[DCRM-L] DCRB rev. topic: Principles & objectives statement

[Jain Fletcher]

Hi, everyone,
This is a belated response to a question that was discussed at ALA Annual 
'04, about the "objectives & principles" statement.  The issue was: should 
it be distinctly monographic-oriented (as it now is) or to be broadened to 
cover all materials?  It seems to me (in my reading of the Minutes) that 
the issue was not necessarily resolved with that discussion, and I would 
like to weigh in--especially since I was one of the early advocates of 
having this statement in the first place.

My feeling is that the principles statement should use broad enough 
language to make it all-inclusive. With respect to the inherent issues, 
these principles apply to the cataloging goals for all forms of rare 
publications, in my estimation.  There is nothing particularly 
book-oriented in the principles (which is what the term “monograph” 
conveys, whether intentionally or unintentionally).  In fact, there is 
nothing particularly monographic about the statement either--I believe it 
applies to continuing resources, as well.  My stance is that these 
principles really *are* shared by all the formats, so there should be no 
need to set them apart.  In that belief, I scanned through the statement 
very carefully, weighing the phrases and the consequences of broadening; I 
can see no reason why it cannot be done--and done fairly easily.  The 
primary edit needed is to change every instance of the word “monograph(s)” 
to the word  “material(s)” with no loss of meaning or difference in the 
outcome for monographs themselves.  I “tested” my idea for the changed 
wording against the “fit” with both monographs and music materials, while 
also considering serials and maps (with much less comprehension of all the 
issues related to some of the other formats, especially serials).  Of 
course, the Rare Serials Team should be the final arbiter about this aspect 
of my proposition, “testing” serials against this slight change, to see if 
they also agree that it holds true.

In considering the aspect of sharing this document among the formats: we 
have discussed the fact that this whole process of ours is kind of parallel 
to AACR’s, where there have been overall editors, with each Chapter having 
input from appropriate constituents.  In that scenario, I believe we should 
be keeping in mind the parallels of our prospective publication with AACR. 
With the addition of the other formats in this revision, it is now as if we 
have Chapters 2, (3--possibly), 4, 5 and 12 of AACR2.  In that scenario, 
even if we publish each part of DCRM as stand-alone manuals, past 
discussion has said that we should consider all of it to be part of the 
same “umbrella” publication.  As much as possible, then, we should be 
working in tandem, with the same principles and as similar guidance about 
most of the surrounding issues as possible. Therefore, *some* of the 
surrounding text could be common to all formats, and could be included 
verbatim in each of the manuals.  (The electronic version of DCRM [in 
Cataloger’s DeskTop, I assume?] would have only one statement with all the 
manuals linking to it.).  If others agree that this is the scenario, I 
sincerely hope that the Editorial Team will not mind that some of its 
*excellent* endeavors and productions would have further beneficial effect 
than just for DCRM(B).

I approached Deborah about this issue a few days ago, to see if she thought 
it was worth sending this to the DCRM-L for comment (I guess one of the 
things I was worried about was that the decision to use the word 
“monograph” in the DCRM(B) statement might already have been declared a 
“done deal”).  She told me that I should indeed send it to the DCRB-List 
and also suggested that it would be worthwhile if I edited the “Principles” 
document with the changes I was suggesting; that way it would be easier for 
people to consider. So I have done that.   As I have said, for this topic, 
the main difference is that the word “material(s)” has substituted every 
instance of “monograph(s)”.  In addition, I deleted every reference to the 
rare books manual by taking out “Books” or “(B)”.  The edited document is 
below.

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		OBJECTIVES AND PRINCIPLES

The instructions contained in Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials are 
formulated according to the objectives and principles set forth below. 
These objectives and principles seek to articulate the purpose and nature 
of specialized cataloging rules for rare materials. They are informed by 
long-accepted concepts of traditional bibliographic scholarship as well as 
by more recent theoretical work that has proven fundamental to the 
construction and revision of cataloging codes, namely the International 
Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ Functional 
Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) and Elaine Svenonius’s The 
Intellectual Foundation of Information Organization. They assume an equal 
familiarity with FRBR terms used to categorize entities that are the 
products of intellectual or artistic endeavor (work, expression, 
manifestation, and item) and bibliographic terms used to differentiate 
among textual variants (e.g., edition, issue, impression, and state). It is 
hoped that these objectives and principles will provide catalogers, and 
administrators of cataloging operations, with a better understanding of the 
underlying rationale for DCRM instructions, especially when these deviate 
from the instructions contained in the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules 
(AACR2).

