This is a great thread. I am dealing with these issues as well. We are trying to formulated guidelines to use in MARC for multi-format collections.
Cynthia DuBois
Special Collections Cataloger
African American Research Library & Cultural Center
(AARLCC)
A service of the Broward County Board of County Commissioners
Tel: 954-497-3661 X 313
Fax: 954-497-3656
Email: [log in to unmask]
>>> [log in to unmask] 12/07/01 09:41AM >>>
Max van Balgooy wrote:
> it certainly makes it more difficult for researchers, who
> are left searching through different databases, each with different "rules".
>
> I do encourage a single database for all collections, no matter the format,
> but the goal has been elusive.
Max, I wholeheartedly agree. But hang on, it's coming. I always did use
a single cataloguing system, and it isn't that hard. Where most stumble
is in realizing that object names (as found in Nomenclature or other
object based lists) do not supply subject based retrieval. One has to
use both, and with modern databases that is so simple.
Last year in Polk Co., Oregon, an IMLS funded project developed a
subject heading system that was created to be adaptable to any locality
or type of collection. Four libraries and two museums in Polk Co.
participated and converted their local history materials to the system.
We're hoping to present it at the AASLH Annual Meeting next year. A
summary follows. The system would use about 3 to 6 data fields of a
larger catalog database, depending on the degree of detail you wanted to
go to. Obviously, in addition to the subject headings, you would have
numerous other data fields to describe the item, name the donor, etc. A
good way to build the list of data fields is to use the now ancient book
Museum Cataloging In the Computer Age. Chap. 2 has a great list from
which to choose those you need for your particular collection.
Here's the blurb:
------------------
"The Polk Classification System is a model history classification and
processing system developed for a multi-agency, grant funded local
history project called the Polk Cooperative History Project. Developed
by two veteran public historians, museologist Lucy Sperlin and
archivist/librarian Ronald J. Baker, the subject based system is
inclusive, expandable, and adaptable to local or regional use in any
locality. Its original application was to pamphlet file materials,
ephemera, and archival, manuscript, and scrapbook collections, but it
can also be used to classify and process photograph, map, and artifact
collections in a unified retrieval system. Controlled fields allow for
database creation and electronic searchability. The antecedents of the
system are rooted both in museum and in library classification systems
and make it an ideal one for multi-agency cooperation."
--------------------
By spring we should have it as an "off-the-shelf" system with manual, a
work forms package, and a model "pathfinder" product (both in paper and
on the Web), that can easily be adopted by small institutions with
modest resources and limited experience in processing, conservation,
cataloging, and indexing.
Lucy Sperlin
Heritage Management
Chico, CA
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