Music Coding and Tagging:
MARC 21 Content Designation for Scores and Sound Recordings
2nd Edition
by Jay Weitz
A Review
Immense changes transpired over the past decade in the knowledge and resources catalogers utilize to create machine-readable records. Format Integration, the evolution of MARC 21 and the demands of electronic access transformed the work of music catalogers specifically, creating need for a new edition of Music Coding and Tagging. True to the task, Weitz incorporates these changes into his 2nd edition, creating a useful tool for the content designation of bibliographic data aimed specifically at aiding the cataloger of musical scores and sound recordings, both music and non-music.
The guide is arranged in order by field types and numbers, except where fields are grouped logically for easy use of similar indicators and subfields, for example all meeting name headings (111, 611, 711) or uniform title headings (130, 240, 630, 730). Each field begins with field designations and input standards for MARC 21 and the major utilities OCLC and RLIN.
Introductions to each field focus specifically on information useful in these particular formats without omitting information useful in a general sense. For example, information under fixed field language and 043 fields refers to conventions used in all formats, with practices specific to scores and sound recordings, e.g. regarding accompanying material. Reference is made to appropriate resources such as, in this case the MARC 21 code list for languages.
Definitions and explanations of fields and subfields are often augmented and thereby made more helpful to catalogers, further elucidating appropriate use. A case in point would be treatment of some of the fixed fields. Form of Composition, for example, offers a lengthier definition than that found in OCLC Bibliographic Formats and Standards, with a more in-depth explanation of the code’s relation to the work itself. Code definitions, nonexistent in the utility guide are offered, giving some guidance to the genre of a score or sound recording. This is followed by a generous handful of format-specific examples.
Although catalogers may spurn the idea of cataloging by example, at times we crave a few in a particular format and cannot find them in the utility field guides. Weitz’s book offers them generously. Each tag and subfield offers examples specific to scores and sound recordings. In addition, full record examples, found in Appendix C in both OCLC and RLIN format, put the fields in context of the entire record.
The work aims to aid current catalogers, but it is not without information that helps catalogers put current practice in the context of history. Appendix A offers information on obsolete and Pre-AACR2 fields. Reference is often made to former practices, such as the pre-AACR2 use of the 262 field, found in Appendix A. Detailed discussion of the history of LC control numbers and former displays on printed cards will prove very useful for retrospective input.
Careful consultation of the text exposes a cataloger to the issues of music cataloging yet does not stop there; practical solutions are offered. Those accustomed to doing subject analysis, for example, will appreciate the detail found in the section on subject headings (650, 651). A novice will appreciate the guidance. Subject types likely to be found in music-related records are illustrated by examples followed by a discussion of ambiguous headings and appropriate reference to Appendix E of MARC 21.
A work of this kind is assembled on the assumption of the intrinsic value of content designation. It is assumed that the content of records is already determined prior to consulting these sources. Authority files and current rule interpretations always need to be consulted for absolute accuracy.
No doubt Music Coding and Tagging will prove to be a valuable tool for experienced and novice music catalogers alike.
Published in 2001, with a foreword by Richard P. Smiraglia, by Soldier Creek Press in Belle Plaine, Minn. ISBN 0-9369-9677-3.
Reviewed by Kathryn Etcheverria
Catalog Librarian, University of Nevada, Reno
Last updated: April 8, 2003
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