Month: April 2014

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中国民俗故事 = Chinese folk tales / 编绘 侯冠滨. (OCLC #46315682)

This book has as its first subject heading Tales–China–Juvenile literature, which according to Classification Web is most highly correlated with GR335 (Folklore, China). I do like the classification already in the record though (PL1117: Chinese language, Readers, Intermediate and Advanced); the piece is a picture book with text in both Chinese and English, so will likely be more useful to our library’s foreign language learners than to our folklorists.

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安妮日记 / 安妮 · 弗兰克著 ; 奥托 · 弗兰克, 米莉亚姆 · 普雷斯勒编 ; 高年生译. (OCLC #436270933)

I classed this diary of Anne Frank (translated to Chinese from the original Dutch) under DS135.N6 (The Jews, Netherlands, Biography and memoirs) to parallel what Libray of Congress did – so why does Anne Frank have a class number in her authority record (PT5834.F68: under Dutch authors, 1800-1960)?

It turns out that Anne Frank did author more than her diary, and these works, along with any criticism of those works are classed there. There is a spot under this classification for autobiography (PT5834.F68 Z46) but the DS classification is probably more helpful.

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The paternity of Abraham Lincoln; was he the son of Thomas Lincoln? An essay on the chastity of Nancy Hanks by William E. Barton. (OCLC #882677)

The form of Lincoln’s heading on the bottom card is the current one; the form on the top card has already been modified once by hand, but not quite to the current form – the original form on the top card is not even in the current authority record. It does have a link to a similar heading, United States. President (1861-1865 : Lincoln) describing that role, though it is not for use as a subject.

Maintaining consistent name authority is much easier and less error-prone with a modern ILS. Always control your headings in OCLC when you can to help this process!

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Plutarchi Moralia / recensuerunt et emendaverunt W.R. Paton, M. Pohlenz, W. Sieveking. (OCLC #646754026)

This set (not a serial, even!) was labeled with very strange call numbers. Why the two years? Why split the enumeration?

The main class number PA3404 is now obsolete, a status you can identify by the parentheses around it in Classification Web and printed schedules. It is a class number associated to the particular printed series, “Bibliotheca Teubneriana”, which while very specific, does not seem as useful as the one associated with that work, PA4368. Using the class number for the work will put the set on the shelf other editions of Moralia and close to other works of Plutarch.

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Penser la laïcité / Catherine Kintzler. (OCLC #869720975)

After being identified as problems by our copy catalogers, non-rush books go to the problem shelf where they may sit for a couple of months before I address them.

This title had only a skimpy record in OCLC when the book arrived in February (no call number, no subjects), but between then and now, somebody (TZT? C3L? DEBBG?) has completed it. Thanks!

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Philo, with an English translation by F.H. Colson and G.H. Whitaker. (OCLC #3142478)

We own two full sets of this title (each with 10 main volumes + 2 supplements); one is an original printing (title page says 1929) and one is a reprint from the 1980’s. They were on separate records (with one set’s supplements each on their own records) and used different classifications and enumerations. Their content was the same (and copies similar enough to be on the same record) so I wanted to bring them together, both in the catalog and on the shelf.

I cataloged both sets on the same record, each with their own holdings record. I modified the call number on the reprint (adding ‘b’ to the end) so that each set would be filed together as a whole, and so that the volumes would not be flagged as duplicates.

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我应该是一只很棒的牧羊犬 / (美)查尔斯·舒尔茨 (Charles M. Schulz) 著 ; 王延，杜鹃，徐敏佳译. (OCLC #877831111)

I was unable to determine if this was a Chinese translation of a previously published Peanuts book, or just a collection of translations of comics from 1971. I treated it like the latter (I couldn’t find a book with a title like “I would have made a good sheep dog!”), cuttering based on the Romanization of the title proper, which starts with “Wo ying gai shi …”

Also, I had to look up the syntax for parallel series statement, which I hadn’t done in recent memory:

490 1_ ǂa Snoopy books = ǂa 史努比的故事. 第一辑 ; ǂv 4
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Problem patron manual / compiled by Becky Croft, Geneva Pullen, Diana Seidel. (OCLC #13521606)

We came across this gem as an outlier in the catalog; our local record somehow had five or fewer variable fields, but did have an OCLC number and holdings representing an actual book on the shelf. (Also a subtle caption on the comic.) It now has a full OCLC record.

Next to its statement of challenged materials (“no challenged library materials should be removed from the library under any legal or extra legal pressure”), it includes a form which patrons can use to challenge books. It includes the thoughtful questions:

  1. To what in this book do you object? (be specific)
  2. What do you feel might be the result of reading this book?
  3. For what age group would you recommend this book?
  4. Is there anything good about the book?
  5. Did you read the entire book? (what parts?)
  6. Are you aware of the judgment of this book by literary critics?
  7. What do you believe is the theme of this book?
  8. What would you like the library to do about this book? (do not lend to my child, withdraw from all readers, send to staff for re-evaluation)
  9. In its place, what book of equal literary value would you recommend that would convey as valuable a picture and perspective of the subject treated?
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Chronomanifestes 1950-2010 / Bernard Tschumi. (OCLC #871243007)

The phrase “Collection Frac Centre” appears many places on this exhibition catalog; which element should it be recorded in? This was a subject of debate at yesterday’s meeting!

The title page has “Chronomanifestes 1950-2010” in large letters in the center, and at the top in smaller letters has “Bernard Tschumi / Collection Frac Centre”. That would normally look like Bernard’s affiliation, but the preface says otherwise: he is an architect who curated this particular exhibit from that collection. So is it part of the statement of responsibility? Other title information?

We decided that it was neither of those, but included its authorized access point as a “sponsoring body”, explained in a quoted note from the preface. I did include it as other title information in a 246 in case anyone searched for it that way based on the cover.

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Today our catalogers gathered to share and discuss our cataloging problems. This time my problems were so large I had to bring them down the elevator on a book truck!