I. Scope and Purpose (Introduction)

I.1. Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials

DCRM(B) is the first of several manuals providing specialized cataloging rules for various formats of rare materials typically found in rare book, manuscript, and special collection repositories (FNI-1). Together, these manuals form Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (DCRM), an overarching concept rather than a publication in its own right. DCRM component manuals for serials and music are in preparation. Other components will be added to the DCRM family as they are developed.

I.2. Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books)

DCRM(B) provides guidelines and instructions for descriptive cataloging of rare books, that is, printed textual monographs receiving special treatment within a repository. Unlike its predecessors, which were intended to apply exclusively to pre-1801 imprints, DCRM(B) may be used for printed monographs of any age or type of production. Rare maps, music, serials, and manuscripts of any type are out of scope, with the exception of individual and special issues of serials treated as monographs (see Appendix H).

LC Rare Book Team Guidelines: Apply DCRM(B) to all pre-1801s and selectively for later publications per cataloger’s judgment or based on a collection-wide (processing plan) decision.

I.3. Need for special rules

Printed materials in special collections often present situations not ordinarily encountered in the cataloging of typical modern publications (e.g., variation between copies, cancelled leaves, etc.) and may require additional details of description in order to identify significant characteristics (e.g., bibliographical format, typeface, etc.). Such details are important for two reasons. They permit the ready identification of copies of a resource (e.g., as editions, impressions, or issues), and they provide a more exact description of the resource as an artifact.

I.4. Scope of application

DCRM(B) is especially appropriate for the description of publications produced before the introduction of machine printing in the nineteenth century. However, it may be used to describe any printed monograph, including machine-press publications, artists’ books, private press books, and other contemporary materials.

These rules may be applied categorically to books based on date or place of publication (e.g., all British and North American imprints published before 1831), or may be applied selectively, according to the administrative policy of the institution, which may choose to catalog some or all of its holdings at a more detailed level of description than that provided for in AACR2. (See Introductory section X.1 for discussion on choosing appropriate cataloging codes and levels.)

LC Rare Book Team Guidelines: Apply DCRM(B) to all pre-1801s and selectively for later publications per cataloger’s judgment or based on a collection-wide (processing plan) decision.

I.5. Application within the bibliographic record

These rules contain instructions for the descriptive elements in bibliographic records only. They do not address the construction and assignment of controlled headings used as main and added entries, although brief instructions relating to headings and other access points do appear throughout (e.g., Appendix F is entirely devoted to recommendations for uncontrolled title added entries).