NAME: Coding Leader/06 and Leader/08 for Archival Material
SOURCE: Society of American Archivists, Committee on Archival Information Exchange
SUMMARY: This paper explores issues remaining from the second phase of Format Integration concerning the use of codes "p" and "t" in Leader/06 (Type of record) and the new Leader/08 code "a" (Type of control--Archival control). It proposes the following changes: a change in definition to Leader/08 code "a" for clarification; making code "t" (Manuscript language materials) obsolete in Leader/06 and using code "a" instead; redefinitions of codes "a" and "p" in Leader/06; renaming the 008 for Books to "Textual (Nonserial); and deleting field 006 for Mixed material. Other questions for further consideration are posed, including broadening the use of code "p" for other than archival mixed materials and reviewing the use of unknown and not applicable values in the 008/006 fields to accommodate collective description of all types of material.
KEYWORDS: Leader/06; Leader/08; Mixed Materials; Type of Record
RELATED: 97-3 February 1997)
STATUS/COMMENTS:
12/15/96 - Forwarded to USMARC Advisory Group for discussion at the 1997 Midwinter MARBI meetings.
2/16/97 - Results of USMARC Advisory Group discussion - Approved in part. The redefinition of Leader/08 value a and of Leader/06 value p was approved. Leader/06 code t was not made obsolete and code a was not redefined because of concerns about how to identify material that is manuscript but not controlled archivally (i.e. not described according to archival rules, and thus not value "a" in Leader/08) if code t were to be made obsolete. Codex and single manuscripts are the primary focus of concern. In addition, participants felt that all the manuscript codes should be addressed at once. LC should work with the archival and manuscript communities to bring back a proposal dealing with the remaining issues in the paper: making the three manuscript codes obsolete and finding a place to identify codex manuscripts.
2/25/97 - Results of final LC review - Agreed with the MARBI decision.
PROPOSAL NO. 97-7: Coding Leader/06 and Leader/08
1. INTRODUCTION
The implemention of Phase 2 in March and April of 1996 of Format
Integration has resulted in unanticipated and unintended
consequences for the archival community and those searching
online catalogs for materials in archival collections. While the
intention behind the separation of type of
control from type of record was a sound one, the definitions
under L/08 for archival control and for codes t (manuscript
language material) and p (mixed material) in L/06 have created
confusion for catalogers and utilities alike. The shift in
designation of archival materials from the old L/06 code b to the
new L/08 code a was not made clear in the USMARC documentation.
Moreover, the linking of L/06 code t to the 008 sequence labeled
"books" and the resulting workform and displays generated by the
utilities were unacceptable to archival catalogers as
conceptually inappropriate and potentially misleading to users.
There has been much discussion regarding the impact of format
integration within the archival community over the last six
months. As the body within the Society of American Archivists
(SAA) responsible for monitoring descriptive standards, the
Committee on Archival Information Exchange (CAIE) has worked
toward a resolution of the dilemma on behalf of the U.S. archival
community. The need to address format integration problems,
along with the desire to come to agreement with the Canadian
archival community on issues relating to archival description
presented in Discussion Paper 93 and Proposal No. 96-8 (CAN/MARC
Changes for MARC Format Alignment), led CAIE to request funding
from SAA for a special meeting. This meeting was held in Toronto
on November 1-2, 1996, with the following persons in attendance:
Canadian representatives:
Wendy Duff, chair, Canadian Committee on Archival Description
Cynthia Durance, National Archives of Canada
Kent Haworth, Standards Committee, Canadian Council on Archives
Mireille Miniggio, recorder (CCAD)
Margaret Stewart, National Library of Canada
Hugo Stibbe, CCA Standards Committee representative to the
Canadian
Committee on MARC (CCM)
US representatives:
Michael Fox, SAA liaison to CC:DA
Rebecca Guenther, LC Network Development/MARC Standards Office
Steve Hensen, CAIE liaison to SAA Council
Kris Kiesling, chair, CAIE
Rutherford Witthus, SAA liaison to MARBI
This proposal has the full support of the above-listed
representatives of both the U.S. and Canadian archival
communities.
