Cataloguing Outside the Box: A Practical Guide to Cataloguing Special Collections Materials

By Patricia Falk and Stefanie Hunker

A practical guide to cataloguing and processing the unique special collections formats in the Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL) and the Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives (MLSRA) at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) (e.g. fanzines, popular sound recordings, comic books, motion picture scripts and press kits, popular fiction). Cataloguing Outside the Box provides guidance to professionals in library and information science facing the same cataloguing challenges. Additionally, name authority work for these collections is addressed.

• Provides practical guidelines and solutions for cataloguing challenges
• Draws on the authors’ varied experiences with these special materials
• Addresses specific, unique special collections materials

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Jan 20, 2010
• ISBN: 9781780630267

Patricia Falk

Patricia K. Falk is the Special Collections Cataloguer at Bowling Green State University and works both in the MLSRA and the BPCL. She catalogues print and non-print materials and is an independent contributor to the NACO Music Project Funnel.

Book preview

Chandos Information Professional Series

Cataloguing outside the box

A practical guide to cataloguing special collections materials

Patricia Falk

Stefanie Dennis Hunker

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Copyright

List of tables

List of examples

About the authors

Preface

Chapter 1: Self-published music scores and recordings

Introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing self-published music scores at BGSU

Summary

Challenge yourself

Chapter 2: Popular music compact discs

Introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing CDs at BGSU

Summary

Challenge yourself

Chapter 3: Fanzines

Introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing zines at BGSU

Summary

Challenge yourself

Chapter 4: Comics and graphic novels

A: Comics – introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing comics at BGSU

Summary

Challenge yourself

B: Graphic novels – introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing graphic novels at BGSU

Summary

Challenge yourself

Chapter 5: Special periodicals

A: Story papers – introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing story papers at BGSU

Summary

Challenge yourself

B: Nickel weeklies – introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing nickel weeklies at BGSU

Using metadata to catalogue individual issues of nickel weeklies

Summary

Challenge yourself

C: Pulp magazines – introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing pulps at BGSU

Summary

Challenge yourself

Chapter 6: Popular fiction

Introduction

Challenges

A: Cataloguing popular fiction at BGSU

Donor relations – manuscript collection donors

Donor relations – named collections

Tracing characters

Books in series

Summary

Challenge yourself

B: Vintage paperback collection – introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing vintage paperbacks at BGSU

Summary

Challenge yourself

Exercise 6.5

Exercise 6.6

Chapter 7: Movie, television, and radio scripts

Introduction

A: Movie scripts

Challenges

Cataloguing movie scripts at BGSU

Challenge yourself

B: Television scripts – introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing TV scripts at BGSU

Television series script with a real-life personality

Challenge yourself

C: Radio scripts

Summary

Challenge yourself

Chapter 8: Press kits

Introduction

Challenges

Cataloguing movie press kits at BGSU

Summary

Challenge yourself

Chapter 9: Authority work

Introduction

Challenges

Creating authority records at BGSU

Useful sources for name authority work

Summary

Challenge yourself

Chapter 10: Conclusion

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

Appendix 6

Appendix 7

Appendix 8

Appendix 9

Glossary

Works cited

Index

Copyright

Chandos Publishing

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Tel: + 44 (0) 1993 848726

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Chandos Publishing is an imprint of Woodhead Publishing Limited

Woodhead Publishing Limited

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UK

www.woodheadpublishing.com

First published in 2010

ISBN:

978 1 84334 553 4

© P. Falk and S. D. Hunker, 2010

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the Publishers. This publication may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without the prior consent of the Publishers. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The Publishers make no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions.

The material contained in this publication constitutes general guidelines only and does not represent to be advice on any particular matter. No reader or purchaser should act on the basis of material contained in this publication without first taking professional advice appropriate to their particular circumstances. All screenshots in this publication are the copyright of the website owner(s), unless indicated otherwise.

