[DCRB-L] WG-3 Machine Press

[Robert Maxwell]

Larry wrote:

> 4D on copyright.  Yes, I think we should explain the 
> significance of the
> pre-1870 rule and find out its equivalents for other countries.
> 
> 4D2.  For reasons that I have never completely understood, the LCRI
> concerning copyright dates says to record them for nonbook 
> materials only.
> As a result, one cannot record this sort of situation when using
> AACR2/rev, nor can one follow OCLC standards and do it.  What do we do
> about this for libraries cataloging on OCLC?
> 
I have recently corresponded with LC on why this LCRI exists and this is
the response I received:

[start of LC message]

The phrase "do not add a copyright date after the publication date" in
the current version of LCRI 1.4F5 (dated December 11, 1989) means "do
not add a copyright date to the right of the publication date."

You are right that the statement may be redundant, but the 1989 change
in policy was too drastic not to emphasize it. (The context for the
change was that the copyright date is useful as a surrogate for the
missing publication date (rule 1.4F6) but the 1978 change in the
Copyright Law made the copyright date useless as an accurate indication
of the date of the material in the publication when the publication had
a publication date, at least for books and serials.)

[end of LC message]

I am a teensy bit dubious about this reasoning (the 1978 copyright law
making the copyright date useless for purposes of indicating dates)
(though there are plenty of other rotten things that have come about
because of both the 1978 copyright law and later revisions of it). Also,
it's not clear why this reasoning should apply to books/serials and not
other materials. However, even accepting this explanation, it has no
bearing on pre-1978 imprints, so I don't see any reason why DCRM can't
take the opposite stance, OCLC notwithstanding. (Though I admit as one
who is primarily an RLIN user to some glee in taking opposite stances to
OCLC policies.)

Bob

Bob