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The Collation

Picture cataloging: new rules for old

Ta daaaa! I’m happy to introduce to you Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Graphics)—DCRM(G) for short—the latest publication in a suite of manuals that provides descriptive cataloging rules for primary source materials in special collections libraries. The official announcement will be made by the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries jointly with the Library of Congress, but I figure it’s okay to leak the news to Collation readers since I led the editorial team. 1 Allow me to show off some of the spiffy new rules, using examples from the Folger collection.

Front cover of "Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Graphics)"

  1. The others on the team were Ellen Cordes, Head of Technical Services, The Lewis Walpole Library; James Eason, Principal Pictorial Archivist, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; Mary Mundy, Cataloging Specialist, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress; Lenore M. Rouse, Curator, Rare Books & Special Collections, The Catholic University of America; Joe Springer, Curator, Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen College; and Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
  2. Square brackets indicate that the information was not transcribed from the item, and the abbreviated form of the word “circa” indicates that the date is approximate.
  3. There are some exceptions when it comes to ligatures, but this is getting to be too long a story.