GUIDELINES FOR TS MINIMAL-LEVEL CATALOGING
These proposed guidelines (by Pete Wilson) were discussed by the Cataloging and Authorities Team in the spring of 2005 because we decided to discontinue our “inventory dispersal” practice and replace it with a minimal-level cataloging approach for items which are not very important and are time-consuming to catalog at full level. The guidelines were never officially approved, and there was general sentiment that an easy-to-use chart would be a good supplement to (or replacement for) them. As of Apr. 6, 2006, though, this is all we have as a guide to minimal-level cataloging. Changes will probably continue to be made. The long “Comments and Clarifications” section at the end is not required for day-to-day reference.
FIXED FIELDS
Fixed fields should be filled in as always, with the following exceptions:
Encoding level should be K.
“Cont” may be left blank in all cases.
Illustrations of all sorts may be covered by just “a” in “Ills.”
In “LitF,” use only 0 for non-fiction and 1 for fiction. Don't use more specific codes.
VARIABLE FIELDS (asterisks indicate further notes are in “Comments”).
041 (language) should be used.
043 (geographic area code) should be omitted.
090: LC call numbers should be in 090, not 050. Call numbers may be for a topic broader than the book is actually about—they just shouldn't be for a completely different topic.*
111: Conference headings may be omitted for conferences with names that are difficult or time-consuming to establish.*
130: Use only when you are certain it is needed and it is clear what the heading should be.
240: May be omitted if not considered important.*
245: If you've got a reasonably informative title with a long subtitle that doesn't add much to the user's understanding of the book, just skip the subtitle and don't put it in a note.
246: Use pretty much the same way as always. Title access is vital. Skip running titles if you don't think anyone's actually going to use them.
250: If you would have to hunt for some indication of an edition, don't.
260: Use only the first of two or more places of publication or publishers.*
300: Ignore unnumbered pages and unnumbered leaves of plates. If no pages are numbered, just use “1 v. (unpaged).” Use “ill.” for all illustrations.
4xx: Any series statement that does not yet have a corresponding authority may be put in a 490:0 :. If there is an authority record already, trace the series accordingly. If you are not sure whether it is really the same series, use the 490:0 :.
500: Miscellaneous notes on notes: There is no need to make an “Originally presented as the author's thesis” note. “Includes index” notes should be used. Corporate names not directly responsible for publication and not clearly responsible for content can be ignored completely. Make a note if the book is a translation.
504: Skip this. If there's an index, record it in a 500.
505: Use only if you think it is truly necessary.
533: Use this one.
546: Use this one.
6xx: Subject headings may be less specific than in full-level cataloging; secondary subjects may be left uncovered; subject headings which would require new name or subject authority records may be rejected in favor of less specific headings; use of subdivisions may be very limited.*
700: For the most part make all the personal name headings you usually would, including for festschrift honorees. Don't make them for illustrators. If name-title 700's seem mandated by regular rules, consider how helpful they are—if you don't think they add important access, skip them.
710: Make a heading for a corporate body only if the corporate body was clearly responsible for the content and did not just publish the book or “oversee” its creation. (In such a case a 110 may be appropriate).
711: See 111 and its comment in Part C.
730, 740: Do not spend too much time trying to figure out whether you have the right form for an added title entry so that you feel comfortable putting it in a 730—put it in a 740 instead.
8xx: See 4xx.
COMMENTS AND CLARIFICATIONS
090: Our class number can be less specific. In a practical sense, our goal is simply to find a class number which isn't downright wrong. If it is just too broad, we can still feel satisfied. That's what makes this K-level cataloging!
Find a class number that the book is not wrong for, based on the subject headings you've made, and use it. That book that you've given the subject heading “United States—Economic conditions—1945-“ will have an easy-to-find class number corresponding to that heading, in HC. Use it rather than puzzling over whether the book is really more about industrial policy, or economic aspects of technological innovations, or industrial relations, or the labor market, or whatever.
On the other hand, maybe you do have a fairly specific subject heading and there is no match in the class schedule for it. Nevertheless, allow yourself to think more broadly for purposes of classification. We are not concerned that the specificity of the subject heading match the specificity of the call number. For example, if the book is about some idiosyncratic aspect of Colombian politics that happens to have a heading but you can't find it in the appropriate table in the schedule, just use the handy JL2831 (“General works”).
