[DCRM-L] 340 field in bib. records for books of the machine-press era

Thu Nov 14 13:15:33 MST 2019

The 340 field should be regarded as an index only (call it a "linked
datum"), requiring support elsewhere in the record. The legacy of
bookseller format (based on height and proportions, and pricing, of the
bound book) is still too much with us, and all too often counterfactual as
to bibliographic format--which is itself only *roughly* determinable by the
criteria of rdabf (leaf-to-sheet proportion), and may be regarded as more
properly related to the formes from which whole or partial sheets of paper
are printed. See G.T. Tanselle's "The concept of format" (in SB 53) for
good reasons not to get entangled in format much past the 1830s, unless
you've got good reasons for it; and I'd guess at 1830 as a better cut-off
date for Iris O'Brien's admirable suggestion, though most BL records can be
rather sketchy in this respect for earlier books as well. I suspect that
the field as applied by them is mostly of interest with respect to their
own holdings,  because it was their now long outmoded terminology for shelf
size.

As to the not always so easy to define or descry distinction of
"machine-press" from "hand-press" books: all books--at least those printed
from type or plates--have bibliographic format. An 1880 edition in 8s may
well actually be a 32mo in 8s, but the evidence is quite subtle or simply
lacking. Still, for our kind of work, the paper proportion approach is
probably the most practicable. And where that can't be determined, a report
of signatures (and whether or not they correspond to physical gatherings)
will suffice for dcrmb records. If format cannot be or simply isn't given
in physical description, 340 is not applicable.

That said, I've been working with 20th-c. books in which the binding
format, so to call it, may well be significant evidence in the
distinction of printings (which may  be obscured by the retention of
signatures in printing plates), and I may start hunting for thread. (But I
don't state a format without further evidence, and instead give the leaf
height and width to the 1oth of a cm. One thing that *really* changes over
the course of the c19 is measurement tolerance within batches of
assembly-line binding.) Really, the criterion is: have you done your bit of
RBS DesBib homework on the book?

Apologies for not having time to shorten this.

RICHARD NOBLE :: RARE MATERIALS CATALOGUER :: JOHN HAY LIBRARY
BROWN UNIVERSITY  ::  PROVIDENCE, R.I. 02912  ::  401-863-1187
<Richard_Noble at Br <RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU>own.edu>

On Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 10:30 AM Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at folger.edu>
wrote:

