Cataloger's Reference Shelf
Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Books, 2nd Edition
Cataloger's Reference Shelf
Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Books, 2nd Edition
E2. Alternative guidelines
E2.1.
The default approach presented above is not prescriptive and indeed may not be desirable in every situation. Institutions may sometimes want to create separate records for different impressions or for other bibliographic variants. Some may want to create separate records for each individual copy.
LC Rare Book Team Guidelines: Generally follow DCRM(B) by cataloging at the edition level with exceptions per cataloger’s judgment or based on a collection-wide (processing plan) decision.
E2.2.
Numerous factors will influence the decision of when to create separate bibliographic records for variants, including:
the comprehensiveness of an institution’s collections
the perceived needs of the users of these collections
whether and how the publication has been described in a standard bibliography
whether the publication can be compared to other copies
the desire for consistency with other records in the institution’s catalog
the quality of the records available for use in copy cataloging
the structure of any shared database to which an institution contributes its records
the nature of an institution’s policies, priorities, and staffing levels
Within the rules, alternatives are provided that allow a cataloger to create separate records for individual impressions, states, binding variants, or copies (see rules 2B3.2, 2B4.2, 2D2, 4G). The cataloger must be consistent in applying these alternative rules to all areas of the description once the decision has been made to apply them.
See also: