1American Library Association, Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edn (Chicago, American Library Association, 2002). Continually updated resource available via the web: Catalogers Desktop (see note 8).
2Ann Lennon and David Pearson, Rare Book Cataloguing in the British Isles: Results of a Survey Carried out on Behalf of the Rare Books Group of the Library Association. British Library Research Paper, 94 (London: British Library Research and Development Department, 1991).
3For example, see Lydia Ferguson, 'The Implementation of the UKMARC Rare Books Fields at Trinity College Library, Dublin', Rare Books Newsletter, 47 (July 1994), 29–32.
4Information about the Name Authority Cooperative Program of the PCC is available online via http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/naco/naco.html.
5Library of Congress, Library of Congress Subject Headings, 30th edn (print) (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 2007). Continually updated resource available via Classification Web (subscription required) at: http://classificationweb.net/ The Library of Congress also offers a free web service with limited access to LC Authorities, including subject authorities via: http://authorities.loc.gov/.
6For libraries using UNIMARC see UNIMARC Guidelines No. 3: Guidelines for Using UNIMARC for Older Monographic Publications (ANTIQUARIAN) (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, last revised 17 August 1999). http://www.ifla.org/VI/3/p1996-1/guid3.htm.
7Library of Congress, Cataloger's Desktop. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 2004. http://desktop.loc.gov.
8It is impossible to list all the useful sites available via the web but a first port of call is the list of links at the CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group website: http://www.cilip.org.uk/specialinterestgroups/bysubject/
rarebooks/links
or the RBMS's Directory of web resources for the rare books cataloguer at http://lib.nmsu.edu/rarecat/#SCS.
9ISBD(A): International Standard Bibliographic Description for Older Monographic Publications (Antiquarian), 2nd edn. (Munich: Saur, 1991). The scope of these rules is determined more by the characteristics of the item to be described than by their imprint dates: see 0.1.1: 'Older monographic publications are chiefly those produced prior to the introduction of machine printing in the nineteenth century and include those published for limited distribution or for sale on demand. ISBD(A) may also be used to prepare descriptions for later publications produced by hand or by methods continuing the tradition of the hand-produced book.'
10For further guidance on copy-specific information see DCRM(B) 7B19.1.
11The routine recording of height for books created during the hand-press era, which may vary from copy to copy, is not normally important general information and indeed is difficult to justify in a union-catalogue context. DCRM(B) Section 5D call for the inclusion of both height and format (if applicable) for all books catalogued to their respective standards.
12This publication also provides guidelines for constructing citation forms not included therein.
13Following Fingerprints = Empreintes = Impronte (Paris: Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes, in association with the National Library of Scotland, 1984). Updates in Nouvelles des empreintes = Fingerprint Newsletter. Fingerprints have been created for all titles listed in the Short Title Catalogue of the Netherlands (http://www.kb.nl/stcn/index-en.html), for a general overview of STCN fingerprints see: http://www.kb.nl/stcn/vingerafdruk-en.html.
14Systems will often have their own fields/methods for holding shelfmarks and also perhaps notes of imperfections, though here 500 may be utilized with the addition of subfield $5 for a library location symbol.
15A list of British organization codes within the bibliographic community is maintained by the British Library, which will accept requests for codes from any potential British record user or producer. It is available as a continually updated source via the web: http://www.bl.uk/services/bibliographic/marcagency.html.
16This is the method prescribed in DCRM(B) section 7B19.1.4.
17See DCRM(B), Appendix F: Title access points, with a list of suggestions for additional title added entries, both for titles other than the title proper and also for the title proper if, for example, it has been corrected by the addition of '[i.e. ...]' or '[sic]'.
18See J. B. Thomas, 'Relator terms for rare book, manuscript, and special collections', C&RL News 48 (1987), 553-557, with correction noted, p. 645. For a complete list of valid MARC 21 relator terms and codes see MARC code lists for relators, sources, description conventions (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 2000). Continually updated resource available via web: http://www.loc.gov/marc/relators/.
19For example, Library of Congress Subject Headings, Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), etc.
20Some of these are listed at RBMS Controlled Vocabularies for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloging available via the web: http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_
standards/controlled_vocabularies/index.shtml
They are as follows:
- rbbin = Binding Terms: a Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 1988)
- rbgenr = Genre Terms: a Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing, 2nd edn (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 1991)
- rbpap = Paper Terms: a Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 1990)
- rbpri / rbpub = Printing and Publishing Evidence: Thesauri for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 1986)
- rbprov = Provenance Evidence: a Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 1988)
- rbtyp = Type Evidence: a Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 1990)
Anybody wanting to suggest additions to the above may can do so via the RBMS website at: http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_
standards/controlled_vocabularies/index.shtml.
Other controlled vocabularies widely used in rare books cataloguing:
For a more extensive list see the MARC 21 manual (MARC Code List: PART IV: Term, Name, Title Sources)
21Library of Congress hierarchical place names are based in large part upon, L. E. Seltzer, The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1952, and later editions, including as a continually updated resource via the web: http://www.columbiagazetteer.org).
22So, for example, 'Londinium' and 'Londres' would be indexed as London, but ‘Eboracum’ as York and Eboracum.
23When according to the imprint persons are performing more than one of these roles for a single publication, the optimum course of action is to index each role separately. In practice it is likely that libraries will make local decisions influenced by local requirements. In any case, when persons are found, not necessarily in the same publication, performing more than one role, cross-references should be provided between the different roles.
24There is an acknowledged difficulty in recognizing when members of the booktrade are operating in partnerships and when as individuals, and, therefore, when they should be indexed together as a corporate body and when separately as individuals. Consensus on the handling of these details is emerging, but where there is still doubt, we recommend the use of headings for individuals and to provide cross references between individuals and the corporate bodies in which they are, or might possibly be, included. Also problematic is the handling of phrases such as 'Heirs of ...' or 'Widow of ...'. We recommend that headings not already established are formulated in accordance with the RBMS Guidelines for Establishing Certain Names Associated with Printers (http://www.folger.edu/bsc/printers.html).
25See David Pearson, Provenance Research in Book History: a Handbook (London, British Library, 1994; repr. 1998).
26Library of Congress, MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data: Including Guidelines for Content Designation (Washington: Library of Congress, Cataloging Distribution Service, 1999). Continually updated resource available via the web: Catalogers Desktop (see note 8).
27Catalogue of British and American Bookplates Bequeathed to the Trustees of the British Museum by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks (London: British Museum, 1901-04).
28By way of example consider:
- 245 $a [A composite volume of 8 pamphlets, 1754–1780, relating to John Home’s Douglas]
- 561 $a Armorial bookplate on front pastedown: David Hume Esq. (D.F. Norton & M.J. Norton, The David Hume Library, p. 100, no.630) $5 [McGill University Library – no code available]
- 700 $a Hume, David, $d 1711–1776. $e former owner $5 [McGill University Library – no code available]
This is a collection-level record for a volume containing eight pamphlets. Assuming that each item in this volume is also individually catalogued, this record could be used to provide the access point for David Hume as former owner of these eight pamphlets: but in order to make somebody looking at any of the individual records aware of the provenance of that item, it would remain necessary for each individual record to have a note about the bookplate on the front pastedown. This method could also be used for a large collection of books sharing a former owner, in which case the advantages of not having a large number of separate added entries for the same former owner would be more obvious. Further guidance on establishing collection-level records see, for example, DCRM(B) Appendix B. See also note 33 regarding indicators and spacing.
29In these examples indicators have been ignored, and spacing between subfields has been designed to aid reading; the added spacing does not bear relation to any standard.