Bibliographic Processing Cataloging Rules
Introduction | Fixed Fields | Call Number and Item | 010 | 020 | 245 | 246 | 250 | 260 | 300 | 4XX/8XX Series | 5XX | Choice of Entry | X00 | X10 | 740 || Monographs Team Documentation | Record Creation | BPCR Home
Description is the part of the cataloging process concerned with the identification of an item and with recording information about the item in such a way that the item will be identified exactly and cannot be confused with any other item. Many pieces of information about an item contribute to the identification. A title is almost always the first identifying element, followed by the name(s) of a person or persons responsible for the contents of the item. Next, one looks for information identifying an edition: the name of the edition; the name of an editor or a reviser. Even the size, the type or number of illustrations, or the extent of the item (e.g., number of pages of a book) may be helpful information for a patron seeking a specific edition of a work.
In order to identify conventional elements of an item so that they can be described on a catalog record, it is necessary to know not only what to look for, but also how to look. The first part of an item that is examined in detail is the chief source of information. For books, this is the title page. Usually the chief source of information provides the most complete information about the item: the author or other person responsible for the intellectual content, the fullest form of the title, the name and/or number of the edition, the name of the publisher, distributor, etc., and the place and date of publication, distribution, etc.
Figure 1 below shows the chief source of information for a book, the title page.
Fig. 1
The first element that the processor ordinarily notices is the title. The title from the chief source of information is called the title proper. Other title information is often given on the chief source to qualify the title proper. Such qualifications are often called subtitles. For example, the complete title of Figure 1 is Time for change : a new approach to environment and development. "A new approach to environment and development" is the subtitle. It explains the "change" mentioned in the title.
The title proper and other titles in the chief source of information, however, are not the only possible ones. Other titles may exist, and the processor must note those that vary significantly from the title proper. When such titles are noted, the patron who knows a work only by a variant title can be directed to it. Books may carry a cover title (i.e., title printed on the cover), spine title (i.e., title printed on the spine of the book), or running title (i.e., title repeated at the top of each page or each alternate page of the book), that differs from the title proper.
The series title is not a title variation but indicates the monographic series, if any, to which the item belongs. A series may be the work of one author or several authors or may be issued by a publisher who commissions several authors to write one or more volumes on a specified subject. Or, perhaps an author is not commissioned but submits a work that happens to fit into a category established by the publisher. Such is the case with Dodd, Mead's Red Badge series of mystery novels.
The processor next identifies the statement of responsibility. This is also found in the chief source of information and is usually the author, whose name is usually the main entry. According to Anglo American Cataloging Rules (AACR2R), a personal author is "the person chiefly responsible for the creation of the intellectual or artistic content of a work." It is sometimes necessary to know an author's nationality to know how to form the heading for the name. Information about an author may sometimes be found in the chief source of information, in an introduction, or in material accompanying the item, such as the dust jacket of a book.
An author is not the only possibility for inclusion in a statement of responsibility. Any person or persons contributing to the intellectual or artistic content such as editor, illustrator, etc. or any corporation from which the content is issued, may need to be included in the catalog record.
The edition of the item is usually found in the chief source of information, but may also be found in other places such as preliminaries (i.e., title page, verso [or back] of the title page, pages preceding the title page, and the cover), in the preface to the work, or in a colophon (i.e., a publication statement at the end of the work). The edition is distinguished from a printing or issue in that a new edition indicates that certain specific changes-additions, deletions, modifications - have been made from earlier versions of the item. On the other hand, a new printing (or reprinting) or issue, means that more copies of the work were manufactured in order to keep up with demand. Printings may have minor corrections or revisions, which are usually incorporated into the original type image.
Because the name of the publisher or distributor, etc., might indicate the type or quality of a work, this information might be important to the patron who must choose one item from several on a specific subject. If the publisher or distributor, etc., is noted for excellence in a certain area (e.g., Skira in art; McGraw-Hill in technology),publisher/distributor information has some value to the patron. This information, including place and date, is usually found in the chief source of information, but may also be found in the same other locations as the edition statement.
The processor must learn to assess quickly the details of physical description. These include the extent of the item (e.g., number or pages or volumes, number of pieces), dimensions (e.g., height), and physical data other than extent or dimension (e.g., presence of illustrations).
The processor must also be quick to identify other important and useful pieces of information about an item. Such information as variant titles of the same work (e.g., original title of a translation), other related versions of the work, language, edition history, contents of multi-volume items, and presence of bibliographies are often noted in the catalog record. The International Standard book Number [ISBN] is important as a means of unique international identification and is also given in the catalog record.
After describing an item the processor selects access points. Names of persons and corporate bodies associated with a work are chosen according to cataloging rules. Title access points also are chosen when, in addition to the title proper, there is an alternative title or variant title.
One of these access points is chosen as the main one. This is called the main entry. The remaining access points are called added entries. A combination of main entry and title is the most common way of referring to a work in the realm of cataloging.
The access points are constructed in a form that will make them readily accessible in the catalog. This is done following cataloging rules at Minimum Level processing, following copy in copy processing, and following cataloging rules and reference to the authority file in original cataloging.
Figure 2 below shows the catalog record for the item whose chief source of information is shown in Figure 1.
Fig. 2