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List of tables

1.1. Standard fixed fields for New Music Festival scores 3

1.2. Variable fields for New Music Festival scores 3

2.1. Fixed fields for cataloguing CDs 13

2.2. Variable fields for cataloguing CDs 13

3.1. Fixed fields for fanzines catalogued at BGSU 27

3.2. Variable fields for fanzines catalogued at BGSU 27

5.1. Fixed fields for cataloguing story papers 50

5.2. Variable fields for cataloguing story papers 51

5.3. Fixed fields for cataloguing pulp magazines 67

5.4. Variable fields for cataloguing pulp magazines 67

6.1. Standard fixed fields for cataloguing vintage paperbacks 106

6.2. Standard variable fields for cataloguing vintage paperbacks 106

7.1. Standard fixed fields for cataloguing movie scripts 115

7.2. Variable fields for cataloguing movie scripts 115

7.3. Standard fixed fields for cataloguing TV scripts 122

7.4. Variable fields for cataloguing TV scripts 122–3

8.1. Fixed fields for cataloguing book format movie and television press kits 141

8.2. Fixed fields for cataloguing computer file movie and television press kits 141

8.3. Variable fields for cataloguing movie and television press kits 142

9.1. Fixed fields for name authority records 166

List of examples

1.1. Self-published born-digital score lacking publication and date information 4

1.2. Self-published handwritten score with vocals, lacking publication information 5

1.3. Self-published handwritten score lacking composer and publication information 6

1.4. Self-published handwritten score, information from caption and unusual instrumentation 7

1.5. Self-published handwritten score, lacking publication information, including note from end of piece 7–8

2.1. Single artist CD with lyrics in booklet 14–15

2.2. Single artist music group album with author as title, lyrics in booklet 16

2.3. Compilation album with specific geographic location 17–18

2.4. Demonstration album 19

2.5. Shaped disc album 20

2.6. Filk music example 20–1

3.1. Music zine serial, includes author as publisher/editor 28

3.2. Music zine serial, lacks beginning publication date 29

3.3. Personal zine, author as publisher, lacks beginning date 30

3.4. Book format fanzine, with a specific topic 30

3.5. Personal zine, serial format, with multiple authors and specific geographic location 31

3.6. Personal/review zine, serial format, author as publisher 32

3.7. Diplomacy zine, serial format 32

3.8. Slashzine, serial format 33

4.1. Serial comic with subtitle 37

4.2. Book format comic with limited issues and specific characters 38

4.3. Digest-size serial format comic with publication variations 38–9

4.4. Magazine-style serial comic 39–40

4.5. Underground serial comic 40

4.6. Multi-volume graphic novel set in foreign language 43

4.7. Multi-volume graphic novel set, with contents 44

4.8. Multi-volume graphic novel set 45

4.9. Multi-volume graphic novel set with no place of publication 46

4.10. Manga-style graphic novel with multiple authors 47

5.1. Standard serial format lacking starting date 51–2

5.2. Serial format with subtitle and variation in title 53

5.3. Serial format under uniform title with specific starting date 53–4

5.4. Standard serial with date from reference source 55

5.5. Standard serial nickel weekly with subtitle, lack of starting date 58

5.6. Standard serial nickel weekly with subtitle 59

5.7. Serial nickel weekly catalogued by uniform title; complete starting and ending dates 60

5.8. Serial nickel weekly with subtitle and about a specific character 61

5.9. Serial nickel weekly lacking starting and ending dates 61–2

5.10a. Digitized nickel weekly metadata – simple item record 63

5.10b. Digitized nickel weekly metadata – full item record 64

5.11. Serial format pulp magazine with number in title, reference source used for dates 68

5.12. Serial pulp magazine with subtitle 69

5.13. Standard serial format pulp magazine 70

5.14. Standard serial format pulp magazine with lack of starting date 71

6.1. Popular fiction, basic book 75

6.2a. Book with many editions: English edition, advance copy 77

6.2b. Book with many editions: English edition, 1989 first printing 78

6.2c. Book with many editions: Swedish edition 79

6.2d. Book with many editions: German edition 80

6.3a. Book with very old and newer editions: 1905 edition 81

6.3b. Book with very old and newer editions: 1921 edition 82

6.3c. Book with very old and newer editions: 1977 edition 83

6.3d. Book with very old and newer editions: 1978 edition 85

6.4a. Older edition with short title 87

6.4b. Same work, newer edition with longer title 88

6.4c. Book with Flashman character 90