Objectives of DCRM

The primary objectives that apply to the cataloging of rare materials are 
no different than the primary objectives of general cataloging. FRBR 
identifies those objectives as meeting user requirements to find, identify, 
select, and obtain materials. However, users of rare materials will often 
bring specialized needs to these tasks that cannot be met by general 
cataloging rules. In addition, rare materials may not conform to the 
assumptions of standard production practices that lie behind general 
cataloging rules. The following DCRM objectives are intended to account for 
these important differences.

1) Users shall be able to distinguish clearly among different 
manifestations of an expression or work.
	The ability to distinguish among different manifestations of an expression 
or work is critical to the user tasks of identifying and selecting 
bibliographic resources. General cataloging practice assumes that reliance 
on abbreviated and normalized transcription methods is sufficient to 
distinguish among manifestations. However, users of rare material tend to 
require fuller and more faithful transcriptions, especially in the 
publication, distribution, etc., area, in order to distinguish among 
manifestations. Additionally, the provision of greater detail in the 
physical description area and the careful description of various anomalies 
in the note area may be critical to the task of identifying separate 
manifestations. These practices will also contribute to the ability of 
users to distinguish among exemplars at the item level, allowing the 
identification and comparison of variant printings, states, and copies as 
needed.

2) Users shall be able to perform most identification and selection tasks 
independently of direct access to the materials.
	Users of rare materials frequently perform identification and selection 
tasks under circumstances that require the bibliographic description to 
stand as a detailed surrogate for the item (e.g., consultation from a 
distance, limited access due to the fragile condition of item, inability to 
physically browse collections housed in restricted areas). Accuracy of 
bibliographic representation increases subsequent efficiency for both users 
and collection managers. The same accuracy contributes to the long-term 
preservation of the materials themselves, e.g., by reducing unnecessary 
circulation of materials that do not specifically meet the user’s 
requirements.

3) Users shall be able to investigate physical processes and 
post-production history and context exemplified in materials described.
	Users of rare materials routinely investigate a variety of artifactual and 
post-production intellectual aspects of materials. For example, they will 
attempt to locate materials that are related by printing methods, 
illustrative processes, binding styles and structures, provenance, form and 
genre, etc. The ability of users to identify the materials that fit these 
criteria depends upon full and accurate descriptions and the provision of 
corresponding access points.

4) Users shall be able to access materials whose production or presentation 
characteristics deviate from modern conventions.
	General cataloging codes routinely distinguish among manifestations 
through reliance on explicit bibliographic evidence presented in 
conventional form (e.g., a formal edition statement on the title page or 
its verso). In rare materials, such explicit evidence will often be lacking 
or insufficient to distinguish among different manifestations. That which 
is bibliographically significant may thus be ignored by descriptions 
constructed according to general cataloging codes.

Principles for Construction of DCRM

To meet the objectives listed above, DCRM relies upon the following six 
principles. These principles were influenced by the general principles of 
bibliographic description offered by Svenonius: the principle of user 
convenience (with the sub-principle of common usage), the principle of 
representation (with the sub-principle of accuracy), the principle of 
sufficiency and necessity (with the sub-principle of significance), the 
principle of standardization, and the principle of integration.

1) Rules shall provide guidance for descriptions that allow users to 
distinguish clearly among different manifestations of an expression or work.
This relates to user objective 1 stated above. It derives particularly from 
the general principle of user convenience and has implications for all 
areas of the bibliographic description. The principle enables 
distinguishing among items as well as manifestations.

