These guidelines must be seen as supplementary to the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition, 1988 revision (AACR 2). For easier reference, the arrangement of the guidelines follows as much as possible that of chapters 1 and 2 of AACR2, 1988 revision. Where it has been thought that additional information may be helpful to catalogers new to the field, background information has been included in the form of preliminary notes ("preambles").

It is expected that the present text will undergo further revision as new situations are met and experience is gained. Comments are welcomed.

The objectives of the guidelines are:

1. to take into account the special characteristics unique to looseleaf publications and to treat them bibliographically in their own right;

2. to provide guidance for bibliographic description that:

can be applied widely and extensively by users of LC cataloging and by contributors to shared databases;

results in catalog records that can be incorporated into catalogs regardless of whether the records are prepared locally, nationally, or internationally;

results in a catalog record for a particular publication that can be used widely, taking into account the fact that different libraries may hold different components of a publication or may acquire a particular publication at different times in the life of that publication.

See also:

0A. Objectives and Principles of Presentation