We are careful, though, that when we use more specific class numbers and topical cutters, they don't conflict with what's already in the catalog. A novel by a known literary author should not end up in the wrong class number or the wrong cutter. A biography of Charlie Chaplin should not be classed using a topical cutter of .C6 when .C5 has been used previously. If you are cataloging a book of English poems about Buddy Holly, level K is not an excuse for using PR1195.H58 when you should be using PR1195.H574. That would be wrong. The only sin we may commit in K-level classification is that of making a fit between a class number and a book too loose. We don't get sloppy and make the same specific call number in two different ways.
111: If you do not trace a conference name, do attempt to record whatever name the conference does have, along with location and date, elsewhere in the record, for keyword searching. If details of the conference are very vague or the relation of the publication to the conference is vague or tenuous, ignore the conference issue entirely—don't make a note and don't use the “Conf” fixed field or “Congresses” subject subdivisions.
240: Consider its relevance to our particular catalog. Do not hunt assiduously for the original title when the book is a translation and the original title is not readily apparent. Do not make form uniform titles—e.g., “Selections”—unless you really think it's helpful, and don't feel required to add dates to such form uniform titles.
260: If you've got two or more places of publication, you can just use the first. If you've got two or more publishers, you can just use the first. Don't work hard to get an exact date; use “[19--]” or “[n.d.]” or whatever. Don't use the $e and $f subfields for printer information. If you want to make the printer the publisher, fine; if you, for example, bracket in the name of the author as the publisher, leave it at that.
6xx: The key is: less specificity. This manifests itself in various ways.
First off, we can avoid making new name or geographic authority records. If your book is about a geographical place for which there is no subject heading, try finding a heading for the state, or region, or even the country instead. If your book is about an obscure political party in Mali and you're not quite sure what its name is supposed to be, just use the heading “Political parties— Mali ,” and maybe something like “Communism— Mali .” If your book is on a particular brewery in Poughkeepsie and you don't feel good about making a name authority for it, just geographically subdivide “Breweries.” It is probably good to try to create authority records for individual people who are the subjects of books, but if, for example, you've got a book about someone who was on trial for murder in Saskatchewan and the person's name is Bill Jones and no birth or death dates are given and there's nothing very interesting about him other than the fact that he took an ax to somebody, then you may content yourself with “Murderers—Saskatchewan—Biography,” “Murder—Saskatchewan” and maybe “Trials (Murder)—Saskatchewan.” If you decide you really need to use a more specific name in a subject heading and it has not yet been authorized and you don't feel up to authorizing it, don't tell Mary Charles or she might take an ax to you.
Also, we don't spend too much time picking through the various facets of a book. Headings like “United States—Economic conditions—1945-“ will cover a lot of ground; we might use that one rather than a combination of two or three headings like “Industrial policy— United States ” or “Labor policy—United States” or “Technological innovations—Economic aspects—United States.” A broader, catch-all subject will do. If a book on Edgar Allan Poe is partly about how his life with a family of rhesus monkeys affected his work, we might not bother to make a heading for the monkeys. In this case, instead of ignoring subtopics within a broad topic, we're ignoring a related subject that we probably would acknowledge in regular cataloging.
We don't work too hard on subject subdivisions, either. If your book is a noncomprehensive but fairly wide-ranging book about the African people called the Lala, don't fiddle around with “Economic conditions” or “Religious customs” or “Ethnic identity”—just use the one subject heading “Lala (African people),” unsubdivided. Find the most specific subject heading that covers the whole book, or at least two-thirds of it or so (let's say that rather than the traditional 80%). If you're not sure of a chronological subdivision, or you think perhaps two would be required, just leave it/them off entirely or use a broader one like “20 th century.” Skip frills like “Case studies” or “Econometric models” or “Textbooks” or “Cross-cultural studies.” Don't be afraid to leave a geographic name like “ Wales ” unsubdivided if you find it hard to say exactly what aspect of Wales the author is writing about. If it is unclear in what part of Brazil the author has studied coffee growing, just use “ Brazil ” for your subdivision. If you find it hard to tell whether the book is about urban sociology in the U.S. or just in general, assume that it's in general.
P. Wilson 4/6/2006