2. LEADER/08 TYPE OF CONTROL
The following is the existing definition of archival control in
Leader/08 of the USMARC Bibliographic Format:
a - Archival control
"Code a indicates that the item is under archival control.
Archival control usually involves special handling and may
include restrictions in access to the item. All forms of
material can be controlled archivally."
Recommendations:
a. That the value of code a in Type of Control be changed from
Archival Control to Archival.
b. That the definition of code a should read: "Code a indicates
that the material is described according to archival descriptive
rules, which focus on the contextual relationships between items
and on their provenance rather than on bibliographic detail. The
specific set of rules for description may be found in 040 $e.
All forms of material can be controlled archivally."
Rationale:
The slight change in the value name simply eliminates redundancy.
However, the definition provided in the USMARC documentation does
not reflect the intended purpose of the byte. While it may have
been the intention of the parties involved in earlier Format
Integration discussions to retain the functionality formerly
found in L/06 code b, in practice this has not proven to be the
case. The proposed new definition provides an unambiguous
interpretation of the character byte and should restore the
desired functionality.
While it may be true that materials under archival control
involve special handling or have restricted access, archival
control is more appropriately conceived as a method of managing
and describing materials wherein the focus is on the contextual
relationships between the items and on their provenance, rather
than on bibliographic detail.
Several sets of archival descriptive rules have been developed
that enable repositories to catalog their holdings archivally and
to use the MARC format so the records will collocate with those
for related library holdings. These rules include Archives,
Personal Papers, and Manuscripts (appm), Graphic Materials
(gihc), Oral History Cataloging Manual (ohcm), Archival Moving
Image Materials (amim), and the Canadian Rules for Archival
Description (rad). By designating in the 040 field the
descriptive cataloging code followed, institutions can apply
archival control to a wide variety of types of materials, whether
they manifest themselves as large collections or single items,
and whether they are published or unpublished. While there are
currently no specific rules for the collective description of
books or other materials not traditionally thought of as
"archival,"APPM can logically be extended to describe these types
of materials, or the Library of Congress Descriptive Cataloging
Manual guidelines on Collection-Level Cataloging (DCM C14,
February 1996) could be applied.
Therefore, by using L/08 code a to designate archival control,
institutions will define materials as archival by the manner in
which they are described. It follows that systems should use the
code to limit online searches for archivally controlled
materials. The code has the further benefit of allowing Canadian
repositories to separate records for archival materials from
those for bibliographic materials, which are placed in separate
catalogs in Canadian institutions.
3. LEADER/06 TYPE OF RECORD
In the USMARC Bibliographic Format, Leader/06 currently has the
following definitions:
a - Printed language material
Code a indicates that the content of the record is for
non-manuscript language material. Code a is also used for
microforms that are basically textual in nature, whether
reproductions from print or originally produced. Manuscript
language material uses code t.
p - Mixed materials
Code p indicates that the content of the record is for two
or more forms of material that are usually related by virtue
of its having been accumulated by or about a person or body.
No one form of material in this group is emphasized or
predominates. The intended primary purpose is other than
for instructional purposes (i.e., other than the purpose of
those materials coded as o--Kit). This category includes
archival and manuscript collections of mixed types of
materials, such as textual materials, photographs, and
realia.
t - Manuscript language material
Code t indicates that the content of the record is for
manuscript language material or a microform of manuscript
language material. This category is applied to items for
language material in handwriting, typescript, or computer
printout including printed materials completed by hand or by
keyboard. At the time it is created this material is
usually intended, either implicitly or explicitly, to exist
as a single instance. Examples include marked or corrected
galley and page proofs, manuscript books, legal papers, and
unpublished theses and dissertations.
