Bib description:
1. When is the artist's name considered part of the title proper (when at head of title) and goes in 245 |a?
Some are obvious by proximity of the artist's name to rest of title - then record name as 245 |a and add 246:30 for the rest of the title. Generally progress from top to bottom, regardless of font size.
ex. 245 |a Dorothea Rockburne :|b indication drawing
246:30: Indication drawing
ex. 245 |a Indication drawing : |b Dorothea Rockburne
246:30: Dorothea Rockburne [optional]
246:3 : Dorothea Rockburne : |b indication drawing [a better option]
Not impossible as an interpretation, but less likely:
ex. 245 |a Indication drawing / |c Dorothea Rockburne ; [rest of statement of responsibility].
Note the ARLIS best practices for title and statement of responsibility states: Exhibition publications often require more use of cataloger's judgment, and more intervention in terms of transposing, omitting, and supplying date.
2. If a book is primarily reproductions of art, do I need to add a 336 for still images?
It's recommended. Some at ARLIS are starting to add these.
3. Should I add a 700 for artistic content (if artist is not main entry)?
It's recommended unless the book if primarily text, like a biography.
4. Should I add analytics for a named essay included in an art book?
RDA allows, perhaps even encourages it, but related works don't have to be traced in added access points in RDA - sometimes a note may be better. If you do create an analytic, remember, you can't use a |e relationship designator after the creator with a |t title.
Subject headings:
1. H1250#2. 'Art by a single artist' states we should assign additional headings for style or movement, theme, location, and ownership, but I see many variation in this practice. What is recommended?
These are not as necessary for the very general headings, such Art, Modern. Add for less common topics, such as Minimal art. Note that LCSH gives narrower terms, so try to be as specific as possible.
2. The use of the form subdivisions 'Catalogs' [H1360] and 'Exhibitions' [H 1593] is very confusing even after reading the SHM blurbs. Any advice?
H1360 states: Use Catalogs under artists or crafts persons and families of artists or crafts persons for works listing their art works or crafts that are located in, or available for purchase at, particular institutions or places. Use Catalogs under names of persons and families doing business as sellers under their own names. Also use Catalogs under types of organizations and names of individual corporate bodies for works listing objects, art works, products, etc., located in or available from those organizations.
ex. from H1250, corporate body:
Catalog of 19th century American Victorian painting on the theme of love in the Corcoran Gallery
650#0 $a Painting, American $y 19th century $v Catalogs.
650#0 $a Painting, Victorian $z United States $v Catalogs
650#0 $a Love in art $v Catalogs.
650#0 $a Painting $z Washington (D.C.) $v Catalogs
610$a Corcoran Gallery of Art $v Catalogs.
ex. from H1250, personal name:
Paul Klee's paintings in the Phillips Collection : a catalog.
600 10 $a Klee, Paul, $d 1879-1940 $v Catalogs.
For dealer catalogs, use --Exhibitions if your main sources of information (t.p., added t.p., cover, colophon) indicate that the resource is related to stuff on view for a limited and stated time span; if the main sources just indicate that the stuff is on view, use --Catalogs. For auction catalogs, generally use --Catalogs.
Sometimes it works better to turn personal names of dealers into corporate bodies: Paul Champkins (Firm), where Paul Champkins is functioning as a dealer.
For catalogs other than dealer and auction catalogs, if the resource reflects an exhibition, use --Exhibitions. If the resource does not reflect an exhibition, use --Catalogs.
If the resource describes the private collection, use one of the terms at H1427 (such as --Art collections) as "a free-floating subdivision under the name of the original owner of a private collection, the owner being an individual person, a family, or a corporate body". A resource about a private collection may be either a --Catalogs or --Exhibitions.
Usually the subdivision will appear on all topical headings once you've selected it, emphasis on usually. Sometimes --Pictorial works or --In art will be used instead (or in addition). The subdivision 'exhibitions' trumps the subdivision 'catalogs'.
3. What is the difference between "Art, Chinese" and "Art objects, Chinese"?
Generally, a national adjective is used for FINE arts (classed in N, NB, NC, NE). Adjectives examples: German, French, Chinese. When the national adjective is used, it should mean that the art is in that national style, generally but not necessarily made in that nation. See the pattern heading "Art, Chinese" (H 1148) for further information.
A subdivision is used for DECORATIVE arts (classed in NK). When a subdivision is used, it is not clear whether the nation refers to the style or the location.
