Closed Captioning on Videos
In the past, OCLC has always told users not to input separate
records for what appeared to be closed captioned and uncaptioned versions of the same videos. This advice assumed that such differences were mostly due to the carelessness of video publishers with their package labeling and/or catalogers with an incomplete knowledge of Visual Materials cataloging. Now, specific evidence has been brought
to our attention that there are cases where closed captioned and
uncaptioned versions of the same videos do indeed exist. Apparently, closed captioning tends to get added in later production runs of some older video materials. The only evidence of different dates for these materials seems to reside in information that OCLC has always told catalogers to ignore as bibliographically insignificant:
"package design" copyright dates. OCLC now suggests that, if you have evidence that both closed captioned and uncaptioned versions of the same videos have been released by the same publisher, and that the only bibliographic difference is the "package design" date, consider this date to be an inferred date of publication, bracketed. Be sure to include a 546 note and subject heading for the closed captioning. For clarity, you might also include a note (AACR2R 1.7B 16) indicating that the other closed captioned or uncaptioned version is also available.
Please remember that indication of closed captioning is easy to
overlook. Most often it appears only in the cryptic form of either the "double C" symbol or what I have called the "accented TV" symbol of the National Captioning Institute (a small TV screen-shaped box with a sort of pointed teardrop coming off the bottom). In addition, the symbol in question may appear only on the video label or only on the packaging (often discarded by libraries) rather than in a standard place every time. To complicate matters further, not all libraries may have equipment that reveals any closed captioning. In ambiguous cases where the item in hand is closed captioned and an existing record online appears not to be, or vice versa, OCLC still prefers that the existing record be edited for local use. If you suspect that an existing record is incorrect, please send proof to OCLC via the usual means and we will investigate and fix the record, if appropriate.
For more information about closed captioning, the National
Captioning Institute has a Web site (http://www.ncicap.org/)
of considerable interest.
(from the OLAC Newsletter June 1997 Volume 17, Number 2)
Last updated: March 6, 2003
http://www.olacinc.org/captioning.html
neumeist@buffalo.edu