Recommendations:
a. That code t, Manuscript language material, be rendered
obsolete or deleted.
b. That code a, Language material, be renamed Textual material
and be defined as follows:
Code a indicates that the content of the record is for
material that is judged to be primarily textual. Also use
for microforms that are basically textual in nature, whether
reproductions or originally produced.
c. That code p, Mixed materials, be redefined as follows:
Code p indicates that there are significant materials in two
or more forms that are usually related by virtue of their
having been accumulated by or about a person or body. The
intended primary purpose is other than for instructional
purposes (i.e., other than the purpose of those materials
coded as o--Kit). This category includes archival fonds and
manuscript collections of mixed forms of material, such as
text, photographs, and sound recordings.
Rationale:
The phrase "Manuscript language material" is ambiguous and
misleading. Searchers may not be aware that the format's
definition encompasses typescript and computer printed as well as
handwritten materials. Catalogers may have difficulty in
determining what defines a "manuscript," and may use the code
inappropriately. Some videorecordings could be considered
"language material," but would not appropriately be coded as
such. The format's other defining characteristic, existence as a
single instance, is highly problematic in an age of personal
desktop publishing and a technological environment where the
virtual publication of a single document via the Internet is
widespread. Moreover, many archival and manuscript collections
contain materials that were not necessarily intended to exist as
a single instance but are nevertheless controlled archivally.
Additionally, the distinction between manuscript and published
materials for this leader byte has been made only for language
materials, music, and cartographic materials. If the distinction
between published and manuscript is useful, all other types of
material in this byte (e.g., projected media, musical and
nonmusical sound recordings, two-dimensional non-projectable
graphics, computer files, etc.) should receive an additional code
to designate manuscript material. It is recommended, rather, to
eliminate the separate codes for manuscripts altogether.
Therefore, if code t is made obsolete or deleted (and if changes
are made to the Books 008, see below), code a can encompass all
textual material. It may soon also include electronic textual
files, depending on the outcome of Proposal No. 97-3. Archivists
could choose to use a redefined code a for collections or fonds
that consist entirely of textual materials (e.g., letters,
meeting minutes, clippings, legal documents, etc.), for
unpublished dissertations or medieval manuscripts, or for groups
of materials that are primarily textual, but may contain
incidental items in another format.
If the deletion of code t and the changes to code a are
implemented, search interfaces and OPAC displays ought not to use
code a as equivalent to "books" in displays and other search
interfaces.
The rewording of the definition for code p (Mixed materials)
effectively changes the standard that determines when to call a
collection "mixed." The words "predominance" and "emphasized" in
the current definition imply physical quantity. By using the
word "significant," it is left to the repository to determine
whether the coding decision should be based on the quantity of
the material, the collection focus, or the intellectual
importance of the material. Code p could also be used by
repositories to describe materials for which they simply do not
want to designate a predominant form of material.
By extension, these recommendations suggest that codes d
(Manuscript music) and f (Manuscript cartographic material) ought
to be reconsidered by the music and cartographic communities,
with a view toward declaring them obsolete as well. It is
already possible to code a manuscript in the Maps
008, positions 33-34 (code e), and perhaps a new code could be
created for manuscripts in the Music 008, position 23 (Form of
item) or in an unused position.
4. 008 FOR BOOKS
Recommendations:
a. That the name of Field 008 be changed from Books to Textual
(nonserial).
b. That a value of "unknown" or "not applicable" be defined for
each of positions 18-34 to accommodate the coding of textual
materials that are not in a printed monograph format.
Rationale:
With the changes suggested for L/06 above, this field would
encompass more than published monographs (Books). It would be
both wrong and misleading, particularly in search displays and
indexing, to continue to use the term "books." Systems will have
to look elsewhere in the record to determine a more specific form
of material to generate the appropriate online displays. The
parallel sequence in field 007 is named Text. If passed,
Proposal No. 97-3 would result in some computer files also being
encoded as Textual material in Leader 06, and subsequently
associated with this 008 sequence. It is more accurate to refer
to "text" in the Internet environment than "books." In both
current implementations and this proposal, this 008 sequence is
used to code information for other than published works.