If you look at Vases, most of the adjective-style headings are ancient or cross-boundary (at least modern boundaries) styles, e.g., Vases, Greek-Italy; Vases, GeometricGreece. The modern countries are mostly divided by place, e.g. VasesGermany; VasesItaly. As with Art objects, we have Vases, Chinese and none at LCV under Vases-China. Possibly Chinese/China is being treated more like ancient western styles.
Classification:
1. In regards to artists’ organizations the schedules seem inconsistent. For England firms are included under special artists:
NK942.A-Z Special artists, A-Z
Subarrange individual artists by Table N6. Including individuals, families, or firms of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales
But for other countries, it’s not explicitly stated, such as for Slovenia below:
N7255.S563A-.S563Z Special artist, A-Z
Subarrange individual artists by Table N7 [note no mention of families or firms]
In the latter case, how does one handle the cuttering of firms/artists’ organizations?
"Special artists, A-Z" is presumed to include named families or firms, even if not specified at each place in the schedule. Unless families/groups/organizations are specifically handled in their own number, treat them as "special artist" in the A-Z with individuals.
While there are variations in how an individual artist may be cuttered, there is some basic consistency in the classification for individual artists. Sometimes they get a whole number like NK942, sometimes they have to be crammed into a cutter such as N7255.S563. There is U.S. and western European bias. As the new countries developed in Europe, there was room only for extended cutters. This means that Slovenian artists don't have the space that British or American artists have. For some countries, there may not even be a breakdown for artists. The consistency generally comes in the range of numbers for a particular place, often a general number followed by some chronological or stylistic numbers, and then followed by cuttering for individual artists. The subdivision table related to how much space is allotted, and that varies.
No matter how much space you have to divide under an artist, there is a pattern. Table N6: autobiography, letters, writings of the artist, reproductions, individual works, biography and criticism. I would follow, as much as possible, that same progression for a Slovenian artist. For example, I get my first exhibition catalog for Apolonija Šušteršič and I give her N7255.S563 S872 2001 (this info was taken from Bard College catalog). When I get the next catalog of her work, I'd give it the same cutter with the relevant date (that is, I'm treating it like an A4). Along comes a collection of her writings, I'd cutter it slightly lower than S872, maybe S8716. Then I get a biography by someone named Smith so I'd cutter it higher. Then I get a biography by someone named Johnson so I cutter it between S872 and wherever I cuttered the Smith book. That is, try to maintain the basic "N6" order through cuttering.These do get squished. Not only is there the Anglo-American bias but the cutter table also veers to expected western European surnames.
2. What is the difference between about artist groups, movements, firms? (Sherman referred to this, but Iris Wolley wrote most of this description)
Artist groups are of two types in terms of establishing them in the authority file. First one is an artist group that is informally created by the members and sometimes its name is given to them retrospectively. They don't collectively promote or advertise the work of the group. They cannot be considered corporate bodies. Groups such as this are est. using subject cataloging conventions and reside in the subject file. The qualifier is (Group of artists) an example is the 150:: Blaue Reiter (Group of artists).
The second is an artist group that is self-identified by a particular name and functions as a business firm in creating, publishing, promoting, and marketing their works. These groups are est. as corporate bodes using descriptive cataloging conventions. In most cases the same qualifier is used along with the name. See SHM: H 405 Name vs. Subject Authority File. Scroll to Group Two and click on Artists' groups.
Those artists groups est. as subjects (the first type) are not given a cutter for the name. Instead they are usually given a class for type/style of art, place of art (if applicable), etc. In the case of Blaue Reiter (Group of artists) most of the time they are given a class number that includes the cutter .E9 for expressionism as this is mainly what the artists concerned themselves with. This group comprised Russian emigrants who settled in Munich, Germany and worked in the expressionist art style. So the class number for a book on several of these group members which includes paintings, drawings, prints would be N6868.E9 with the book cutter for main entry. If, for example, the book was about only paintings the class number would be ND568.5.E9. For a book on a single artist within the group the cutter for the artist's name would be used for that artist. So the class number for Wassily Kandinsky, associated with Der Blaue Reiter, would be N6999.K33 (Russian art--special artists, A-Z). You'll notice that Kandinsky gets the call number for the place in which he was born (Russia). This is LC practice.
The class numbers for the second type of group are given the same way. Style, if any; country; century, etc. I assume that books on an individual artist in that group would get the class number for special artists within the country class number.
