ALCTS/SAC Program
New Developments in Form/Genre Access:
Where We Are, Where We Are Going, and Where We Want to Be
ALA Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
June 23, 2007
Implementing MARC 21 Fields 155 and 655, Genre/Form Terms / Geraldine Ostrove
LC is beginning their implementation of genre/form terms with moving images. CPSO has drafted a new section of the Subject Cataloging Manual, H 1913, for use with these terms, and has created a proposed list of genre/form terms for moving images. These terms are based on the Moving Image Genre-form Guide (MIGFG) and on Moving Image Materials: Genre Terms (MIM). Another upcoming project will be recorded sound, using the Radio Form/Genre Terms Guide compiled by the Recorded Sound Section, MBRS.
The area of music will present a good prototype for genre/form implementation. The scale is much larger than that of moving images. It will likely be a few years to front end implementation of music genre/form terms. Many decisions need to be made, and a plan is needed to manage implementation, so that catalogers are not overwhelmed and so that users of the catalog are sufficiently educated to make use of such headings.
LC has identified the following subsets of music genre headings to use in testing the implementation of genre/form terms for music:
1) Headings for which there are already topical authority records (150), and whose records contain a classification number (053) and are simple records without broader or related terms (550). These headings can be identified using the search capabilities of Classification Web. The scope will be limited to chamber music in classes M217-M990. Eventually this subset will include records with format subdivisions like “$v Scores and parts,” though the current test headings does not. Also, additional headings such as medium of performance terms followed by “, Arranged” will be included as genre/form terms.
2) A second group of genre/form headings have authority records which include broader terms or related terms. Creating a genre/form (155) authority record for such a heading could result in the need to create many more 155 authority records for broader or related terms, so testing in this area will proceed cautiously.
3) Some genre/form headings do not yet have authority records. LC will use OCLC’s FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) authority file as a source for these records. Many pattern headings fall into this category.
4) A final group of music genre/form terms to be tested are free-floating subdivisions that represent musical genres or forms. Examples include: $v Drama, $v Hymns, $v Songs and music, and $v Studies and exercises.
LC will create records for all headings, including headings ending in “, Arranged.” For headings that currently have no authority record, LC will first go to OCLC’s FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) authority file. Many records for former topical terms may not be as useful after creation of related genre/form terms because of the syndetic structure and notes they contain. Such topical records may be cancelled, with notification appearing in the Music Cataloging Bulletin.
When sufficient documentation and training have been put in place, catalogers outside of LC may begin participating in the conversion project. Options for the participation process could include: 1) using 655 terms after LC has created the authority record; 2) asking CPSO to create the authority record; and 3) training music catalogers in submitting subject proposals.
Introduction to Form/Genre and Its Relationship to FRBR / Robert Maxwell (Brigham Young University)
To be useful, form/genre terms need to be indexed, and there should also be a way of controlling this vocabulary. Methods of authority control using existing authority records could include adding a new use code to the existing MARC authority format to signify whether a term is appropriate as a genre/form term, or adding a new byte to MARC Authority 008 for genre/form heading use, which would be separate from the byte for subject/topical heading use. Problems could occur with this method of control, because authority records may not be completely compatible as both topical and form/genre records, especially in their reference structure. Also, not all form/genre terms are also appropriate as topical terms.
Another method of controlling form/genre terminology is the creation of a whole new set of authority records. Separate records would then exist for topical and for form/genre terms. There are over 100 thesauri authorized as sources for 655 form/genre terms, which results in conflicts and terms and hierarchies between thesauri. The data must be manipulated to make it work in a single catalog. A list of thesauri is available at: http://www.loc.gov/marc/relators/relasour.html#rela655
Implementation and Impact of Form/Genre Terms at the University of Washington / Adam Schiff
The following is applicable to the University of Washington’s Innovative (III) catalog, not their implementation of Worldcat Local.
The form/genre index at UW includes all 655 terms, 695 local terms from a special project to catalog theses, and form terms from $v in all 6XX fields. Users are told that genre/form terms represent the theme, style, or physical format of library materials. The catalogers have policies for genre/form access to some types of materials, such as videos and ethnic newspapers. When a new genre/form term arises, they use it immediately, sometimes even before it is established in LC as a 650 topical term.
As sources of authority records, UW uses the LC authority file, as well as terms from gsafd (Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction, Drama, Etc.), the Art and Architecture Thesaurus (aat), and other thesauri. UW contributed a list of newspaper genre terms to the OCLC Terminologies Service, available at: http://www.oclc.org/terminologies/ Besides the LC authority file and various thesauri, a third source of authority records are modified LC authority records. Catalogers at UW change the coding of existing topical records (150) to reflect genre/form coding (155, 455, 555) and the LCCN, the OCLC number, and the 008 field are deleted. Finally, UW uses local authority records, such as a local genre/form practice to collocate films by language (ex. 655 -7 Foreign language films $x Swedish $2 local.)
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Last updated August 28, 2007