6.4d. Different book with Flashman character 91

6.4e. Book with Flashman character and longer title 91–2

6.5a. Series-within-a-series romance 94

6.5b. Another book within the same series 95

6.6a. Story with original series number 96

6.6b. Same story with reissued series number 97

6.7a. Story in new series under original title 98

6.7b. Same story in first Harlequin edition under new title 99

6.8. Standard paperback book format with subtitle and cover artist 107

6.9. Non-fiction standard book format paperback with specific geographic location and illustrator 108

6.10. Standard book format paperback with varying title 109

6.11. Non-fiction standard book format paperback with author as pseudonym 109

6.12. Standard book format paperback with geographic location 110

7.1. Basic movie script record 116

7.2. More complete movie script record with more than one author 118

7.3. Movie script with working title, not released title 119

7.4. Made-for-TV movie script 124

7.5. Script for TV soap opera that is currently in production 125

7.6. TV soap opera script with inclusive dates, part of a named collection 126

7.7. Television series script with a real-life personality 127–8

7.8. Television series scripts with episode listing 129

7.9. Script for single episode of television series 130

7.10. Script for television series episode with names in statement of responsibility 131

7.11. Script for television series episode with a draft version, date, and episode number and from a named collection 133

7.12. TV pilot script, untitled with fairly complete information 134

7.13. TV pilot script, titled, with little information 135

7.14. Scripts from radio series 136

8.1. Typical press kit with basics 144–5

8.2. Older press kit 147–8

8.3. Press kit on CD, with some accompanying print materials 149–50

8.4. Animated movie press kit 151–2

8.5. CD with booklet press kit 153

8.6. Press kit with sparse information 155–6

8.7. Press kit for documentary film, one-time broadcast 157

8.8. Older press kit, sparse information, title is not broadcast title 159

8.9. Newer press kit 160–1

9.1. Individual author record with year of birth included 167

9.2. Individual performer record with date of birth included 167

9.3. Individual author record with see reference 168

9.4. Corporate authority record for musical group 168

9.5. Corporate authority record for musical group on a compilation album 169

9.6. Corporate authority record for musical group with see reference 169

9.7. Personal author with no last name and see reference 169

9.8. Musical group associated with a person 170

9.9. Personal and group names that are the same (1) 170

9.10. Personal and group names that are the same (2) 171

9.11. Personal name with qualifier 171

9.12. Author as joint pseudonym 172

9.13a. Author with multiple pseudonyms, basic heading 172

9.13b. Author with multiple pseudonyms, pseudonym heading relating back to basic heading 174

9.13c. Author with multiple pseudonyms, pseudonym heading relating back to basic heading 174

About the authors

Patricia Falk has been the Special Collections Cataloguer at Bowling Green State University since 1997. She works in the Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives and in the Browne Popular Culture Library. She catalogues periodicals, scores, sound and video recordings in various formats, comics, fanzines, books, story papers, pulps, nickel weeklies, various types of scripts, and microfilm.

She has served as co-coordinator for the Music Library Association’s (MLA) Technical Services Roundtable and on the Name Authority Cooperative Music Project Advisory Board. She has also served on the Cataloguing Committee for the MLA Midwest Chapter and is a committee member on MLA’s Subject Access Subcommittee.

Patricia has presented poster sessions at MLA national meetings relating to cataloguing certain special collection materials and regularly writes abstracts for Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale.

Stefanie Dennis Hunker has been at Bowling Green State University since 1995, first as a reference/instruction librarian, then as the Web Coordinator, and since 2007 as the Digital Resources Librarian in the Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL). She is responsible for the development and maintenance of the Browne Popular Culture Library website. In addition, she catalogues popular fiction, movie and television scripts, and press kits, and assigns metadata for the BPCL’s digital collections in OhioLINK’s Digital Resource Commons. She also performs library reference, instruction, and collection development for the areas of film, theatre, and popular culture.

