Preface (with Abstract and detailed table of contents)
RAHMATOLLAH FATTAHI
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE SCHOOL OF INFORMATION, LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
1997
This work is dedicated to
all librarians in general, and cataloguers in particular, who have over time been involved in the task of organising recorded human knowledge in providing effective intellectual and physical access to information sources.
ABSTRACT
This thesis aims to investigate the relevance, i.e., the validity and adequacy, of current cataloguing principles to the online environment.
The major research methods used are an historical and an analytical study of cataloguing concepts and principles. From an historical perspective, the concepts and principles underlying the development of cataloguing codes over the last one hundred and fifty years will be explored. The study also investigates the possible influence of the physical forms of catalogues on the design of cataloguing codes, particularly in the Anglo-American tradition. Following the historical review, a comparison of online catalogues and card catalogues reveals that, in terms of the creation, manipulation and search/retrieval/display of bibliographic information, there are major differences in the two environments and that these differences affect cataloguing standards. The comparison also reveals that online catalogues and the data they give access to are now less controlled by either cataloguers or cataloguing standards than in the past card catalogues. These background studies emphasise the need for a re-assessment of past cataloguing concepts.
The results of the study of bibliographic entities and the governing fundamental concepts in the bibliographic universe indicate that these concepts, and basically the relationships between entities, are independent of the catalogue environment. A functional analysis of the bibliographic record (as a surrogate of entities) indicates that, while catalogue records could have wider uses and applications in the online environment, their functionality and effectiveness depend on factors such as comprehensiveness of different data elements for inclusion (i.e., a fuller level of description), better treatment of their relationships to other records and consistency in their indexing for useful searching, retrieval and display.
The principal results of this research are:
1) a re-examination of current cataloguing principles against the various search/retrieval/display capabilities of the online environment reveals that a number of basic principles are still valid in that they relate rather to the requirements of the bibliographic universe than to the catalogue environment. Further, some online access and retrieval problems stem from irrelevance and/or inadequacy of certain principles. For more effective bibliographic control in the global online environment, it would be advantageous if the different communities such as library cataloguing agencies, the book trade and abstracting and indexing services were to use similar or compatible principles in certain areas of bibliographic management.
2) the concept of 'super records' (i.e., a hierarchical record structure to embody the abstract work and its different manifestations, with dynamic links between them) has been proposed as a possible solution to the inadequacy of current cataloguing principles in relation to the description of, and access to, works that appear in many editions and manifestations. Based on this concept, a 'prototype catalogue of super records' has been developed and made available on the World Wide Web (at: http://wilma.silas.unsw.edu.au/students/rfattahi/super.htm) to explore the potential of the online environment in managing voluminous works.
3) finally two areas (i.e., the basis for description and the online display of bibliographic records) have been examined as possible approaches for further development of principles for the online environment and as possible solutions to the present search/retrieval/display problems in online catalogues.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the encouragement and advice of a number of people in the production of this thesis. First, thanks are due to my supervisor, Dr. Jack Nelson, for devoting so much time in providing me with many valuable sources and for commenting on the preliminary drafts of this thesis as well as being a constant source of support and encouragement. Thanks must also go to my co-supervisor and Head of School, Dr. Helen Jarvis, for her valuable comments on the content of this research. I would like also to thank Associate Professor and former Head of School Carmel Maguire for her suggestions on the direction of this work.
I also wish to extend my most sincere thanks to Eugenie Greig for her constant encouragement, her valuable comments and for providing me with many published as well as unpublished sources as well as translating a number of German articles into English for me. I would also like to thank Dr. Barbara Tillett, Chief of the Cataloging Policy and Support System at the Library of Congress; Tom Delsey from the National Library of Canada; Giles Martin from the University of Newcastle Library; Monika Munnich, Chair, Expert Group, RAK (the German code: Regeln für die alphabetische Katalogisierung); Michael Heaney, of the Bodleian Library; Mick Ridley, University of Bradford, for providing me with some otherwise inaccessible unpublished materials.
