BCC01/SDC/4

Subcommittee on Descriptive Cataloging
2001 Annual Report

Members:  Nancy Lorimer (Chair), Dennis Davies-Wilson, Brad Eden, Grace Fitzgerald, Michi Hoban, David J. Hoek, J. Bradford Young, Joe Bartl (LC Representative)

As MLA representative, Nancy Lorimer attended meetings of the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access during the ALA conferences in Washington, DC and San Francisco. Topics of discussion included: new text to B.5, to allow abbreviation of both words and “non-standard” abbreviations; the current revision of Chapter 9 (published Sept. 2001); a proposal to make the rule of three optional and the creation and report of the task force on this issue; the report of the Task Force on Specific Characteristics of Electronic Resources; the report of the Task Force on Major Changes (formerly Major and Minor Changes); the Task Force on the Review of Revising AACR2 to Accommodate Seriality; a proposal to change rule 21.30J1 (Title added entries) to make the exceptions optional; an alpha-prototype rearranging Part I of AACR2 by ISBD area; a paper by Barbara Tillett on GMDs; a review of the latest draft of ISBD(M) and how it compared to CC:DA’s recommendations; use of conventional terminology in the “extent of item” area in chapter 9; and, the publication schedule of AACR2. In regards to this last item, the plan is to change AACR2 into an “integrating resource” (loose-leaf), with publication scheduled for Summer of 2002.

Summaries of the CC:DA meetings may be found in the Music Cataloging Bulletin and at the BCC website. Full minutes of the CC:DA meetings, as well as the charges and reports of the various task forces may be found on the CC:DA website at http://www.ala.org/alcts/organization/ccs/ccda/ccda.html.

At MLA in New York, SDC held a joint open meeting with the Subcommittee on MARC Formats, a move that proved very popular. Our new LC representative, Joe Bartl, was welcomed, and the resignation of Lew Bowling noted. Reports on CC:DA and from the MLA/RBMS Joint Committee on Early Printed Music were presented, along with reports from the MARC Subcommittee. The rest of meeting was given over to an open question period.

During the summer, CC:DA business from the annual meeting kept the Subcommittee hard at work. Our first task was to provide sound recording examples to the Task Force on the Rule of Three for the relevant rules in AACR2, since the ones in the Task Force report were found to be inappropriate for a variety of reasons. We submitted these examples at the beginning of August and they were accepted by the Task Force and CC:DA. The Task Force report is available on the CC:DA website at http://www.ala.org/alcts/organization/ccs/ccda/tf-r3a.html.

Our second major task was to offer revisions pertaining to music and sound recordings to the Task Force on the Appendix of Major Changes. We were particularly concerned with the emphasis placed on the Musical presentation statement, an optional field; on the fact that music was entirely missing in some areas; and that there was no mention of publisher numbers. We submitted our revisions in mid-August and our changes were accepted by the Task Force with some changes in wording. The Task Force report is available on the CC:DA website at http://www.ala.org/alcts/organization/ccs/ccda/tf-appx1.html#report5.

N. Lorimer volunteered for, and was named to, the Task Force on Alpha Prototype of Reorganized Part One. The charge of the Task Force is available on the CC:DA website at http://www.ala.org/alcts/organization/ccs/ccda/tf-alph1.html#charge. The Task Force submitted its report to CC:DA in mid-August. The report is available on the CC:DA website at http://www.ala.org/alcts/organization/ccs/ccda/tf-alph1.html.

The MLA/RBMS Joint Committee on Early Printed Music has made slow progress in the last year. The continuing question of what to do about music manuscripts, was resolved with the Committee deciding that the manual should include a separate section or appendix on music manuscripts. With that in mind, Karen Spicher, who catalogs music manuscripts for the Beinicke Library at Yale, was invited to join the Committee. The Committee has also been developing a standard citation list for use in 510 (References) notes for inclusion in the manual and collecting real world examples for the guidelines.

Submitted by Nancy Lorimer

Return to 2001 Documents Menu
Return to BCC Historical Documents Menu
Return to BCC Home Page

Last updated February 18, 2002