Re: [ARSCLIST] Cataloging question--IASA in particular

[David Seubert <seubert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andy,

[non-catalogers are welcome to tune out now]

I would use sound recording as a GMD for a born digital audio file. You 
should probably code it as a computer file in a 007, but it's still a 
sound recording.

The IASA rules oddly don't address SMDs for digital files. I'd never 
noticed this before, but they must have assumed that all sound had a 
carrier of some sort. Not so anymore--record on hard disk or flash card, 
upload audio to server, reuse media. So no carrier in the traditional 
sense. For the SMD of a born digital audio file I think you'd need to 
refer to AACR2 and follow the rules for computer files. I don't know if 
you can use "1 digital audio file" or what without checking, but I'd 
keep it in plain English if possible.

I've never cataloged just one photograph as they most always are part of 
some larger collection such as a manuscript collection or a group of 
photographs. The GMDs are listed on this page of BFAS: 
http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/onlinecataloging/. There are GMDs for 
"slide" and "picture." Is picture the term for photograph? I don't 
really know. There is no GMD for collection that I know of so oddly 
archival collections have no GMD.

I wonder if GMDs are going away with the transition from AACR2 to RDA? 
GMDs are really pretty useless in my opinion. Material types should just 
be coded in the leader and the computer system will figure out what the 
heck it is and describe it to the user.

David Seubert
UCSB

andy kolovos wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I'm struggling with some cataloging issues, right now in particular I'm 
> dealing with terms for the General Material Designation (GMD) and 
> Specific Material Designation (SMD) in relation to our collection.  I've 
> been coming to terms with the IASA rules and have discovered two things:
>
> 1. There seem to be no SMD terms for digital audio files
> 2. There are certainly no terms for dealing with still images (35mm 
> slides, photographs, etc.)
>
> In regard to issue #1--what terms are people using for audio files? 
> Although the rules might technically say otherwise, I'm inclined to 
> treat "born digital" audio files and preservation files as "sound 
> recordings" on the GMD level (as opposed to treating them as "electronic 
> resource" which--from the AACR2 perspective might be the proper place). 
>  This said, is there an accepted term for digital audio files under IASA 
> guidelines--or any guidelines for that matter?
>
> Since #2 is largely off topic I'll direct my questions about that 
> elsewhere--however, if anyone has some insight I'd appreciate it.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> andy