> I can't envision any objections from the rare materials community, but
> *if* you wanted more feedback, it could be framed to dcrm-l without
> particular reference to the British Library.
>
>
>
> ______________________
>
> Deborah J Leslie (she/her) | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare Library
> | 201 East Capitol Street, S.E. Washington, DC 20003 | djleslie at folger.edu
>
>
>
> *From:* Kate Moriarty <kate.moriarty at slu.edu>
> *Sent:* Thursday, 14 November, 2019 10:16
> *To:* Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu>; 'Moody, Honor M.' <
> honor_moody at harvard.edu>; 'Lapka, Francis' <francis.lapka at yale.edu>;
> 'Iris' <Iris.O'Brien at bl.uk>; 'noah.sheola at bc.edu' <noah.sheola at bc.edu>; '
> Richard_Noble at brown.edu' <Richard_Noble at brown.edu>; 'dezel002 at umn.edu' <
> dezel002 at umn.edu>; 'marseidl at vassar.edu' <marseidl at vassar.edu>; '
> jpbarton at princeton.edu' <jpbarton at princeton.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: 340 field in bib. records for books of the machine-press
> era
>
>
>
> By the way, thanks a lot for taking this on, Iris.
>
> ~Kate
>
>
>
> [image: Saint Louis University]
>
> Kate S. Moriarty, MSW, MLS
>
> *Pronouns: she/her/hers*
>
> Rare Book Catalog Librarian, Professor
>
> Saint Louis University
>
> Pius XII Memorial Library
>
> 3650 Lindell Blvd., #320-2, St. Louis, MO 63108
>
> 314-977-3024
>
> kate.moriarty at slu.edu
> http://lib.slu.edu/special-collections
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* Kate Moriarty <kate.moriarty at slu.edu>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 13, 2019 1:03 PM
> *To:* Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu>; 'Moody, Honor M.' <
> honor_moody at harvard.edu>; 'Lapka, Francis' <francis.lapka at yale.edu>;
> 'Iris' <Iris.O'Brien at bl.uk>; 'noah.sheola at bc.edu' <noah.sheola at bc.edu>; '
> Richard_Noble at brown.edu' <Richard_Noble at brown.edu>; 'dezel002 at umn.edu' <
> dezel002 at umn.edu>; 'marseidl at vassar.edu' <marseidl at vassar.edu>; '
> jpbarton at princeton.edu' <jpbarton at princeton.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: 340 field in bib. records for books of the machine-press
> era
>
>
>
> I also like the approach of stripping 340s from records not explicitly
> coded dcrmb, dcrb, etc.
>
> ~Kate
>
>
>
> [image: Saint Louis University]
>
> Kate S. Moriarty, MSW, MLS
>
> *Pronouns: she/her/hers*
>
> Rare Book Catalog Librarian, Professor
>
> Saint Louis University
>
> Pius XII Memorial Library
>
> 3650 Lindell Blvd., #320-2, St. Louis, MO 63108
>
> 314-977-3024
>
> kate.moriarty at slu.edu
> http://lib.slu.edu/special-collections
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 13, 2019 12:40 PM
> *To:* 'Moody, Honor M.' <honor_moody at harvard.edu>; 'Lapka, Francis' <
> francis.lapka at yale.edu>; 'Iris' <Iris.O'Brien at bl.uk>; 'noah.sheola at bc.edu'
> <noah.sheola at bc.edu>; 'Richard_Noble at brown.edu' <Richard_Noble at brown.edu>;
> 'dezel002 at umn.edu' <dezel002 at umn.edu>; 'marseidl at vassar.edu' <
> marseidl at vassar.edu>; 'jpbarton at princeton.edu' <jpbarton at princeton.edu>;
> Kate Moriarty <kate.moriarty at slu.edu>
> *Subject:* [External] RE: 340 field in bib. records for books of the
> machine-press era
>
>
>
> I like this approach.
>
>
>
> ______________________
>
> Deborah J Leslie (she/her) | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare Library
> | 201 East Capitol Street, S.E. Washington, DC 20003 | djleslie at folger.edu
>
>
>
> *From:* Moody, Honor M. <honor_moody at harvard.edu>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, 13 November, 2019 13:33
> *To:* Lapka, Francis <francis.lapka at yale.edu>; Deborah J. Leslie <
> DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu>; Iris <Iris.O'Brien at bl.uk>; 'noah.sheola at bc.edu' <
> noah.sheola at bc.edu>; 'Richard_Noble at brown.edu' <Richard_Noble at brown.edu>;
> 'dezel002 at umn.edu' <dezel002 at umn.edu>; 'marseidl at vassar.edu' <
> marseidl at vassar.edu>; 'jpbarton at princeton.edu' <jpbarton at princeton.edu>; '
> kate.moriarty at slu.edu' <kate.moriarty at slu.edu>
> *Subject:* RE: 340 field in bib. records for books of the machine-press
> era
>
>
>
> My understanding was that the 340s were automatically generated from data
> appearing anywhere in 300 (e.g., OCLC #560906518), so presence in the 300
> wouldn’t be an indicator of true format.
>
>
>
> I think the real challenge is that we really don’t have any way to tease
> apart legacy data (that may or may not be true), and data of more recent
> vintage (presumptively true). I’d be inclined to say the 340 should be
> stripped from all records that aren’t explicitly coded dcrmb/bdrb/etc.
>
>
>
> H
>
>
>
> *From:* Lapka, Francis <francis.lapka at yale.edu>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 13, 2019 11:54 AM
> *To:* Moody, Honor M. <honor_moody at harvard.edu>; Deborah J. Leslie <
> DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu>; Iris <Iris.O'Brien at bl.uk>; 'noah.sheola at bc.edu' <
> noah.sheola at bc.edu>; 'Richard_Noble at brown.edu' <Richard_Noble at brown.edu>;
> 'dezel002 at umn.edu' <dezel002 at umn.edu>; 'marseidl at vassar.edu' <
> marseidl at vassar.edu>; 'jpbarton at princeton.edu' <jpbarton at princeton.edu>; '
> kate.moriarty at slu.edu' <kate.moriarty at slu.edu>
> *Subject:* RE: 340 field in bib. records for books of the machine-press