Acknowledgments must also be made to a number of my colleagues at the University of New South Wales School of Information, Library and Archive Studies, namely: my wife Mehri Parirokh, who is also a Ph.D student at the same School and who has always encouraged me to continue my education, Dr. Mortaza Kokabi and Ebrahim Afshar for commenting on some of the issues I have raised in this research. I would also like to thank the academic staff of the School (especially William Hood) and the staff of the University of New South Wales Library for their constant help and support.
Finally, I feel deeply indebted to the many people whose writings were the major source of this research and hope that my work is, in fact, a continuation of their own. This includes those cataloguers whose contributions to different electronic discussion lists, especially the AUTOCAT* , were another major source of information.
PREFACE
My interest in this research arose out of my long experience as a cataloguer and as the head of a shared cataloguing system in an academic environment. The impact of new technologies on current cataloguing rules was an issue which, after a few years, led me to this research. In 1987, when I attended a workshop on CDS/ISIS (Computerized Documentation System/Integrated Set of Information Systems, a software package prepared by Unesco for libraries of member countries), I noticed that the traditional cataloguing rules might not completely satisfy the needs of automated catalogues. Machine-readable records and the categorisation of data elements into fields and sub-fields and their indexing, which I found to be very different from traditional catalogue cards, were issues of interest to me in this respect. In general, I was curious about what other implications computer catalogues might have on descriptive cataloguing.
The topic and the area were also of interest to me because a considerable number of articles in the literature, especially the proceedings of the Conference on the Conceptual Foundations of Descriptive Cataloging held at the University of California, Los Angeles, 1987, edited by Elaine Svenonius, raised the question as an important one both for the future of descriptive cataloguing and for Universal Bibliographic Control.
During the preparation of my research proposal in late 1992, I considered a re-examination of current cataloguing principles, mainly the Paris Principles to be a significant issue for my future research. The relevance of current cataloguing principles is important because many national cataloguing codes are based on those principles. The theme of the 11th National Cataloguing Conference of the Cataloguing Section of the Australian Library and Information Association held in Sydney on 19th and 20th October 1995 was "Cataloguing concepts in the electronic environment". At this conference the keynote speaker, Barbara Tillett, Chief, Cataloging Policy and Support Office at the Library of Congress announced that an international conference on cataloguing principles will be held in 1997. In another posting to AUTOCAT (Susan Davis<UNLSDB@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU>, 5 June 1995), "AACR2 and the information age: is the code still relevant?" is stated as one of the themes to be discussed at the 1996 Annual NASIG** Conference. All these activities could be considered to support the validity of the research dealt with in this thesis.
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1 Bibliographic entities in a superwork context 102
Figure 4.2 An extended model for bibliographic entities
(different manifestations derived from one particular expression) 103
Figure 4.3 An extended model for bibliographic entities
(different manifestations derived from different expressions) 104
Figure 4.4 An extended model of entities with derivative relationship 105
Figure 4.5 Possible attributes of entities at different levels 107
Figure 5.1 Brief display of Author/Title/Date in the University of New South Wales Library's OPAC 139
Figure 5.2 A functional model for the bibliographic record (excluding subject headings) in its electronic format 159
Figure 7.1 A sample of a super record for a voluminous author 222
Figure 7.2 A sample of a super record for a classical work 223
Figure 7.3 A sample of a super record for an anonymous work 223
Figure 7.4 A sample of a super record for a modern work 224
LIST OF MATRICES
Matrix 4.1 Common attributes for bibliographic entities 109
Matrix 4.2 Types of bibliographic relationships among bibliographic entities 113
Matrix 4.3 Linking devices and the types of relationships they support 115
Matrix 5.1 Data elements used in the book world and libraries 129
