Topic 7: Principles (repost)

[Robert Maxwell]

>Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 13:01:10 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
>From: JAIN FLETCHER <jfletchr at library.ucla.edu>
>Subject: RE: Topic 7: Principles
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>Wow, Bob!! Just start right out with the biggies, why doncha?
>                   ;-)
>'Kay, I'll start off with some obvious comments.
>
>The difference between AACR2 and DCRB can be found in the evolution of 
>the latter's title.  BDRB (can't find my copy, but, as I recall, that 
>stood for "Bibliographic Description of Rare Books") was created in an 
>attempt to bridge the gap between full bibliographic description 
>and cataloging.  DCRB made that bridge even stronger, placing the 
>principles of descriptive bibliography into as close alignment as 
>possible with AACR2. 
>
>Full bibliographic description (as we know) serves a different purpose 
>from cataloging.  Simply put (and I know others could put it better), 
>BD serves as a graphic substitute (conveyed through text, codes and 
>symbols) for the actual book; thus a **full** accounting of the text 
>block as printed, the marks within and the trappings without.  Through 
>this process the history of the item in question can conceivably be 
>gleaned.  Moreover, with a compilation of books described in such 
>manner, the history of books, book production, reading (etc.) can be 
>derived.
>
>Cataloging, on the other hand, serves as a pointer to a book--a 
>communication that an item with this title, from this time, with these 
>dimensions and this content exists within reach of the reader.  
>However, it is not presumed that the actual item (artifact, whatever) 
>is as interesting to the reader as its contents are.  
>
>AACR2 does not pretend to be a full description of an item in the 
>manner of BD.  And in fact, it falls short of thorough description in 
>many places--even for modern books.  That's why a separate set of rules 
>is needed.
>
>Since you asked about "rare materials" cataloging and not just books, 
>I'll add a comment about music.  First of all, any music cataloger will 
>tell you that it has taken a long time for the modern rules to reflect 
>the needs of music users today.  And I will add that there are many 
>more needs that are still not being addressed through the rules.  In 
>the realm of reflecting the history of music printing, some elements 
>are in place (such as plate numbers, which came from the second period 
>of music publishing--the engraving process) but most are not handled 
>well at all.  As far as I know (and I've studied it fairly thoroughly), 
>there is no codified version of a "descriptive musicography"--no 
>acceptable standard used by many.  (However, there are many excellent 
>ideas out there.)  This is why there is no "bridge" from music 
>cataloging rules to its equivalent of descriptive bibliography.  I think
>it would be very useful to have a cataloging standard that reflects and 
>conveys this history.  Furthermore, since developing this standard would
>need to take into account the historical issues of music printing 
>anyway, it would be nice if this were the start of a standard for 
>"descriptive musicography", as well.
>
>Hope this helps to start the conversation (of course, while I've been 
>ruminating, perhaps others more articulate than I have responded much 
>more satisfactorily...)                       --Jain
>
>On Tue, 13 Oct 1998 12:49:50 -0600 Robert Maxwell 
><robert_maxwell at byu.edu> wrote:
>
>> To get us started, here is a basic question I would like to discuss:
>> 
>> Why do we need rules for rare materials cataloging separate from AACR2?
>> 
>> Bob
>> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>> Robert L. Maxwell
>> Special Collections and Ancient Languages Cataloger
>> 6428 Harold B. Lee Library
>> Brigham Young University
>> Provo, UT 84602
>> (801) 378-5568
>> robert_maxwell at byu.edu
>> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
>Jain Fletcher
>Head, Monographic Cataloging Section
>University Research Library - UCLA
>
>
>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Robert L. Maxwell
Special Collections and Ancient Languages Cataloger
6428 Harold B. Lee Library
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 378-5568
robert_maxwell at byu.edu
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