[DCRM-L] Rare book question

[Stephen A Skuce]

Echoing Margaret's consideration of the 16 printed pages, and whether they're consecutive: either way, I think a good case could be made for cataloging the volume as a collection according to DCRM(B), Appendix B: collection-level records, though the case for that treatment is a bit stronger if the printed pages are non-consecutive.

What you're describing is essentially a (very) small collection, 20% manuscript, that came to your library previously assembled and, it seems, well organized. Collection-level records do not have to be minimal, and employing copious notes and access points can result in a strong, researcher-friendly description of your volume, and provide very good intellectual access. And to echo another of Margaret's points - whether you're working in an environment that's largely book-centered - such records integrate very nicely with records in a typical ILS. You can encode the record as type p, mixed materials.

One final word: appendix B is very easy to follow.

Stephen

Stephen Skuce
Program Manager for Rare Books
Institute Archives and Special Collections

MIT Room 14N-118
77 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge MA 02139-4307
617.253.0654

From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On Behalf Of Margaret F. Nichols
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2015 5:59 PM
To: DCRM Users' Group
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Rare book question

This is a rather ambiguous case, Avrom, but I'll venture in with my two cents and then we can see what others suggest. Since the work consists mainly of printed material from a book, I'd suggest cataloging it as a book with manuscript material in it, with code "a" in the "Type" element. You can describe the manuscript material and the binding in copy-specific notes.

I'm assuming that the printed pages are consecutive. If they're not, and instead there's a page here and a page there from the prayer book, that (to my mind) makes the item something closer to a scrapbook, and a little bit more of a candidate to be cataloged as an archival collection (in the sense of a unique collection consisting of mixed material) that's bound together in a volume. But if you're working mainly in the context of a library (i.e. book collection) and the manuscripts in the book aren't of exceptional importance, you could still make a case for cataloging the volume as a book, since it's mainly print material.

Good luck,

Margaret Nichols


___________________________________

Margaret F. Nichols
Rare Materials Cataloging Coordinator
Cataloging & Metadata Services in RMC
2B Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-5302
Tel. (607) 255-9667 * E-mail mnr1 at cornell.edu<mailto:mnr1 at cornell.edu>



From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On Behalf Of Avrom E Shuchatowitz
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2015 10:44 AM
To: dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: [DCRM-L] Rare book question

I  work at the library of Yeshiva University in New York.  I am cataloging a rare item which is a compilation of Jewish prayers  in memory of the deceased.
I am not sure whether to call this a manuscript or a regular book.  It is privately compiled and bound.  The first page is a Ladino prayer handwritten in blue ink on lined note paper.  The next sixteen pages are printed Hebrew pages of prayers, extracted from an unidentified published prayer book.  The last three pages are again handwritten on lined note paper. It is a list of names and death dates in Hebrew.  All this is bound together in a piece of leather with a title mounted on a strip of tape on the front of it. This was probably compiled in New York in the 1950's. No name is given of a compiler or organization.  My question , therefore, is what to consider this item as.  In the fixed field, what code do I give it in the "Type" element?

Please advise.

Avrom Shuchatowitz
Yeshiva University Library
New York, NY

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