2) Rules shall provide for accurate representations of the entity as it 
describes itself, notably through instructions regarding transcription, 
transposition, and omission.
	This relates to user objectives 2 and 4 stated above. It derives 
particularly from the general principles of representation (with its 
related sub-principle of accuracy) and of standardization. Precise 
representation is of particular relevance in those areas of the description 
that require transcription (the title and statement of responsibility area, 
the edition area, the publication, distribution, etc., area, and the series 
area), but should not be ignored in the physical description and note 
areas. The general principles of representation and standardization stand 
in greater tension with each other when cataloging rare materials. 
Faithfulness to both principles may require descriptive and annotative 
treatment necessarily exceeding the norms (and at times the vocabulary) 
established as sufficient for the description of current materials.

3) Rules shall provide guidance for the inclusion of manifestation-specific 
and item-specific information that permits users to investigate physical 
processes and post-production history and context exemplified in the item 
described.
	This relates to user objective 3 stated above. It derives particularly 
from the general principles of sufficiency and necessity and the related 
sub-principle of significance. Application of the principle requires that 
rules for rare materials cataloging provide additional guidance on access 
points, particularly in cases where such information is not integral to the 
manifestation, expression, or work described. Rules for item-specific 
information appearing in the note area may prescribe standard forms for 
presentation of information (addressing general principles of user 
convenience and common usage). Application of such rules presumes both a 
user’s need for such information and a cataloger’s ability to properly 
describe such aspects.

4) Rules shall provide for the inclusion of all elements of bibliographical 
significance.
	This principle is related to all of the user objectives stated above. 
General cataloging rules routinely strive for both brevity and clarity, 
principles affiliated with the general principle of sufficiency. In 
describing rare materials however, too great an emphasis on brevity may 
become the occasion for insufficiency and lack of clarity. In cataloging 
rare materials, brevity of description may be measured best against the 
functional requirements of the particular bibliographic description rather 
than against the average physical length of other bibliographic 
descriptions in the catalog. The tension between rules for rare materials 
that promote accurate representation of an item and yet do not exceed the 
requirements of sufficiency is great. Reference to the principle of user 
convenience may offer correct resolution of such tensions.

5) Rules shall conform to the structure and language of the latest revision 
of AACR2 to the extent possible; ISBD(A) shall serve as a secondary 
reference point.
	This principle relates to general principles of standardization and user 
convenience (with the latter’s sub-principle of common usage). DCRM assumes 
that users of cataloging descriptions constructed in accordance to its 
provisions also operate in contexts where AACR2 is a norm for general 
cataloging. In addition, the cataloging community within which DCRM has 
been developed has a strong association with AACR2 as interpreted and 
applied by the Library of Congress. DCRM uses existing AACR2 vocabulary in 
a manner consistent with AACR2; use of any additional or specialized 
vocabulary necessary for description and access of rare materials will 
occur in a clear and consistent manner in DCRM rules, appendices, and 
glossaries. DCRM does not introduce rules that are not required by 
differences expected between rare and current materials. Numbering of areas 
within DCRM conforms to the structure of ISBD as implemented in AACR2. When 
an existing AACR2 rule satisfies the requirements of cataloging rare 
materials, DCRM text is modeled on AACR2 text (revising examples as useful 
for illustration). In cases where the language of AACR2 is not precise 
enough to cover necessary distinctions or may introduce confusion when 
dealing with rare materials, DCRM uses carefully-considered alternate 
wording. Wording of relevant ISBD(A) standards will also be considered when 
deviating from AACR2. However, ISBD(A) is a standard rather than a 
cataloging code; AACR2, as a cataloging code, will inevitably provide 
closer models for rule formulation.

6) Rules shall be compatible with DCRB except in cases where changes are 
necessary to align more closely to current revisions of AACR2 or to conform 
to the above principles.
	This principle also relates to general principles of both standardization 
and user convenience (with the latter’s sub-principle of common usage). 
Changes to prior DCRB cataloging practices should be made only after 
careful consideration of the value or necessity of such changes.
****************************************************************************

   I have another issue with a particular wording choice in this statement 
(the construction "general cataloging", set in opposition with "cataloging 
of rare materials").  I am in the midst of writing up that issue now and 
hope to send another edit of this document to DCRM-L by tomorrow, but 
thought I'd start with this.			Thanks, Jain

Jain Fletcher
Head, Collections & Technical Services Division
Department of Special Collections
Young Research Library - UCLA
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA   90095-1575

v: (310) 794-4096
f: (310) 206-1864
e: jfletchr at library.ucla.edu