Matrix 5.2 Functional categorisation of data elements in the bibliographic record 158
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION i
ABSTRACT ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT iv
PREFACE v
LIST OF FIGURES xii
LIST OF MATRICES xiii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Review of the related literature
The need for and the purpose of the study
Significance of the study
Research questions 6 6 Methodology
Limitations to be placed on coverage
The organisation of the chapters
CHAPTER TWO: RECYCLING THE PAST: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN CATALOGUES AND CATALOGUING CODES 13 0 INTRODUCTION
The aims, scope and approach of this chapter 13 1
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Anthony Panizzi and the British Museum rules
Charles C. Jewett and his thirty-three rules
Charles A. Cutter and his Rules for a Dictionary Catalog
The development of the card catalogue in the late nineteenth century
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Anglo-American Code (1908) ALA Catalog Rules; Author and Title Entries (1941) 27 2.3 A. L. A. Cataloging Rules for Author and Title Entries ( 1949) 28 2.4 Code of Cataloging Rules (CCR 1960) 30 2.5 The Paris Principles (ICCP 1961) 33 2.6 Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR 1) 37 2.7 International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD 1971) 40 2.8 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (AACR2) 41 2.9 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition, 1988 revision (AACR2R) 46 2.10 Non Anglo-American cataloguing codes 48 3 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 51
CHAPTER THREE: ONLINE CATALOGUES AND CARD CATALOGUES: IDENTIFICATION OF AREAS OF SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES 55 0 INTRODUCTION
55 0.1 The aims, scope and approach of this chapter 55 1 ONLINE CATALOGUES: WHAT THEY ARE 57 1.2 Developments and directions of online catalogues 58 2 ONLINE CATALOGUES: HOW THEY DIFFER FROM MANUAL CATALOGUES 64 2.1 Creation and manipulation of bibliographic records 65 2.2 Construction and maintenance of the catalogue 69 2.3 Searching, retrieval, and display of bibliographic records 76 3 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 91
CHAPTER FOUR: A CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE: ENTITIES, ATTRIBUTES, RELATIONSHIPS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT IN THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT
93 0 INTRODUCTION 93 0.1 The aims, scope and approach of this chapter 93 0.2 Some definitions 94 0.3 The Entity-relationship model 95 0.4 Problems and complexities of designing a common conceptual model 96 1 BIBLIOGRAPHIC ENTITIES 96 2 ATTRIBUTES OF BIBLIOGRAPHIC ENTITIES 106 3 BIBLIOGRAPHIC RELATIONSHIPS 110 3.1 Types of relationship 111 3.2 Devices for relating bibliographic entities 115 3.3 Bibliographic relationships in an online environment 117 4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 120
CHAPTER FIVE: THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD IN THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT: CONTENT AND FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
124 0 INTRODUCTION 124 0.1 The aims, scope and approach of this chapter 124 1 CHAPTER FIVE: PART ONE 127 IDENTIFICATION OF THE CONTENT AND FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD 1.0 The bibliographic record in the bibliographic chain 127 1.1 What are the functions of the bibliographic record? 130 1.2 Data elements in the bibliographic record: identification and functional analysis 133 1.3 Functional categorisation of data elements 156 2 CHAPTER FIVE: PART TWO 159 A UNIFORM APPROACH TOWARDS THE INDEXING OF CATALOGUING DATA IN BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORDS 2.0 Introduction 161 2.1 Indexing of uniform titles 162 2.2 Indexing of titles proper 163 2.3 Indexing of series information 164 2.4 Indexing of notes information 164 2.5 A possible approach 166 2.6 Conclusion 166 3 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 168
CHAPTER SIX: CATALOGUING PRINCIPLES IN THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT
169 0 INTRODUCTION 169 0.1 The aims, scope and approach of this chapter 169 0.2 What are cataloguing principles? 170 0.3 Major developments and changes in descriptive cataloguing since the Paris Conference 171 1 CHAPTER SIX: PART ONE 174 A RE-EXAMINATION OF CATALOGUING PRINCIPLES IN AN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT 1.1 Objectives and functions of the catalogue in an online environment 175 1.2 Structure of the catalogue and the concept of multiple entries 181 1.3 The concept of main entry 182 1.4 Uniform headings for titles 189 1.5 Uniform headings for persons 192 1.6 Form of headings in an online environment 197 2 CHAPTER SIX: PART TWO ABSTRACTING AND INDEXING SERVICES AND LIBRARY CATALOGUING: RECONCILIATION OF PRINCIPLES 202 2.1 Objectives and functions of the catalogue/database 204 2.2 Structure of the catalogue/database 204 2.3 Choice and form of access points 206 2.4 Conclusion 208 3 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 210
