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REPORT OF THE ALCTS-MRC 2001 MIDWINTER MEETING

ALCTS MEDIA RESOURCES COMMITTEE
ALA Midwinter Meeting, Washington, D.C.
Jan. 14, 2001

This meeting was the first in ALCTS-MRC’s new meeting format, which is a single 2-1/2 hour session on Sunday morning.  This encouraged a brisk pace.  The liaison reports contained little of interest to MLA, except for the announcement of two high-level music vacancies in the Library of Congress, which will be advertised outside of the Library.

The committee had been asked to respond to the final report of the PCC Subcommittee on Standards Working Group on the PCC AV Core Task Group.   Much of the discussion centered on catalogers’ desire for more rules-based guidance for dealing with visual materials, including assignment of uniform titles, glossary definitions, and citing the chief source of information and data taken from outside of it.  The ALCTS-MRC Standards Subcommittee was charged to do further study on the issues raised in the discussion and determine the need for any proposals to be put forth to CC:DA.

DVD cataloging has brought up new issues, which some feel require a revisiting of AACR2, or at the least, clarification of the existing rules.  Lowell Ashley was charged to seek input on this question.  He pointed out that the next rule revision package would include a new option for 9.5B1:

 “Optionally, use conventional terminology to record the specific format of the physical carrier. [Examples]: 1 CD-ROM ; 2 Photo CDs ; 1 DVD”                                                                                                                                           

(David Reser (Library of Congress) said that the originally proposed example was "1 DVD-ROM" but that it somehow got shortened to “DVD”).   He wondered if this could cause catalogers confusion over what chapter to use (Chapter 9 as opposed to Chapter 7 for motion pictures and videorecordings).  It is still the cataloger’s responsibility to make a judgment of the predominant format in choosing which chapter to use, and the overwhelming sense around the table was that Chapter 7 would still almost always be the most appropriate choice for cataloging films and videos issued in the DVD format.  Another point raised was this option set Chapter 9 apart from Chapters 6 and 7; Lowell speculated that other cataloging communities might now seek this option (e.g. “1 compact disc : digital ; 4 3/4 in.”)  The MRC will await the publication of the revisions (set for this summer) to make decisions about further action.

The program for the Annual Meeting in San Francisco has the working title “Digital Audio/Digital Video--Is Your Library/Media Center Digital-Ready?”  The intent is to present speakers who can give an overview of the challenges, as well as insight into specific issues (hardware/software, management, legal issues) attendant on offering digitized sound or video files as a library service.  It is likely that one or more of the speakers will be music librarians.

Submitted by Mark Scharff

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Last updated February 13, 2001