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Background
The concept of a core level cataloging record stems from the Cooperative Cataloging Council's (now Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC)) Task Group 4: Standards. Its final report of October 29, 1993, included among its recommendations a core record for books. It further recommended that "... if the concept of a core record is judged viable, similar standards should be developed for the monographic forms of non-book materials ..." Such standards have now been developed for books, graphic materials, moving image materials, music and non-music sound recordings, printed music and music manuscripts. A core record has also been developed for nonroman script materials (LC will apply to books in JACKPHY languages (Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Hebrew, Yiddish), and for serials. Standards for computer files and rare books are pending approval at the time of this writing.
The idea behind the core record is to state a level of cataloging that will increase the pool of catalog records available for common use. This level attempts to do this as follows:
- through a complement of data elements judged sufficient to provide an acceptable level of access to materials and at the same time at a level that will attract the participation of additional agencies willing to provide cataloging at that level, thus increasing the pool of records that can be shared;
- through a complement of data elements done to a predictable standard in support of use of such a record with a minimum of intervention at any particular site.
Core level cataloging contains a complement of data elements less than that for full level cataloging but more than that for minimal level cataloging. For books, core level cataloging essentially calls for fewer notes, fewer subject headings, and fewer added entries. The emphasis is on cataloger's judgment, with the flexibility to add additional elements in particular cases. When it was developed, core level was seen as a dynamic level of cataloging, i.e., one in which particular records could be upgraded to full to meet a particular library's requirements. Core level cataloging exemplifies the traditional conventions of bibliographic control as stated for full level, with the exceptions specifically applicable to core level. All access points are in authorized forms and supported by authority work. For additional information, cf. Introduction to the Program for Cooperative Cataloging BIBCO Core Record Standard.
LC Implementation of Core Level
LC's implementation of core level is based on an experiment conducted from May-October 1996. The Cataloging Management Team (CMT) accepted the recommendation stemming from this experiment "that LC core level cataloging be added to the répertoire of cataloging modes" along with other recommendations, including a set of data elements judged appropriate to the LC environment to augment the basic set of data elements constituting the various PCC core standards. Final preparations are being made for this implementation (now scheduled to begin no earlier than November 1, 1998 in the units of the Cataloging Directorate and the Serial Record Division).
In general, the materials that are candidates for core level treatment include:
- books (including those in JACKPHY languages and those cataloged through the CIP (Cataloging in Publication) program); for items cataloged through the CIP program, the resulting records will become LC core level records when the book is received and the record is upgraded
- computer files (after a core standard for these materials is approved)
- music and sound recordings not otherwise cataloged under Production Level Cataloging (a form of brief cataloging developed especially for these materials)
- rare books (after a core standard for these materials is approved)
- serials
For materials done under the CIP program and those for which LC does original cataloging, in essence, LC core level cataloging becomes the base mode of cataloging, but with cataloging teams having the discretion to use cataloging levels to more nearly keep current (as many items go out as come in). This discretion can be exercised as follows: for materials in priority 1-3, the cataloging is "at least LC core level" (the term "at least" in this context means that a team always has the discretion to do the cataloging at a level higher than the one stated if the team can do so and meet its commitment to arrearage reduction). In exercising this discretion, it is assumed that decisions to choose another mode will be based on the merit of the material being cataloged or on the prevailing interests of any particular user group or constituency that a team works with. The only materials consistently receiving full level cataloging are those designated for an LC reference assignment. (The details relating to LC core level cataloging and a revised version of the LC priority system are available in the Descriptive Cataloging Manual). LC will also continue to make use of external records for copy cataloging, including those done by PCC participants.
LC Core Level Data Elements
LC has determined to apply, as appropriate, additional elements judged fitting to the LC environment. This augmented standard is referred to as "LC core level" or an "LC core level record." The LC core level record meets the standard prescribed by IFLA's Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records. These additional data elements are as follows:
- 008 all fixed fields will be coded for music and sound recordings
- 024 0 (International Standard Recording Code), if present on item
- 041 (Language code)
- 043 (Geographic area code)
- 050 (Library of Congress call number) alternate number
- 082 (Dewey Decimal call number)
- 240 (Uniform title) in all cases as applicable
- 504 (Bibliography note)
- in 6XX (subject access) fields, multiple headings may be applied when needed to represent a compound or multi-element topic, when reciprocal headings are used, or when a standard array is prescribed
For JACKPHY materials, all data occurring in other title information and statements of responsibility are included in full romanization. In fields 100-130, 600-651, and 700-730, paired nonroman script fields are assigned only in cases of problematic romanization or in cases in which such fields support ready identification of a person or entity.
Identification of LC Core Level Records
Non-CIP Materials
Materials not receiving CIP cataloging will be identified by the following two data elements:
- USMARC Leader 17 (Encoding level) = 4
- 042 (Authentication code) = pcc
When the core level cataloging experiment was done at LC, the decision was made to use the code "pcc" in the 042 field to emphasize the "coreness" of the record ("pcc" identifies records prepared by members of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging). If for any reason a record is upgraded from core to full, the encoding level is changed to blank and the 042 = pcc field is deleted. At the Initial Bibliographic Control (IBC) stage, records will continue to be identified as being "in-process" with encoding level 5 (this is because certain internal and external data manipulations are done off this value). After an item enters the cataloging stream, the identification of core level will be made.
CIP Materials
Value 8 in USMARC Leader 17 is needed to identify records in the CIP state until the record is upgraded based on receipt of the item. Therefore, only 042 = pcc is available to identify CIP records begun as core level. When the item is received and the record is upgraded, the encoding level will be changed to 4 instead of blank; the 042 = pcc will remain in the record, and the record will become an LC core level record.