Annual
Report
(2003)
Elizabeth
O'Keefe is the Chair of the Committee.
2003
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): Daniel Starr
MARBI
Representative (ex-officio; appointed by CAC chair): Elizabeth O'Keefe
Brief
Narrative:
1. Work on headings for named
buildings
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. In March 2003, the CPSO returned the Committee's proposal
with a request that the Committee justify the coding of buildings as corporate
bodies. The issue was discussed at the annual conference and by email, without
reaching a consensus.
At the suggestion of Claudia
Hill, a member of the Subject Analysis Committee (SAC) of the American Library
Association, the Chair and several members of the CAC attending the ALA
conference in Toronto in June 2003 gave SAC members an update on CAC activities.
The named buildings issue generated great interest, and resulted in the
formation of a SAC task force. The Task Force on Named Buildings is charged with
reviewing the issues related to establishing headings for buildings and other
structures in the subject authority file, according to subject cataloging
conventions as specified in Subject
Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings, and recommending whether it would be
appropriate to move the headings for buildings and other structures to the name
authority file, and if so, what changes to policy and practice would be
required. The task force, which is chaired by Claudia Hill, also includes
Sherman Clarke, Elizabeth O’Keefe, and Anne Champagne, a former member of the
CAC. It met for the first time at Midwinter 2004, and is expected to submit its
final report at Midwinter 2005.
2.
NH schedule for photography
At
the annual conference in Baltimore, the Committee agreed to revise and update
the NH Classification for Photography, an alternative classification system to
TR, which was published in 1974 by ARLIS/NA. A working group consisting of Lynda
Bunting and Penny Baker reviewed and revised the schedule in consultation with
catalogers from the Getty, who have been using an expanded version of the NH
schedule. The revisions are ready for review by the Committee.
3.
Guidelines for subject cataloging of material on architecture
In
a discussion following an excellent workshop on "Descriptive and Subject
Cataloging for Art Materials" given by LC staff at the conference in
Baltimore, ARLIS members requested that guidelines for cataloging material about
architecture be added to the Subject Cataloging Manual. A
draft of guidelines written by Anne Champagne was reviewed by the committee; the
next step will be to submit it formally to the CPSO.
4.
Guidelines for cataloging exhibition documentation
Little
work was done this year on guidelines for cataloging exhibition documentation,
since much of the committee’s time was spent on issues 1 and 2.
Actions
of the past year in regard 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. Projects 1 and 3 have involved communication with the Cataloging
Policy Support Office (CPSO) of the Library of Congress.
Although the Subject Analysis Committee of ALA is not mentioned in the strategic
plan, it, too, is a important forum for issues related to art cataloging; the
involvement of committee members in SAC and in the SAC Task Force gives art
librarians a voice in formulating subject cataloging policy.
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.
Submitted
by Elizabeth O'Keefe, Chair
TEL: 212 590-0380
FAX: 212 685-4740
eokeefe@morganlibrary.org