BCC2004/C/1

Bibliographic Control Committee
Submitted by Matthew Wise, Chair

The Bibliographic Control Committee held its public meeting on Friday morning, February 13th, with an audience of more than 120 attendees. It was announced that Matthew Wise would be retiring as BCC Chair at the end of the meeting, that Nancy Lorimer had been appointed as his successor, and that Kathy Glennan would be recommended for appointment as Chair of the Subcommittee on Descriptive Cataloging. Several subcommittee vacancies were announced; and application procedures and requirements for new members were outlined. The charge and membership of the recently-formed Metadata Standards Working Group were also presented.

The highlight of the meeting was a presentation by Jennifer Bowen (Eastman School of Music) about how theories from Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) are being incorporated into the cataloging rules. Ms. Bowen pointed out that we are already cataloging “works” (authority records), “manifestations” (bibliographic records), and “items” (holdings records), but that we have not been so good about identifying and collocating “expressions” in our catalogs. Such “expressions” might include a particular version of an orchestral score or a particular performance of an opera. The Format Variations Working Group of the Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR2 (JSC) is currently working to formulate “expression-level” access points by expanding upon the rules for uniform titles in AACR2 Chapter 25. Slides from Ms. Bowen's presentation may be found at http://docushare.lib.rochester.edu by clicking on “Conference Reports and Presentations”, and then on “FRBR Presentations”.

Responding to President Dankner's suggestion that all committees perform a self-assessment, the BCC set aside some time during its business meeting to reflect upon its administrative and membership structure, its budgetary and meeting time requirements, as well as its relationships with other committees (both within and outside of MLA). It was noted that the BCC has had a long track-record of being sensitive and responsive to the needs and concerns of the Association, for example, through its long-standing policy to maintain a diverse and balanced membership and by being one of the first groups to implement the regular rotation of membership through the use of term limits. The Committee has also successfully employed shorter “joint” meetings to assist the Association with its conference planning. Of utmost significance, however, is the Committee's well-known and respected history of outreach to the greater cataloging community, most notably through its participation in the committees of the American Library Association.

BCC liaisons are actively involved throughout the year in the workings of several ALA groups and are nationally recognized as experts in their fields. Their reports from the ALA Annual (Toronto) and Midwinter (San Diego) conferences may be found on the BCC website at http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/BCC/bcc.html. Included therein are highlights from the meetings of ACIG, MRC, CC:DA, MARBI, and SAC. Annual reports from the Library of Congress and OCLC are also posted on the BCC website.

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Last updated March 14, 2004