Topic 7: Principles on which DCRB is based

[Robert Maxwell]

As we begin considering DCRB rule by rule (which I hope we will soon), we
need to have some standards against which to judge the rules. I understand
from an offhand comment by Jackie Dooley that when BDRB was being revised
there were perhaps no basic principles on which the revision was based.
Could we come up with a set of principles we can use as we consider DCRB? I
propose the following, at least as a start.


Principle I. The rules should conform to the Paris Principles ["Statement
of Principles adopted at the International Conference on Cataloguing
Principles, Paris, October 1961", published by IFLA in 1971], the basis of
all cataloging codes (including AACR2). These include:

"2. Function of the catalogue
	The catalogue should be an efficient instrument for ascertaining
	2.1 whether the library contains a particular book specified by
		a. its author or title, or
		b. if the author is not named in the book, its title alone, or
		c. if author and title are inappropriate or insufficient for
identification, a suitable substitute for the title; and
	2.2	a. which works by a particular author and
		b. which editions of a particular work are in the library

"3. Structure of the catalogue
	To discharge these functions the catalogue should contain
	3.1 at least one entry for each book catalogued, and
	3.2 more than one entry relating to any book, whenever this is necessary
in the interests of the user or because of the characteristics of the book
..."

There are a number of other principles, that mainly deal with choice and
form of entry. I have the sense that DCRB is particularly concerned with
2.1, the identification of "a particular book", and most of its rules
elaborate on AACR2 in an effort to refine the identification of the item in
ways for which AACR2 rules are inadequate. In other words, some rare items
require more precise identification in order to distinguish them from other
similar items than regular AACR2 cataloging would permit. Regular AACR2
cataloging would be unable to distinguish between the items. But one basic
thrust of both AACR2 and DCRB is 2.1, allowing a patron to identify a
particular item. 2.2 deals with a collocation function of the catalog,
which I think is less critical to DCRB. 

So principle no. I: does a given rule contribute toward the function of the
catalog as defined above? If not, why is it needed?

Principle II. AACR2 is the basic cataloging rule for Anglo-American
catalogers. DCRB supplements AACR2. In the absence of a rule in DCRB
contradicting or supplementing AACR2, the appropriate AACR2 rule is used in
cataloging rare materials.

The implication of this principle is that unless there is a sound reason
for doing otherwise, rare items should be cataloged according to AACR2.
Thus, I think we need to ask ourselves when evaluating the rules: 1) Is
this DCRB rule necessary, given the already existing AACR2 rules? 2) if so,
what problem unique to cataloging of rare items is the DCRB rule trying to
solve? 3) Has the DCRB rule solved this problem?

Principle III (etc.):

This should be a jumping off point from principle II. What exactly are the
problems special rare rules are trying to solve? Suggestions? What
principles would cause us to decide that an AACR2 rule is inadequate for
rare cataloging?

The point of all this is that we need a well-defined set of principles
before us as we look at the rules in order to be able to judge them, and I
would like to try to hash these out at the start. Do you agree with
Principles I and II? Do we need more? Once we have these refined, I would
like to publish them to exlibris for comment and I will post them at the
BSC web site (I envision posting all of our work as we go along there,
too). It is important that we agree on these principles and they need to be
the right ones: we don't want to be climbing different ladders; and once we
agree on the ladder, we don't want to climb it only to find once we get to
the top we are on the wrong wall.

Bob
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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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