Scope:  These are the policies that LTS RMC staff follow when cataloging published materials individually.

Contact: Margaret Nichols  

Unit: Cataloging & Metadata Services

Date last updated: May 2024

Date of next review: May 2025


Choice of rules: RDA or DCRM(B)
PCC Contribution
Authority Work
Notes


Choice of rules: RDA or DCRM(B)

For monographs which require original cataloging, we apply DCRM(B) for pre-1800 European and pre-1821 American imprints. For all modern books or serials requiring original cataloging, we apply RDA. For sound recordings, we apply AACR2, subject to the guidance of the Music Cataloging Coordinator.

For copy cataloging, leave the existing cataloging as is, except:

  • update the cataloging level to full (Encoding level: blank), if it's less than full (Encoding level 4, 7, or u, for example)
  • update access points to their preferred forms, and create authority records if needed
  • correct any errors in the record
  • add special files fields as appropriate (see LTS Procedure #89)
  • add copy-specific notes in the holdings record, especially if our copy lacks anything (example: "Imperfect: lacks title page").

Do not change an existing catalog record from AACR2 to DCRM(B) or RDA.

 

PCC Contribution

We contribute an original catalog record to PCC if all of its access points have authority records.

Records which do not qualify for PCC contribution:

  • copy cataloging
  • recon (retrospective conversion) records
  • records with some access points not covered by authority records, such as a 650 _4, tracings for former owners who don't have authority records, etc.

Authority work

RMC cataloging staff participate fully in the NACO program. When cataloging new acquisitions, we contribute RDA authority records for names if they are considered significant and in need of formal authority control. NACO records are created in OCLC by catalogers who have formal NACO training.

 

Notes to include in original cataloging records for early imprints (pre-1800 European and pre-1821 American ones)

Printer's device--routinely; describe only if bibliographically significant.

Title page vignette (any decorative figure)--routinely; describe only if bibliographically significant or if artist is known/famous.

Head- and tail-pieces--only if bibliographically significant or if artist is known/famous.

Title page in red and black--routinely.

Wove paper--If a signature statement is given, make this note if the book paper is wove (to explain the absence of a format statement, such as 8vo). Even if no signature statement is given, make this note routinely when wove paper is found in an 18th-century or very early 19th-century book.

With half-title--routinely

Cancels--should be noted; any deviations from recorded copies elsewhere. (This note may take several forms, e.g. "Some leaves appear to be cancels"; "Several leaves canceled"; "Title page cancel?"; "Leaf B6 canceled and original leaf left in place.")

Errata--routinely, with the location of the errata in the volume (describe its physical appearance if it is something other than a leaf, e.g. slip pasted in)

Publisher's advertisements--routinely. You may describe the contents of these if you can do so concisely, e.g. "Publisher's advertisements for other works by this author."

Incorrect pagination--only if bibliographically significant (for instance, if the last numbered page is misnumbered, giving an inaccurate impression of the length of the work)

With frontispiece--routinely

Engraved title page--routinely with added engraved title page

Contemporary wrappers--routinely (describe, e.g. "contemporary blue marbled wrappers")

Binding--if artistically significant or signed. This information is copy-specfic for books published before the advent of publishers' bindings in the 1830s or so, so in those earlier cases it goes in a public Holdings note. If the binder is known, trace him/her in a 700 field with $e binder $5 NIC at the end.

Anything wanting--routinely. This goes in a public note on the holdings record ("Imperfect: ...")

Provenance--routinely. This goes in a public Holdings note (Note type: Note) on the holdings record ("Provenance: [name] (nature of ownership mark, e.g. bookplate, stamp, label, or signature).") The name of the inscriber, former owner, etc. is also traced in a 7xx field on the bib record, with the appropriate relationship designator in $e at the end (former owner, signer, etc.). For relator terms (7xx $e) to choose from, see the term sequence in the MARC Code List for Relators.

Example:

Holdings note (Note type: Note): Provenance: Franz Sondheimer (bookplate).

Tracing on bib record:

      700 1_ Sondheimer, Franz, $e former owner. $5 NIC

Blanks--noted if a blank leaf (not page) appears at the beginning or end of the book. Note a blank in the middle if it is not part of the pagination sequence.

Not noted: price; statements of patronage; mottoes; pious invocations.

 

Notes to include in catalog records for modern imprints

In paper wrappers--routinely; this note goes in a public Holdings note (Note type: Note) on the holdings record. For a modern paperback (a paperback's covers are sturdier than paper wrappers), use a different note (if any): "Paperbound."

With dust jacket--routinely; this note goes in a public Holdings note (Note type: Note) on the holdings record.

Prize book--routinely; this note goes in a public Holdings note (Note type: Note) on the holdings record. Describe the nature of the prize, who presented it, and to whom it was given. Also, on the bib record, add the RBMS Controlled Vocabularies term "Prize books."

Example:

Holdings note: Provenance: Presented by the Council of Kings College London to John Ashton Coombs, as a prize for chemistry.

Tracings on bib record:

655 _7 Prize books. $2 rbmscv

700 1_ Coombs, John Ashton, $e former owner. $5 NIC

710 2_ King's College London, $e former owner. $5 NIC


Binding--if artistically significant or signed. If binder is known, trace him/her in a 700 field with $e binder $5 NIC at the end. 

Anything wanting--routinely. This goes in a public Holdings note (Note type: Note) on the holdings record ("Imperfect: ...")

Provenance--routinely. See description in previous section above.