BCC2007/SDC/2

Subcommittee on Descriptive Cataloging
Business meeting
Submitted by Kathy Glennan, Chair

Members: Present: Kathy Glennan (Chair), Joe Bartl, (LC Representative), Robert Freeborn, Steve Henry, Morris Levy, Mark Scharff (MLA liaison to CC:DA), Lois Schultz, Terry Simpkins, Patricia Thomson

At its business meeting in Pittsburgh, the Subcommittee on Descriptive Cataloging received Mark Scharff’s status report on MLA’s proposal to change the specific material designation “p. of music” to “score” in RDA: Resource Description and Access. ALA’s Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA) approved the proposal in January, and the Joint Steering Committee for the Revision of AACR (JSC) will consider this at its April 2007 meeting.

Mark also summarized his recent straw poll about the use and alternatives to “miniature score” as a specific material designation; we assume the JSC has removed this terminology from the updated RDA chapter on carrier (Chapter 3). The Subcommittee will review this revised chapter after its release and will further evaluate this situation.

Kathy reminded the Subcommittee about future RDA chapter releases:

• Revised Chapter 3 (released March 2007; comments due May 2007)
• Revised Chapters 6-7 (released July 2007; comments due Aug. 2007)
• Part B (released Dec. 2007; comments due Feb. 2008)

Mark will post to MLA-L asking for comments on these Chapters. Kathy will investigate establishing a wiki for the Subcommittee to assist in compiling our responses.

RDA Part B will contain issues of particular interest to the music community, including rules for primary access for performed music and for musical works that include words, and changes to rules for constructing uniform titles (known as “preferred titles” in RDA).

The Subcommittee also considered a discussion paper highlighting the issues surrounding a rule proposal change to add qualifiers for corporate and/or personal name headings more often. This led to a lively discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of such a change. The Subcommittee did not reach a consensus and thus will not pursue this proposal further.

Kathy thanked Subcommittee members Rob Freeborn and Joe Bartl for their willingness to serve on the joint MLA/OLAC Joint Task Force on Best Practice Guidelines for Cataloging Playaways; we expect a report from that group by June.

One member rotated off the Subcommittee at the close of the 2007 conference, with thanks for his service: Morris Levy.

Our website (http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/BCC/Descriptive/Descriptive.html) contains information about the Subcommittee, its activities, and the semi-annual CC:DA reports. We welcome comments and questions about descriptive cataloging at any time.

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Last updated March 30, 2006