Appendix A: Title Access Points
Preliminary notes:
Under the present rules, elements of information from a publication are generally transcribed as they appear, frequently without transposition or the other forms of intervention practiced by catalogers of ordinary books under AACR2. Title access then becomes an important means of making records for rare books as accessible as those in which transposition and other normalization occur. Certain characteristics special to early books provide another reason for special emphasis on title added entries: the imperfect state of many early printed books, including the absence of title pages or half titles, makes title access important for the location of copies in different institutions for purposes of identification and comparison. Finally, early practices in printing such as the use of older letter forms and contractions may result in problems of access for the modern researcher, and additional title added entries may resolve some of these problems.
The guidelines below provide explicitly for some of the specific situations that arise commonly from these rare book phenomena. For examples and other matters, consult the rule cited in each guideline as well as the guideline per se.
General provision:
Make an added entry for the entire title proper exactly as transcribed, omitting only an initial article as required. If the title proper is very lengthy, however, make an added entry for a version of it shortened by stopping at the first logical break after the fifth word.
Suggestions for certain specific additional title added entries follow; catalogers should select those most useful for the publication in hand:
0H. Forms of diacritical marks and letters (including capitalization)
0J2. Special marks of contraction
1B6. Supplementary or section titles
1E1-1E2. Titles of additional works
1F1-1F8. Titles of works on single-sheet publications
1G14. Titles or phrases about notes, appendices, etc.
7C4-7C5. Title variants and other titles
7C11. Titles of accompanying material
Conclusion:
Although the list above represents those rules in DCRB that suggest situations in which the cataloger might profitably consider making a title added entry, it is not intended as an exhaustive list of all instances in which a title added entry might be required. Catalogers are urged to apply the principle of thorough access by title (cf. Preliminary notes) in dealing with situations not explicitly mentioned here.
See also:
Decriptive Cataloging of Rare Books: Contents
