BCC00/SDC/2

Subcommittee on Descriptive Cataloging : Report from Louisville

The Subcommittee on Descriptive Cataloging held an open meeting on Friday afternoon to a "packed house" during the annual MLA meeting in Louisville. Following member introductions, it was noted that Margaret Kaus and Deta Davis would be rotating off the Subcommittee at the end of the conference. Both were sincerely thanked for their four years of service. Audience members wishing to be appointed to the Subcommittee were encouraged to submit written expressions of interest before February 26. Also it was announced that Matthew Wise would be rotating off as Chair and that Nancy Lorimer (Stanford University) would be stepping into that position.

Matthew Wise reported briefly about news from the recent ALA Midwinter conference in San Antonio. His complete report may be found on the BCC website and will be published in an upcoming issue of the Music Cataloging Bulletin.

Nancy Lorimer spoke about the recently-established MLA/RBMS Joint Committee on Early Printed Music, which has been charged with the preparation of a cataloging manual for such materials. Chaired by Jain Fletcher (UCLA), the Committee is composed of experts from the music library, rare book and manuscript, and musicological communities. Issues currently under examination include the scope of the manual (i.e., the definition of "early printed music") and its intended audience. A draft is in progress; and when completed, the manual will be one of five which will comprise the new Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials series (DCRM). The other four manuals will treat books, manuscripts, cartographic materials, and serials.

David Day (Brigham Young University) presented a paper entitled "Using Metadata in the Management of Music Special Collections," in which he described the design and implementation of an automated system which utilizes FileMaker Pro templates, an Oracle server, and a WebObjects web interface. The database includes components for simplified cataloging (performed by student employees), authority control, bibliographic relationships (to related publications and reviews), collection affiliation, preservation/digitization, rights management, use transactions, and donor/patron information. The metadata elements embedded in each of the digital documents, which were developed in conjunction with BYU's online Digital Archive, are compatible with the Dublin Core and IMS standards.

The meeting concluded with a very lively and rich discussion of metadata issues and concerns.

Submitted by Matthew Wise, SDC Chair

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Last updated April 18, 2000