BCC98/SDC/1

Subcommittee on Descriptive Cataloging : Report from Boston

The Subcommittee on Descriptive Cataloging met twice during the annual meeting in Boston. Their open meeting on Friday afternoon began with a brief explanation of the Association's new four-year term limit policy for members of committees and subcommittees. As a result of the implementation of this policy, it was announced that Marguerite Iskendarian and Bill Walker would be rotating off of the Subcommittee following the Boston meeting. They were heartily thanked for their years of diligent and magnanimous service.

The Chair reported briefly about news from the recent ALA Midwinter meeting in New Orleans. The Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) has merged with CONSER and has applied for non-voting representation on CC:DA. Such representation would eliminate the need for intermediary sponsorship of PCC-generated rule change proposals, as was the case recently with several LC-sponsored serial proposals. The text of the electronic version of the Rules (AACRe) is currently being reviewed by the JSC. A task force has been appointed to harmonize AACR2 with the recently-published ISBD(ER) [for electronic resources]. The final draft of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records has been approved for publication by IFLA. CC:DA will be sponsoring a preconference in June (Washington, DC), entitled "What in the World? : Cataloging on an International Scale." And in addition to a planned migration to a new integrated library system (ILS), the Library of Congress will be celebrating its bicentennial in during the year 2000.

The SDC meeting continued with a presentation by Laurie Gibson and Margaret Kaus which detailed their experiences as participants in the Music Cataloging Sabbatical Program at LC. Various Library collections, projects, and training opportunities were discussed, as well as funding tips and housing recommendations. Those interested in participating in the program should contact Susan Vita (svit@loc.gov) or Deta Davis (ddav@loc.gov).

A panel discussion about the International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of AACR, held in Toronto last October, concluded the meeting. Jennifer Bowen, Joan Swanekamp, and Sherry Vellucci, all of whom were invited participants in the Conference, spoke of the structure of the meeting, its general tone, and some of the specific outcomes. Initially, the resolution of issues relating to seriality and the cardinal principle will be pursued. Proceedings of the conference are being edited for publication.

Prior to the MLA meeting, the Subcommittee was very pleased to co-sponsor a very well-attended MOUG breakout session entitled "Correct AACR2r Transcription of Contents into Bibliographic Records for Music Materials, which was presented by Subcommittee member Deta Davis.

Submitted by Matthew Wise, SDC Chair

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Last updated April 18, 2000