CHAPTER SEVEN: CURRENT AND FUTURE ISSUES UNDERLYING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CATALOGUING PRINCIPLES FOR THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT
214 0 INTRODUCTION 214 0.1 The aims, scope and approach of this chapter 214 1 THE BASIS FOR DESCRIPTION 214 1.1 Basic unit for description 216 1.2 The edition question 218 1.3 Chief and alternative sources of cataloguing data 219 1.4 Dependent works 219 1.5 Conclusion 220 2 THE CONCEPT OF SUPER RECORDS: AN APPROACH TO WORKS APPEARING IN DIFFERENT EDITIONS AND MANIFESTATIONS 220 2.1 What are super records? 221 2.2 Functions of super records 225 2.3 Advantages of super records 225 2.4 Limitations and implications of the concept 228 2.5 Other similar approaches 229 2.6 Conclusion 231 3 PRINCIPLES FOR BIBLIOGRAPHIC DISPLAYS 231 3.1 Problems in online displays 232 3.2 Principles for online displays 235 3.3 Proposed levels of display 235 3.4 Conclusion 236 4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 237
CHAPTER EIGHT: CONCLUDING REMARKS
270 Appendix 1 Statement of Principles adopted at the International
Conference on Cataloguing Principles, 1961, Paris 271
Appendix 2 List of Attributes from the Z39.50 standard 278
Appendix 3.1 Retrieval hits in response to an exact title search on
'Hamlet' in the university of New South Wales Library
OPAC (10/9/1995) 288
Appendix 3.2 Retrieval hits in response to a cross-index keyword search on 'Shakespeare and Hamlet' in the University of New South
Wales Library OPAC (10/9/1995) 290
Appendix 3.3 Retrieval hits in response to a title keyword search on 'Hamlet' in the University of New South Wales Library OPAC (10/9/1995) 293
Appendix 3.4 Retrieval hits in response to a subject search on 'Shakespeare,
William. Hamlet' in the UNSW OPAC (10/9/1995) 293
Appendix 4 Sample pages from the Prototype Catalogue of Super Records:
Appendix 4.1 The opening page (screen) with access to introductory information and indexes to super records 295
Appendix 4.2 Author index to super records 295
Appendix 4.3 Uniform titles index to super records 296
Appendix 4.4 A sample super record for William Shakespeare's works 297
Appendix 4.5 A sample super record for Shakespeare's Hamlet 298
Appendix 4.6 A sample super record for Hamlet's later editions 299
Appendix 4.7 A sample (MARC) record with holding information for
an edition of Hamlet 300
Appendix 5 Sample pages for Shakespeare's Hamlet and the Arabian Nights
from the British Museum's General Catalogue of Printed Books 301
Appendix 6 Sample screens from the Bradford OPAC (the manifestation approach) 309
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1 Bibliographic entities in a superwork context 102
Figure 4.2 An extended model for bibliographic entities
(Different manifestations derived from one particular expression) 103
Figure 4.3 An extended model for bibliographic entities
(Different manifestations derived from different expression) 104
Figure 4.4 An extended model of entities with derivative relationship 105
Figure 4.5 Possible attributes of entities at different levels 107
Figure 5.1 A functional model for the bibliographic record in its electronic format 136
Figure 7.1 A sample of a super record for a voluminous author 222
Figure 7.2 A sample of a super record for a classical work 223
Figure 7.3 A sample of a super record for an anonymous work 223
Figure 7.4 A sample of a super record for a modern work 224
LIST OF MATRICES
Matrix 4.1 Common attributes for bibliographic entities 109
Matrix 4.3 Linking devices and the types of relationships they support 115
Matrix 5.1 Data elements used in the book world and libraries 129
Matrix 5.2 Functional categorisation of data elements in the bibliographic record 158
It is interesting to add here that I was informed in late 1994 (through both Janet Swan Hill <Hillj@Colorado.EDU>, in a posting to AUTOCAT, 23 November 1994; and a personal message to me, dated 10 June 1994) that, due to the importance of the issue, JSC (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR) had recommended that "an international conference be held, with the specific aim of re-examining the Paris Principles and the other basic principles on which the current code is based, to see whether these principles remain valid." (Hill, Ibid).
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