MARC and
RARE
BOOK
LIBRARIANS
The Guidelines for the Cataloguing of Rare Books has been produced to offer some
recommendations about desirable standard practice, but it is hoped that discussion will
continue on the "lis-rarebooks" mailing list. The purpose of this page is to aid access to
that forum, draw together conclusions reached and issues raised, and to provide links to the
OPACs of libraries implementing the procedures discussed.
GUIDELINES FOR THE
CATALOGUING OF
RARE
BOOKS
Beginning in 1992, new rare book fields for both general and copy-specific information have
been added to UKMARC. These fields are increasingly being taken up for use by libraries, but
there is little or no documentation available to help with their application and so the Rare
Books Group has produced Guidelines for the Cataloguing of Rare Books to offer some
recommendations about desirable standard practice. Particular attention has been paid
to the recording and indexing of provenance and binding information: 8 plates with
illustrations of copy-specific features are provided to use alongside examples of MARC fields
recording and indexing those features.
More generally the Guidelines are designed to assist libraries in drawing up local policies
for the cataloguing of rare books. In the first instance, therefore, the aim has been to
define a minimum level of detail which will meet the core needs of many researchers. A higher
level has also been defined, incorporating recommended elements of information which are most
likely to be of interest to catalogue users.
The compilation of the Guidelines was first discussed at an open meeting held by the
Rare Books Group in November 1995. A draft text was prepared and circulated as a consultative
document around 25 selected libraries known to be active in rare book cataloguing. The version
now published takes account of the comments received, and is therefore the product of a
collaborative exercise: it is intended to be, as far as possible, by as well as for the rare
books community. In some areas of rare book cataloguing there are not, as yet, any widely
accepted practices, and the Guidelines are open to revision and augmentation as practice
develops.
In April 1997 another meeting was held at which the suggestions in the Guidelines, and the
broader issues and implications of rare books cataloguing, were discussed. It was agreed that
lis-rarebooks could provide the forum for further discussion, and that this web site
would allow such information to be circulated.
An order form for the Guidelines is available here.
The main forum available for this discussion is lis-rarebooks - Rare books
librarians have special requirements for standards and systems. This list allows interested
libraries to discuss how these requirements are being met.
More general MARC related issues are discussed on lis-ukmarc - The harmonisation of the American, British and Canadian MARC
formats has been agreed by the national libraries concerned. This list allows interested
libraries to discuss the possible changes, and also provides a forum for UKMARC in general.
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Any news, decisions reached, futher information, related links, etc, will be included here.
- The archive of
lis-rarebooks can be searched for previously discussed topics.
- The LC Cataloging Newsline is the
electronic journal of the Library of Congress Cataloging Directorate.
- The UKMARC webpage acts as a directory to sources
of MARC information as well as promoting the MARC harmonisation process.
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The following list gives the names of libraries using the UK MARC rare books fields, with telnet and/or
web links to their OPACs, and contact names for further advice.
- Trinity College Dublin
- Reading University Library
- Napier University Library
- St Andrews University Library
- University of London Library
- Cardiff University Libraries
For inclusion in this list contact Gaye Morgan
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