Descriptive Cataloging Manual

Third in direct descent from Bibliographic Description of Rare Books (BDRB) -- from preface.

In a visual and artifact-filled world, cataloging one-of-a-kind cultural objects without published guidelines and standards has been a challenge. Now for the first time, under the leadership of the Visual Resources Association, a cross-section of five visual and cultural heritage experts, along with scores of reviewers from varied institutions, have created a new data content standard focused on cultural materials. This cutting-edge reference offers practical resources for cataloging and flexibility to meet the needs of a wide range of institutions—from libraries to museums to archives. Consistently following these guidelines for selecting, ordering, and formatting data used to populate metadata elements in cultural materials' catalog records: Promotes good descriptive cataloging and reduces redundancy Builds a foundation of shared documentation Creates data sharing opportunities Enhances end-user access across institutional boundaries Complements existing standards (AACR) This is a must-have reference for museum professionals, visual resources curators, archivists, librarians and anyone who documents cultural objects (including architecture, paintings, sculpture, prints, manuscripts, photographs, visual media, performance art, archaeological sites, and artifacts) and their images.

A Manual of Cataloguing Practice is a text on cataloguing and covers topics ranging from the major cataloguing codes to the subject catalogue, the name catalogue, and cataloguing of special materials. Physical forms of catalogue are also considered, along with the filing and arrangement of catalogue entries; centralized and cooperative cataloguing; the organization of cataloguing; and the relation of cataloguing to modern methods of information retrieval. This manual is comprised of 16 chapters and begins with an overview of the nature and purpose of catalogues, as well as the history of cataloguing and catalogues. The discussion then turns to the development and application of the major cataloguing codes, including the British Museum Cataloguing Rules; the Vatican Code; the American Library Association Rules 1949; and the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules 1967. Some particular problems of author-title cataloguing are considered, together with the solutions suggested by some of the major codes and the practices of some individual libraries. External guides (instructions for the use of the catalogue) and internal guides (""signposts"" within the catalogue) are also discussed. Finally, the future of cataloguing is examined. This book will be a useful resource for practicing cataloguers and librarians as well as students of librarianship.