Annual Report (2002)
Cataloging Advisory Committee, ARLIS/NA
Elizabeth O'Keefe is the Chair of the Committee.
2002 committee members were: Penny Baker, Lynda Bunting, Sherman Clarke, Claudia Hill, Trudi Olivetti, and Judy Silverman.
CC:DA Representative (ex-officio; appointed by CAC chair): Anne Champagne. In January, 2003, Anne resigned, citing withdrawal of the support from her institution which has enabled her to attend the CC:DA meetings at the Midwinter and Annual conferences of ALA (see item 1 for consideration by Executive Board) MARBI Representative (ex-officio; appointed by CAC chair): Elizabeth O'Keefe, who will continue in this role.
Brief Narrative:
In January, 2002, the committee submitted to the Cataloging Policy Support Office (CPSO) of the Library of Congress a rule interpretation for establishing buildings and other structures as name authorities; the draft is still under review by the CPSO.
At the request of the Online Audiovisual Catalogers, Inc. Task Force for Additions to Personal Names, the Committee reviewed the art-related section of the Task Force's draft revision of LCRI 22.19A1. The LCRI currently restricts the use of occupational qualifiers to break conflicts for otherwise identical name headings to pre-20th century persons and musicians. The CAC recommended that the option be extended to 20th-century artists, and provided guidelines on the choice of occupational qualifiers.
At the annual conference in St. Louis, the CAC held a joint meeting with the Data Standards Committee of the Visual Resources Association. Among the topics discussed were cataloging issues on which the two bodies could collaborate. One such project was the development of a list of terms to be used as qualifiers of the names of anonymous artists. In July, the CAC submitted a list of terms and definitions to the Data Standards Committee for review. The DSC returned a revised version of the list in December. It is currently undergoing review by the CAC.
The committee is continuing work on guidelines for cataloguing documentation associated with art exhibitions. This project was originally conceived as an attempt to develop a PCC Core Record standard for exhibition catalogs. However, the PCC is now reconsidering the viability of the Core Record; therefore, the CAC has decided to focus instead on developing more generally applicable cataloging guidelines. A first draft composed by committee members is under revision.
Actions of the past year in regards to the Strategic Plan:
The Strategic Plan 2000-2005 contains no action items for the CAC. The projects undertaken by the committee are all within the scope of its standing charge, as described in the Policy Manual:
"To formulate ARLIS/NA positions on specific cataloging problems, dealing with both print and non-print materials, posed by the Executive Board or identified by the Committee, and to communicate these positions to a) the American Library Association's Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA) and b) the USMARC Advisory Group (MARBI) or c) to the Library of Congress."
In furtherance of this mission, the Committee's representatives to MARBI and CC:DA monitor the work of these bodies for relevance to art librarianship, and communicate the Society's views at the CC:DA and MARBI meetings at the Midwinter and Annual conferences of the American Library Association.
Issues for the Executive Board:
1. ARLIS support for attendance at non-ARLIS conferences
The CC:DA and MARBI are the two major players in the area of cataloging standards. It is crucial to have knowledgable and experienced representatives speaking to these bodies on behalf of art libraries. But this requires a substantial commitment of time, effort, and money. The representatives are required to attend not just one but two non-ARLIS conferences a year, since MARBI and CC:DA meet at ALA Midwinter as well as the annual conference. As employers cut back on support for travel and conference attendance, our representatives are having to shoulder an increasing amount of the costs of conference attendance. So far, we have always been able to find representatives who were: a) qualified to speak on complicated cataloging issues; and b) able to fund conference attendance either out of their own pockets or with institutional support. But it is getting more difficult to find volunteers who can meet both criteria. It may be time for the Executive Board to consider defraying at least part of the expenses of ARLIS members who must attend other conferences on behalf of the Society.
2. Collaboration on cataloging issues involving non-book materials
The CAC works primarily on cataloging issues and standards affecting art library collections. Yet some of the committee's most successful projects have involved issues where the needs of book catalogers, image catalogers, and object catalogers overlap: for example, rules for creating headings for named works of art (a successful CAC project) are needed by all three groups. I hesitate to commit the CAC to more work than the members can handle; but I wonder whether it might be possible to develop collaborations on cataloging issues with other groups within and outside ARLIS. The recent collaboration with the Data Standards Committee of the VRA on a list of qualifiers for anonymous artists is an example of this. These collaborations might take the form of joint projects involving some or all members of both committees. In other cases, we might want to form task forces which would draft people with appropriate levels of expertise, regardless of whether they were members of the CAC or even of ARLIS.
Submitted by Elizabeth O'Keefe, Chair
TEL: 212 590-0380
FAX: 212 685-4740
eokeefe@morganlibrary.org