> era
>
>
>
> Do BL catalogers currently use (or have they ever used) the 340 to record
> bibliographic format in its true sense, rather than as an indicator of
> size? If BL catalogers have only ever used 300 $c to record format, would
> it make sense to delete all 340 format data except where the 340 data
> echoes what has been recorded in 300 $c (or where it can be determined that
> the 340 represents true format)?
>
>
>
> -Francis
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Moody, Honor M. <honor_moody at harvard.edu>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 13, 2019 11:39 AM
> *To:* Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu>; Iris <Iris.O'Brien at bl.uk>;
> 'noah.sheola at bc.edu' <noah.sheola at bc.edu>; 'Richard_Noble at brown.edu' <
> Richard_Noble at brown.edu>; Lapka, Francis <francis.lapka at yale.edu>; '
> dezel002 at umn.edu' <dezel002 at umn.edu>; 'marseidl at vassar.edu' <
> marseidl at vassar.edu>; 'jpbarton at princeton.edu' <jpbarton at princeton.edu>; '
> kate.moriarty at slu.edu' <kate.moriarty at slu.edu>
> *Subject:* RE: 340 field in bib. records for books of the machine-press
> era
>
>
>
> I think my bigger concern is that those 340s are based on size indicators
> more often than not, and are not reliably accurate for older material as
> format, either. I have had multiple email exchanges with the BL reference
> team over the years asking them to confirm that the copy described in OCLC
> as being 8vo or 24mo or what have you are actually something else.
>
>
>
> Honor
>
> *From:* Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 13, 2019 10:58 AM
> *To:* 'O'Brien, Iris' <Iris.O'Brien at bl.uk>; 'noah.sheola at bc.edu' <
> noah.sheola at bc.edu>; 'Richard_Noble at brown.edu' <Richard_Noble at brown.edu>;
> 'francis.lapka at yale.edu' <francis.lapka at yale.edu>; 'dezel002 at umn.edu' <
> dezel002 at umn.edu>; Moody, Honor M. <honor_moody at harvard.edu>; '
> marseidl at vassar.edu' <marseidl at vassar.edu>; 'jpbarton at princeton.edu' <
> jpbarton at princeton.edu>; 'kate.moriarty at slu.edu' <kate.moriarty at slu.edu>
> *Subject:* RE: 340 field in bib. records for books of the machine-press
> era
>
>
>
> WARNING: Harvard cannot validate this message was sent from an authorized
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> ------------------------------
>
> Iris, that sounds like a good solution. I would lobby for an 1830 cut-off
> date, which aligns with the scope of such projects as the Heritage of the
> Printed Book database, and major collections such as the Folger Shakespeare
> Library. (-;
>
> ______________________
>
> Deborah J Leslie (she/her) | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare Library
> | 201 East Capitol Street, S.E. Washington, DC 20003 | djleslie at folger.edu
>
>
>
> *From:* O'Brien, Iris <Iris.O'Brien at bl.uk>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, 13 November, 2019 10:44
> *To:* noah.sheola at bc.edu; Richard_Noble at brown.edu; francis.lapka at yale.edu;
> dezel002 at umn.edu; honor_moody at harvard.edu; marseidl at vassar.edu;
> jpbarton at princeton.edu; kate.moriarty at slu.edu; Deborah J. Leslie <
> DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu>
> *Subject:* 340 field in bib. records for books of the machine-press era
>
>
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
>
>
> I am contacting you because you participated in the DCRM-L discussions that
> touched upon the issue of the 340 field for bibliographic format appearing
> in bibliographic records for books of the machine-press era in Worldcat. As
> you will probably know by now, the field was introduced as part of an
> ill-judged batch upload to all existing British Library legacy records,
> which then filtered through to OCLC.
>
> After some lobbying on my side, the British Library is now considering
> deleting the 340 bibliographic format field in records for books of the
> machine-press era; I will be writing a work request to have the field
> removed but the question now is what the cut-off date should be. My
> suggestion would be to delete the field for everything published after 1850
> but I would like to get some feedback on this to make sure the rare books
> community is happy with the outcome.
>
> As the fact that the British Library created this mess in the first place
> is a slightly delicate matter, I am trying to avoid the DCRM-L list for
> this discussion but I am hoping that we can discuss this among this smaller
> group.
>
> However, if you can think of any other ways of getting feedback on this
> without causing too much public exposure of the issue, then please let me
> know.
>
>
>
> Just to give you an idea of the volume of this: if we chose a cut-off date
> of 1850, i.e. the field would be removed in records for everything
> published after 1850, we would be looking at amending over 2,838,000
> records.
>
>
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
>
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
>
> Iris O’Brien
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
> Iris O'Brien
>
> Early Printed Collections Cataloguing and Processing Manager
>
> The British Library
>
> St Pancras
>
> 96 Euston Road
>
> London
>
> NW1 2DB
>
> Tel.: +44 (0)20 7412 7731
>
> E-mail: iris.o'brien at bl.uk
>
>
>
>
>
>
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