Cataloging Futures

Progressive Bibliography: Catalogers, Curators, and Crowdsourcing

Interesting article: “Progressing Toward Bibliography, or, Organic Growth in the Bibliographic Record,” RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage, 10I, 2 (Fall, 2009): 95-110.

It will be the focus of today's discussion session at the 51st Annual RBMS Preconference. Here's a description from the EXLIBRIS-L list:

Hello Conference Bound, or not, Librarians:

Jennifer Schaffner and I are hosting a discussion session in Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 23rd at 4 pm, about issues in progressive description, cataloging, curating, and crowdsourcing. We want to talk about such broad questions as: Who is allowed to describe our cultural heritage? Should we let outside scholars add to the catalog? And How do we collaborate with users to create better descriptions to serve outreach and research needs?

As part of this exercise, we've created a parallel blog for comments. If you attend, or would like to follow along, point your browser at http://progressivebibliography.org/

I look forward to seeing you in person or having the conversation virtually.

Best,
-James P. Ascher

James Phillip Ascher
Assistant Professor and Rare Book Cataloger
Univ. of Colorado at Boulder Libraries

Thanks to one of my RB librarian friends for pointing this out!

LC using new content standard for rare books: DCRM(B)

I'm very interested in rare books, having been exposed to the wonders of rare book cataloging when I was a fledgling cataloger (circa 1991). At that time, Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Books had just been published. Now, its successor is available: Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books).

LC's implementation decisions for DCRM(B) were just posted yesterday. One of the interesting thing about these decisions is how much they refer to cataloger's judgment.

The Library of Congress Rare Book Team has been using Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books) (DCRM(B)) since October 2007 in its cataloging of rare materials. Implementation decisions at the Library of Congress related to options, etc., in DCRM(B) are available at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/rarebooks.pdf.

DCRM(B), prepared by the Bibliographic Standards Committee, Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, Association of College and Research Libraries in collaboration with the Cataloging Policy and Support Office of the Library of Congress, was published in 2007; it is the successor to the 1991 publication Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Books.

Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books) is published by the Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution Service.