[DCRM-L] 245 $c question

[Cawelti, Andrea]

Greetings all, we are revisiting our single manuscript item cataloging procedures, and I wonder how people are handling the 245 $c placement in ms. MARC records in the Existing World Order?  MARC currently directs us that "Once a subfield $c has been recorded, no further subfield coding of field 245 is possible."  They give an example in their discussion of the 245 $k clearly splitting the $c to the end:

245 14 $a The charity ball : $b a comedy in four acts : $k typescript, $f 1889 / $c by David Belasco and Henry C. DeMille.  [I've added spaces around the subfields for clarity.]

Breaking up the $b and $c has always seemed ungainly to me, particularly as they are so frequently grammatically connected.  Does anyone think this directive might change in the near future, or should I just bite the bullet?
With grateful thanks for your thoughts,
-- 
Andrea Cawelti 
Ward Music Cataloger 
Houghton Library 
Harvard University 
Cambridge, MA  02138 

Phone: (617) 495-8060 
FAX: (617) 495-1376 
E-mail: cawelti at fas.harvard.edu