We’ve just begun cataloging a large gift of VHS tapes, transferred to the university’s library from our Martin Luther King Center. Looks like there are some good titles in there! I did have to replace the batteries in our cataloging department’s VCR remote (we had not used it in a while) as the pause button is crucial for cataloging.
Hopefully we’ll find copy for most of these, but if not, we will consult OLAC’s DVD and Blu-Ray guide, adjusting accordingly for format.
Aulularia / T. Maccius Plautus ; with notes critical and exegetical and an introduction by Wilhelm Wagner. (OCLC #968214555)
This print-on-demand facsimile of an 1876 book was missing a page (perhaps because the original was missing a page), so the printer included the missing content as a photocopy from what appears to be a different edition. We’ll probably make a pocket for it, as we would folded maps.
A few years ago I presented at the ALA Preservation Administrators Interest Group about reprints and reproductions as preservation copies, in which I caution against replacing brittle originals with crisp new photocopies; though much of the metadata may be the same, you may end up with slightly different content. (This was not such a replacement, and the content is likely fine for most purposes, but this kind of thing always gives me pause.)
Numerical recipes in C++ : the art of scientific computing / William H. Press [and others]. (OCLC #48241370)
Throwback Thursday! Sort of.
I kind of love that we still have forms like these floating around, and use them to circulate books in some of our branches. Now I have to go update the online catalog with its information.
Beiträge zur Tabakforschung international. (OCLC #8415862)
This CD-ROM was included with the April 1999 issue of this journal, with no more explanation than appears on its label (“CD-ROM, Version 1.0, March 1999.”) Is it the previous issue? A supplement? An ad?
We warily put the CD into a modern-ish computer (Windows 7) to investigate, and found (among other things) NFO files: likely Folio Infobase files, given the Folio logo on the disc.
Not having a reader for such files handy (the one provided on the disc would run, but not read any of the files), we looked at other issues for more clues. Near the beginning of the November 1998 was a note that they would be issuing a CD-ROM of abstracts and title references from 1961 to the present, and that it would be released by February 1999 (so close!).
So how to represent it in the bib/mfhd? As its own thing? As a supplement? (to which issue?) As an index? Is it worth keeping in the library collection if it won’t run on our typical computers? Was version 1.1 ever released? Can it be reformatted?
Serial inventory = good times.
Elle / un film réalisé par Paul Verhoeven ; Saïd Ben Saïd et Michel Merkt presentent une coproduction franco-allemande SBS Productions, Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, France 2 Cinema, Entre Chien et Loup ; avec la participation de Canal+, France Televisions, OCS ; scénario de David Birke. (OCLC #967728402)
Thanks to Joel Hahn for this lovely new Connexion macro for adding common 34X fields for materials like DVD and Blu-Ray, audio CDs, VHS, records, large print, and playaway. I just selected the appropriate options from the pulldowns, and quickly added these fields that I used to look up when I needed them:
340 ǂb 4 3/4 in. ǂ2 rda 344 digital ǂb optical ǂg stereo ǂh Dolby digital 5.1 ǂ2 rda 346 ǂb PAL ǂ2 rda 347 video file ǂb DVD video ǂe region 2