre terms we commonly use, subdividing them by country and century: :
- Addresses [i.e. speeches]
- Auction catalogs
- Broadsides
- Dialogues
- Diaries
- Essays
- Exhibition catalogs
- Fables
- Fast day sermons
- Juvenile literature
- Fiction [used for short stories]Lectures
- Legislative addresses
- Novellas
- Novels
- Plays
- Poems
- Prospectuses
- Publishers' catalogs
- Satires
- Screenplays
- Sermons
- Short stories
- Songs
- Theater programs
- Three deckers
- Volvelles (this one need not be subdivided)
For terms that apply exclusively to the United States (such as “Fourth of July sermons”), we subdivide by state and century. Terms we commonly use Terms that could be subdivided by state and century:
- Fourth of July sermons
- Fourth of July addresses
- Thanksgiving sermons
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Provenance Terms
(Coded 655 _7, with $2 rbprov at end)
Example:
655 _7 Prize books (Provenance) $z United States $y 19th century. $2 rbprov
Provenance terms we commonly use, subdividing them by country and century
- Authors' presentation copies (Provenance)
- Extra-illustrated copies (Provenance)
- Presentation copies (Provenance)
- Prize books (Provenance)
- Publishers' copies (Provenance)
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Binding terms we commonly use (these don't come up often enough to need subdivision)
- Blind tooled bindings (Binding)
- Bosses (Binding)
- Clasps (Binding)
- Fore-edge paintings (Binding)
- Tree calf bindings (Binding)
- Wrappers (Binding)
...
- Vellum bindings
Printing or publishing terms we commonly use (these also don't need subdivision)
- Galley proofs (Printing)
- Printers' devices (Printing)
- Proofs (Printing)
- Review copies (Publishing)
- Subscription lists (Publishing)