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Cataloging of Audiovisual Materials and Other Special Materials:
a Manual Based on AACR2
4th edition

by Nancy B. Olson
edited by Sheila S. Intner and Edward Swanson
A Review



Nancy Olson has revised a very useful handbook for AV catalogers. The 4th edition of Cataloging of Audiovisual Materials and Other Special Materials came out with important additions and up-to-date revisions. Changes in this new edition include the introductions of two new types of AV materials; interactive multimedia and Internet resources, the additions of the MARC format for the examples, and informative "Comments" sections at the end of each example. Each chapter has been revised to reflect rule changes for AV cataloging. There are new chapters in the 4th edition.

Chapter 3 explains format integration, discusses coding and tagging, and presents a useful checklist that includes 50 note fields (5xx fields) with AACR2 rule numbers. Chapter 8, part 2 (Internet resources) is provided according to Cataloging Internet Resources: A Manual and Practical Guide, Nancy B. Olson, editor, 2nd ed.; however, four examples (one example (47. OLAC Web Page) are not from the Guide. Chapter 8, Part 3 (Interactive Multimedia) provides "Special Rules for Cataloging" in combination with the Guidelines for Bibliographic Description of Interactive Multimedia (Chicago, Il. : ALA, 1994).

In the new edition, there are fewer examples for old types of AV formats, such as long playing records, etc. and plenty of examples for the newer types. For example the 3rd edition provided five sound disc examples and two sound cassette examples, while the 4th edition provides three sound disc and four sound cassette examples. Chapters 4-12 include 74 examples, including 23 new examples for talking books, CD-ROMs, interactive multimedia, and Internet resources. Examples are very clearly presented and accompanied by images on the opposite pages. The most notable difference is that a full MARC record accompanies each example. This is very helpful. In addition, a "Comments" section for each example acts as a good guide to help catalogers understand cataloging the individual item according to AACR2 rules.

As with the 3rd edition, a chart for 007 is included. It has been reformatted and updated to reflect the changes in AV manual. This manual will be an extremely helpful resource to both experienced and beginning AV catalogers. It belongs on every AV cataloger's desk.

Note: Nancy Olson announced in the OLAC Newsletter (Vol. 18, no. 2, June 1998) that the very day the manual was shipped from the printer to the publisher, OCLC issued their guidelines on the choice of type for electronic resources. She is preparing an update to the 4th edition and will send a copy of the update to those who request it.

Reviewed by: Sung Ok Kim
Original Cataloging Unit
Cornell University Library


Last updated: April 8, 2003
http://www.olacinc.org/reviews/olsonav4.html
neumeist@buffalo.edu