BIBCO-At-Large Meeting Summary

ALA Midwinter Conference
LOEWS Regency
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
January 26, 2003

Acting Cooperative Cataloging Team Leader and Acting BIBCO Coordinator Ana Cristán opened the BIBCO-At-Large meeting at the ALA Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia by welcoming the audience with a review of recent activities. The approval by the PCC Policy Committee of numerical goals for the NACO program may have an impact on BIBCO membership. The Policy Committee has tasked the Secretariat with conducting a cost-benefit study of the program to see if similar production standards may be needed for BIBCO. A second working group of particular relevance is one on documentation, the charge for which is now being formulated by the Standing Committee on Training. A pre-conference example of the PCC's work on cataloger training was seen in the presentation of a Training the Integrating Resources Trainer workshop on Friday, January 24th, 2003. A similar workshop will also be held in Seattle later in the year.

Judy Kuhagen, Senior Policy Specialist in the Cataloging Policy and Support Office of the Library of Congress, occupied the remainder of the meeting with a discussion of the impact on BIBCO cataloging of the 2003 AACR2 revisions. Many of the revisions will directly affect the daily work of monographic catalogers.

In Chapter 3 (Cartographic materials) language has been added to cover electronic resources. In Chapter 9 (Electronic resources) language relevant to integrating resources has been moved to Chapter 12. Some rules in Chapter 1 (General Rules for Description) and Chapter 21 have been revised. Some existing MARC 21 fields, formerly used only in serial bibliographic records, will now be used in records for integrating resources. There are also MARC 21 changes: new codes in Continuing Resources 006/008 and the new Leader Bibliographic Level code "i".

Chapter 12 (newly named Continuing Resources) was revised to include rules for integrating resources. A definition for integrating resource was added to the glossary: "A bibliographic resource that is added to or changed by means of updates that do not remain discrete and are integrated into the whole. Integrating resources can be finite or continuing ..." Those familiar with Adele Hallam's Cataloging rules for the description of looseleaf publications will be familiar with the new rules in chapter 12. The provisions in this standard U.S. manual has been generalized to apply to all integrating resources with few changes, generally to allow for greater cataloger judgement.

Reciprocal linking notes (MARC 21 fields 760-787) will be given in all bibliographic records involving an integrating resource and the other bibliographic resources with which it has a relationship. Prior to the 2002 Revision, notes and related work added entries were given only on the record for the new resource.

Another change that most monographic catalogers will find in the new rules is in the transcription of the series statement in the analytic record. The effect of some Chapter 12 and Chapter 1 revisions changes transcription practice in regard to "introductory words", typographic errors, and the preference for the full form of series name over an acronym/initialism of the series title. In series tracings, the differences between what is recorded on the bibliographic record and what was transcribed prior to the 2002 revisions will be dealt with through cross references on the series authority record, and not as a 490/830 combination. (Cf. slide 35 of the Kuhagen presentation).

Further notes on these issues included implementation practice: the usual policy of not changing something that was right when it was first done. Series authority records created before December 1st, 2002 will not be deleted or merged into other records. Kuhagen also spent some time discussing the concept of major vs. minor title changes (rule 21.2A) and the impact on the series authority record.

Ana Cristán concluded the meeting with some notes on topics for the ALA annual conference to be held in Toronto, Canada this year. The meeting will have an update on integrating resources to assure that BIBCO catalogers are comfortable with the AACR2 revisions and their impact on monographic cataloging and especially on series titles as well as an update on other changes that are expected to be in place with regard to implementation of code "i". The meeting will also feature a report from member Robert Ellett on the survey he is conducting on the use of BIBCO records.