However, most of the character positions in this sequence include
values that are relevant only to individually issued monographs.
Some contain "unknown" or "not applicable" values as well. These
need to be added to all other character positions where
appropriate so that collections and non-published works may be
correctly coded.
5. 008 FOR MIXED MATERIALS
It was initially considered that the 008 for Mixed materials be
made obsolete. However, the archival community would like to
investigate the possibility of making this field more useful. If
other communities wish to use the L/06 Code p (Mixed material),
additional codes may need to be defined for the 008 Mixed
sequence.
[Note that Proposal No. 97-3 (Redefinition of Code "m" (Computer
file) in Leader/06 in the USMARC Bibliographic Format) suggests
broadening this definition to include types of mixed material
other than archival, including multimedia. If approved, the
definition could be further revised to remove "that are usually
related by virtue of their having been accumulated by or about a
person or body".]
6. 006 FOR MIXED MATERIALS
It was noted that "mixed" as an additional physical
characteristic is a logical inconsistency, and therefore should
be deleted. It is believed that no one is currently using this
sequence.
7. QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION:
If Proposal No. 97-3 to change L/06 code m (Computer files) is
approved, it is suggested that the phrase "regardless of carrier"
be added to the first sentence of the definition of L/06 code a
("Code a indicates that the content of the record is for textual
material regardless of carrier.") to further clarify the meaning
of the code.
The suggested redefinition of code p in L/06 indicates that it
should be used primarily for archival materials ("...usually
related by virtue of its having been accumulated by or about a
person or body"). If other communities are interested in using
or expanding this code for other-than-archival materials, the
archival communities would have no objection to removing the
phrase from the definition of the code. See also Proposed
Changes in Proposal No. 97-3.
As most of the 008/006 sequences are item-oriented, the request
to add values of "unknown" or "not applicable" to the proposed
Textual (non-serial) 008 sequence (formerly Books 008) could be
extended to all the 008 and 006 sequences (where they don't
already exist) for all formats, to accommodate the collective
description of all types of materials.
The term "manuscript language material" is used in several places
in the USMARC documentation. For example, the definition of code
t (Text) for the 007/00 reads, "Code t indicates that the item is
text, defined as printed or manuscript language material that is
accessible to the naked eye (e.g., a book, a pamphlet, a
broadside)." This term is indiscriminate, and we recommend that
it be expunged from the documentation.
8. PROPOSED CHANGES
The following is presented for consideration:
- In the USMARC Bibliographic Format, redefine Leader/08
code a as follows:
a- Archival
Code a indicates that the material is described
according to archival descriptive rules, which
focus on the contextual relationships between
items and on their provenance rather than on
bibliographic detail. The specific set of rules
for description may be found in 040 $e. All forms
of material can be controlled archivally.
- In the USMARC Bibliographic Format, make Leader/06 code
t obsolete.
- In the USMARC Bibliographic Format, redefine Leader/06,
codes a and p as follows:
a - Textual material
Code a indicates that the content of the record is
for material that is judged to be primarily
textual. Also use for microforms that are
basically textual in nature, whether reproductions
or originally produced.
p - Mixed material
Code p indicates that there are significant
materials in two or more forms that are usually
related by virtue of their having been accumulated
by or about a person or body. The intended
primary purpose is other than for instructional
purposes (i.e., other than the purpose of those
materials coded as o--Kit). This category
includes archival fonds and manuscript collections
of mixed forms of material, such as text,
photographs, and sound recordings.
- In the USMARC Bibliographic Format, redefine the 008
for Books to "Textual (Nonserial)"
- In the USMARC Bibliographic Format, delete field 006
for Mixed Materials.
Library of Congress