She has served as a poster session reviewer for the American Library Association Annual Conference and a book and website reviewer for the Journal of Web Librarianship and the Charleston Advisor.

Previous publications and presentations have principally focused on the use of technology to better the library user’s experience; mainly in the form of online tutorials, chat reference, and website usability testing.

Preface

Introduction

What makes this cataloguing book different from other cataloguing books? This book uncovers the oftentimes nebulous world of cataloguing unusual kinds of materials that many academic libraries do not collect and for which there are no set cataloguing guidelines. Libraries cataloguing materials such as fanzines, movie press kits, popular music CDs, and other formats are few, although it appears that more and more libraries are collecting these unusual formats. The problem, therefore, is that many cataloguers may not have encountered these types of material before and may not feel comfortable cataloguing them, or are unsure of how to catalogue them. Therein lies the inspiration for this book. Cataloguing outside the box relies on the experience of the authors, who routinely catalogue the very same formats covered here and who seek to assist others facing the same challenges.

Cataloguing is sometimes a thankless job. It requires a great deal of attention to detail, and an understanding of rules and regulations that may seem useless and completely unnecessary to some in other areas of the library profession, and certainly to users of the library catalogues we so religiously populate with data. However, if the bibliographic records are incomplete or sparse, it is difficult for users to find the information they need. So, it follows that cataloguers are a necessary spoke in the library wheel. Cataloguing unfamiliar materials is not an easy task, however. Cataloguing primary source materials is especially difficult, since many are rather old and scarce. Frequently there are no examples of records to examine, and many challenges can arise while cataloguing these valuable resources. This book aims to be a practical guide for other cataloguers and for library school students who face these challenges and obstacles. Using the collections – of which many of the holdings are themselves fairly old and scarce – in the Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives (MLSRA) and the Ray and Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies (BPCL) at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) as examples, the authors give practical guidelines for cataloguing such things as: fanzines (music and popular culture), movie press kits, comic books, popular fiction, nickel weeklies, and many other kinds of materials. Additionally, they outline both general and more specific challenges for each type of material. The book also covers name authority work for these materials, and the particular challenges that this presents. A thorough background of the two collections in which the materials reside follows this introductory section, because in order to fully understand the challenges that they present a basic understanding of the history of the collections is necessary.

The examples in the book use primarily AACR2 and MARC, and are of actual items in the BPCL and MLSRA collections. As examples are presented, the basics and the challenges are reviewed, in an effort to assist other cataloguers with similar problematic records. MARC21, used in the United Kingdom, when compared to the MARC tags used in this book, has very few differences, if any. Field numbers and associated subfields are in bold, while actual field values are in italics. There are also some example records of nickel weeklies that use a modified Dublin Core metadata standard. The authors use OCLC’s Connexion software for finding, creating, and exporting MARC records into BGSU’s library catalogue. The examples used in this book do not use end punctuation, simply because it does not appear in BGSU’s online catalogue.

It should be noted that although BGSU relies on the cataloguing practices outlined in this book, other practices may also be used to describe these types of item. Each institution has standard and local practices to guide cataloguers, and so the guidelines in this book should be modified as necessary. A certain amount of professional judgment needs to be applied when items do not fit standard AACR2 practices.

Background of the MLSRA and the BPCL

The MLSRA and BPCL at BGSU began in 1968 and 1969 respectively. The collections were developed by Bill Schurk and Ray B. Browne to collect and preserve that which was considered trivial – if not worthless – by the academic community (Boettcher 850). Although the collections began as one under Schurk’s supervision, they were eventually split into two separate collections and now reside on two separate floors of the Jerome Library at BGSU.

The collections initially held small amounts of materials given by donors or provided by Schurk and Browne. By 1971, both collections had built to a substantial amount of materials, including LPs and 45 s in the MLSRA and thousands of books, periodicals, fanzines, and other related materials in the BPCL. By 1979 the collections had been separated and each had a head librarian. By 1989, the BPCL had its own floor in the Jerome Library, as did the MLSRA.

BPCL collection development policies have changed since 1999, becoming more refined in an effort to create a more focused collection and to create space for an ever-growing collection in a place where there is no space to spare. The primary areas of collection