Sherman's bottom line:
Styles or movements are generally treated through cuttering under a period and artist groups will be treated under A-Z for special artist. You may very well find collectives established some time ago that you wouldn't treat that way today. Groups that wrote manifestos would probably be treated as agents of collective thought (corporate bodies) today. If the group/movement is already established, generally accept how it was established, whether NAF or SAF.
Movement refers to broader concept. See H1250: "The style may be characterized more narrowly as a movement if the particular manner of expression is the result of artists working toward common goals and under the same set of conventions." Examples include: Cubism ; and, Impressionism (Art).
3. When an artist has done work more than one media, should we try to collocate an artist into one media or in a general N classification?
CUL catalogers should not for our Fine Arts Library.
Some art libraries do special classifying to keep an artist together. LC does pretty well keeping an artist in the same national grouping so Picasso is French whether it's painting or sculpture or ceramics or prints or general. (See next question)
4. Classification frequently involves knowing the 'nationality' of the artist. Some are born in one country, but spend much of their creative life in another. Where do they get classified?
Generally artists are classed where they are born. Cornell puts Picasso, for example, with Spanish rather than French artists. The catalog is very mixed, however, since we accept copy. The ULAN link below may help determine 'nationality' in confusing cases. (See previous question)
5. What is the proper use for A4 for exhibition catalogs?
Use Table N6 where indicated in the N schedule. A4 is used for collections of reproductions including exhibition catalogs. A4 is not applicable to the TRs for artistic photography.
Sherman Clarke's classification cheat sheet from 1989 with various updates and not covered elsewhere: |
|---|
NA was previously preferred for works on buildings or building types. However, when LC or member copy classifies such material in the history/description schedules (e.g. D, E, F), accept these classifications. |
TR140 was preferred for works by or about individual photographers. We now follow LC practice (e.g. TR140 should be used for biographies of individual photographers, TR647 for exhibitions, and TR654/655 for non-exhibitions with slight biographical content). Note: A4 should no longer be used with the TR schedule. |
Works about individual artists are classed first by medium (e.g. sculpture, painting, printmaking) and second by nationality. Use general N class if the works contains more than one medium. |
City planning used to be classified in NAC and landscape architecture in NP. These classifications are no longer used. If a new edition arrives for an item previously classed in this area, the related edition should be classified/reclassified into HT, SB, etc. |
Access points:
1. Is there a preferred use of relationship designators for a single access point?
No, but each relevant relationship is given its own |e:
ex. Jacquette, Yvonne, |d 1934- |e artist, |e interviewee. [Note a comma separates the multiple |e]
Cull, Dave |c (Writer on art) |e writer of added text [Note there is no comma after |c and before |e]
2. What is the main entry for auction and sales catalogs?
LC practice: Enter an auction catalog or a sales catalog of an art dealer, gallery, etc., under the heading for the dealer, gallery, etc., according to category a of 21.1B2 ("its resources (e.g., catalogs, inventories)") although the dealer, gallery, etc., may have only temporary custody of the contents represented in the catalog. For monographs, make an added entry under the heading for the person or body from whom the contents of the catalog emanated if the person or body is named in the chief source. (If the catalog is devoted to the works of a single artist and contains the reproductions of the artist's works, apply LCRI21.17B.)
Is it better to create a serial record for these catalogs?
It depends on how many you have.
2. What is the main entry for exhibition catalogs by a corporate body?
RDA rules for this are the same as AACR2 rules.
3. What is the main entry for exhibition catalogs by an individual artist?
Generally in RDA, the artist is considered a collaborator with authors, editors, curators because he is rarely the chief source of the catalog or a direct influence on the catalog*.* The first named creator should get main entry and the rest get added entries.
Room for judgment to consider the artist as the most prominent among collaborators: see RDA 6.27.1.3, Collaborative works:
Bishop, Henry R. (Henry Rowley), 1786--1855. Faustus
Resource described: Faustus : a musical romance / composed by T. Cooke, Charles E. Horn, and Henry R. Bishop. Bishop's name is given typographic prominence, appearing in all uppercase letters and in a larger and different typeface from that of the others
References:
1. ULAN or Union list of artist's names: http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/ulan/
2. ARLIS' Cataloging exhibition publications: best practices [AARC2]: http://www.loc.gov/cds/desktop/documents/cep-bp.pdf
3. Arlis CPGD or Cataloging Problems Discussion Group: