The opportunity to include in this online help provided a way for the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (P&P) staff to update the 1982 edition to incorporate more cataloging practices and respond to some of the suggestions made by other institutions cataloging similar materials.  This update will appear only as part of the online help, not as a published print version.

Over the past fifteen years, staff have completed cataloging projects for a wide variety of materials -- from architectural drawings and theatrical posters, to cartoons, daguerreotypes, and photographic prints and negatives.  P&P has also moved from a card format to an online MARC format catalog and staff have gained experience cataloging at varying levels of detail, describing single items as well as collections numbering one million items and everything in between.  Certain cataloging practices have evolved within P&P to resolve cataloging issues that were not specifically addressed in, or if addressed, were no longer relevant due to differences between the new online and old manual card environments.

Changes to the original text are, in fact, minor.  More complex issues will be addressed with the publication of a second edition.  Changes include an update of terminology to conform with terms in the 1995 edition of the Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (e.g., photographic prints instead of photoprints); a review and update of examples to reflect current cataloging practices; additions to the specific material designation list; and the addition of new examples coded in the MARC format.

Summary of updated rules:

0A.b  Changed "thousands" to "millions" in 2nd paragraph, first sentence.  Added option for cataloging published portfolios according to GM.

0C.  Added reference to punctuation and tagging guidelines in MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data .

1G6.  Added option to use instead rule 5B7.2.

2F4.3  Added additional example.  Added option to record copyright date following published date even if the dates are the same year.

2F5.2  Added option for always providing a date for published items.

2H1.  Added sentence and example to illustrate use of bulk dates to describe collections.

2H2.  Added option to record for photographs the copyright date and the date of the negative(s) even if the dates are the same year.

2H2.1  Added sentence and example to illustrate use of multiple dates for single items when dates of execution differ from printing dates.

2H5.  Added option for always providing a date.

3B4.  Added some clarification and updated examples.

3B5.  Expanded and explained SMD list.

3B5.1  Added option of including terms describing both physical media and format.

3B5.2  Added option to use any term from an established vocabulary source or a published thesaurus.

3C1.  Updated example and added example.

3C2.1  Updated examples.

3C4.1  Updated to reflect option for using "color" and "hand-colored" rather than abbreviations, "col." and "hand col."  Added distinction of when to use each term.  Updated examples.

3C4.2  Corrected lantern slide example.

4E.  Deleted "the name of the subseries" in last sentence.

Glossary  Updated glossary references; added several new glossary terms; updated footnotes to reflect new terms.

See also:

Introduction

Graphic Materials:  Contents