National Library of Australia

Minutes

ACOC, the Australian Committee on Cataloguing met at ALIA House, Deakin, ACT for a one-day meeting on 10 September 2001.

Record of decisions and action items

Present:

Peter Haddad (NLA rep)
Helen Hoffmann (ALIA rep)
Ann Huthwaite (co-opted ALIA rep)
Deirdre Kiorgaard (NLA rep)
Sue Moir (ALIA rep)
Julia Trainor (NLA rep)

General Material Designation (GMD) Chair/73

ACOC strongly supported the function of the GMD in the catalogue, i.e. to provide a prominent indication to the catalogue user of the type of material being displayed. However, ACOC was aware of the fact that GMDs lack specificity and do not convey more than one attribute of an item, for example a serial map in electronic form can be designated as a map or an electronic resource but not both.

ACOC agreed that the resolution of the GMD problem should not be attempted at this stage. It should be scheduled for resolution after the following essential tasks have been completed:

  1. Review of the ‘cardinal principle’ in 0.24
  2. Completion of the work on format variation.
  3. Re-organisation of AACR Part 1 to reflect the outcomes of the first two tasks.

Principles of AACR Chair 74

Principles

ACOC agreed that the list of principles in the paper should be included in the Introduction to AACR, and agreed that the two additional principles of disambiguation and uniqueness, derived from Svenonius, should be included.

Entities

ACOC agreed that the information on entities as defined in the Functional Requirements of Bibliographic Records should be included in the Introduction to AACR, with brief explanation of each entity.

Objectives

ACOC agreed that the objectives should be placed ahead of the principles and entities in the Introduction to AACR. ACOC agreed with objective 1, with the exception of the line ‘All resources on a given subject’ which is beyond the scope of AACR. ACOC agreed with objectives 2, 3 and 4. ACOC noted the introduction of the terminology ‘bibliographic database’ and the omission of ‘catalogue’. ACOC considered that the word ‘catalogue’ should be included as well as bibliographic database, to indicate that AACR may be used to create bibliographic data for use in both catalogues and bibliographic databases.

ACOC discussed the related tasks listed under the objectives in the paper, and considered that a statement about the context of AACR could usefully be included in the Introduction. Such a statement of scope could refer to the place of AACR in the context of other standards used for bibliographic description and access, such as MARC, ISBD and ISSN agency standards. ACOC also discussed whether the scope of AACR could be extended to include descriptive data used for collection management, such as preservation and rights management. While such data is used directly by collection managers rather than by catalogue users, the data is used to underpin services to users via the catalogue.

Seriality Chair/68

ACOC discussion focussed on the three substantive issues raised in the LC response of 25 July 2001.

12.0A1 Map series treated as integrating resources

ACOC was inclined to agree with LC that map series should not be excluded from treatment as continuing resources.

Action: Deirdre Kiorgaard to consult Maura O’Connor and Dorothy Prescott on this issue before ACOC position finalised.

12.0B1a Electronic serials treated as integrating resources

National Library representatives expressed concern about the instruction ‘If an electronic serial does not retain earlier titles, treat it as if it were an integrating resource’. The concern is that serials do not generally retain former titles in each issue, and serials are not integrating resources, so there is no reason given for treating electronic serials differently from printed serials. Ann Huthwaite thought the instruction was intended to apply to the source of information, and was intended to assist cataloguers who did not know the former titles of a serial. However, National Library representatives pointed out that this situation applies to all serials, and the solution is to catalogue from the latest available issue. The major focus should be on the catalogue user, who may seek a serial cited under a former title. Treatment as an integrating resource would make the serial difficult to retrieve. Former titles of electronic serials do not necessarily disappear. The National Library of Australia archives significant electronic serials. ACOC concluded that the intention of this instruction is not clear, and the expression needs to be revised.

12.7B23 Item described

ACOC agreed with the LC proposal to switch the order of the sub rules ‘a’ and ‘b’.

Action: All ACOC members to review the Chair/68 papers in detail and provide comments to the list by the end of the week (i.e. by 14 September).

Strategic planning for AACR and JSC

Ann Huthwaite reported that strategic planning would be the first item on the agenda for the next JSC meeting in October.

ACOC considered that the strategic issue of the highest priority for AACR should be the revision of rule 0.24 to deal with format variation, and that this needs to be addressed before the GMD issue or the re-organisation of Part 1 of AACR.

Terms of reference, future scope, role and representation of ACOC

Jennefer Nicholson, Executive Officer of ALIA, addressed the meeting.

Action: ACOC to review its terms of reference and membership and report to ALIA by 1 October for presentation to the ALIA Board on 9 October.