Scope:  These are terms that CMS rare materials catalogers commonly apply as tracings (when appropriate) for rare books. Terms are from the RBMS Controlled Vocabularies on the website of the Bibliographic Standards Committee, Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association. Other terms from the RBMS thesauri may also be used when called for.

Contact: Margaret Nichols  

Unit: Cataloging & Metadata Services

Date last updated:  

Date of next review: March 2024

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 materials, we subdivide the terms by country and decade. Each decade runs from 19x1 to 19x0.

Examples:
Plays $z France $y 18th century. $2 NIC
Novels $z United States $y 1901-1910. $2 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:

  • Addresses [i.e. speeches]
  • Auction catalogs
  • Broadsides
  • Dialogues
  • Diaries
  • Essays
  • Exhibition catalogs
  • Fables
  • Juvenile literature
  • 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)

Terms that could be subdivided by state and century:

  • Fourth of July sermons
  • Fourth of July addresses
  • Thanksgiving sermons

Provenance terms we commonly use

  • Authors' presentation copies
  • Extra-illustrated copies
  • Presentation copies
  • Prize books
  • Publishers' copies

Binding terms we commonly use

  • Blind tooled bindings
  • Bosses
  • Clasps
  • Fore-edge paintings
  • Tree calf bindings
  • Vellum bindings

Printing or publishing terms we commonly use

  • Galley proofs
  • Printers' devices
  • Proofs
  • Review copies
  • Subscription lists