<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Georgia;
panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Georgia","serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Dear colleagues,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">The fresh-off-the-press 2018 edition of
<i>Studies in Bibliography</i> includes, as usual, a substantive essay by Thomas Tanselle, "Notes on Recent Work in Descriptive Bibliography", (1-93). I've just started it, but want to mention that he discusses library cataloging in one section, (p. 11-14)
and takes on DCRM(B). He writes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">… and a third edition appeared in 2007 under the title
<i>Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books)</i>—one of a series of manuals for different classes of "rare materials." Although the 2007 manual poses fewer problems (from the point of view of the descriptive bibliographer) than those I identified in
my analysis of AACR, the same kind of confusion is still present.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">His complaints center on area 5 (physical description), and have to do with the internal inconsistency of library description, which is at odds with the expectations of descriptive bibliography.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">He points are (mostly) fair. It seems to me that we as catalogers have been challenged anew to examine and articulate the principles upon which we base our practices. No proposals or ideas of
how to proceed; just want to alert you that this is out there. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Best,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Deborah<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#31849B">Deborah J. Leslie, MA, MLS | Senior Cataloger, Folger Shakespeare Library | djleslie@folger.edu | 201 East Capitol Street, S.E. | Washington, DC 20003 | 202.675-0369 | orcid.org 0000-0001-5848-5467<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>