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200 motels / a Murakami Wolf/Bizarre production ; story and screenplay by Frank Zappa ; shooting script by Tony Palmer ; produced by Jerry Good, Herb Cohen ; characterizations directed by Frank Zappa ; visuals directed by Tony Palmer. (OCLC #1049173374)

The record I derived this my original record from included these statements in a 520, with no indication that they were taken from the container or similar

When the film is inspired, one gets a glimpse of the convoluted terrain of Zappa’s mind; when it is not, moments can drag, but one must admit that only Frank Zappa could make such a film, let alone release it. A bemused Ringo Starr does not so much steal the film as temporarily rescuscitate it.

Do subjective reviews belong in catalog records?

The same 520 also mentions that this was “the first color movie made on videotape and then transferred to film”, also not on the container, but supported by its Wikipedia article, with a citation. Does this belong in the record?

For my original record, I copied the description from the container:

    520 __ ǂa "200 Motels is Frank Zappa's outrageous, psychedelic
        precursor to the birth of the music video"--Container.

but was left wondering if the information in the fuller description was more useful, and if this was a good place for it.

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The terrible effects of the poison from the bite of a mad dog … (OCLC #509290216)

This record may have the longest 245 I’ve ever seen, at over 1900 characters long. But is it cataloged correctly? Do we have other options?

RDA 2.3.2.9 (manifestation lacking a collective title) says to record the titles proper of the parts, which is what has been done in this case, and apparently makes for a very long list.

There is an alternative to devise a collective title (though LC/PCC says generally not to) so you could probably do something like:

    245 14 $a The terrible effects of the poison from the bite
        of a mad dog [and other works] / $c by Dr. Rowley.

and include the whole list of titles in a content note.

Which seems more useful?

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We are what we are / Memento Films International presents in association with Belladonna Productions, Uncorked Productions, and the Zoo ; written by Nick Damici and Jim Mickle ; directed by Jim Mickle ; produced by Rodrigo Bellott, Andrew D. Corkin, Linda Moran, Nicholas Shumaker, Jack Turner. (OCLC #1048571296)

Somebody asked recently on the TCMMF group how people felt about spoilers in subject headings. I am unsure.

For example, the summary of this movie (in the 520) hints that something sketchy is going on:

Behind closed doors, patriarch Frank rules his family with a rigorous fervor, determined to keep his ancestral customs intact at any cost.

But the subject headings are much more direct:

    650 _0 ǂa Serial murderers ǂv Drama.
    650 _0 ǂa Cannibalism ǂv Drama.
    650 _0 ǂa Family secrets ǂv Drama.

What do you think? Do these headings aid researchers? Or spoil the story for film fans? Does it depend on the type of library?

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Transportation Research Board 93rd annual meeting : January 12-16, 2014 : Washington, D.C. / Transportation Research Board of the National Academies. (OCLC #893873444)

This conference proceedings (mostly text-based papers) was distributed on a flash drive, making its content/media/carrier fields:

    336 ǂa text ǂb txt ǂ2 rdacontent
    337 ǂa computer ǂb c ǂ2 rdamedia
    338 ǂa computer chip cartridge ǂb cb ǂ2 rdacarrier

The definition for “computer chip cartridge” in the RDA registry is:

“A carrier type consisting of a cartridge containing a miniaturized electronic circuit on a small wafer of semiconductor silicon, designed to provide additional processing, memory, or storage capacity.”

The extent, as recommended by RDA 3.4.1.3 (alternative), is much more recognizeable:

    300 __ ǂa 1 USB flash drive
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Home energy : products & ideas. (OCLC #10016922)

I picked this catalog out of the pile of gifts, certain that it would need original cataloging, as most individual issues of serials seem to.

Lucky Friday though…I found a record! GZF (L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library) had already created a record for this particular issue!

500 __ ǂa Vol. 1, no. 2 (1983-84)--of Home energy
    (ISSN 0739-5469).

Yay for cooperative cataloging!

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NIOSH/OSHA pocket guide to chemical hazards / editors, Frank W. Mackison, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R. Scott Stricoff, Lawrence J. Partridge, Jr., A.D. Little, Inc. (OCLC #8734681)

This volume has a date of “September 1978” on its title page and a suggestive “78” as part of its publication number, but this printing history on the title page verso:

  Second printing - January 1980
  Third Printing - August 1980
    with minor technical changes
  Fourth Printing - August 1981
    with minor technical changes

but does that merit a new (1981) record in OCLC?

I checked the edition section of their When to Input a New Record document, and was unsure. It may fall under “difference in content”?

Either way, a full and popular record already exists for this printing, with a 1981 date and a note:

500 __ ǂa "Fourth printing, August 1981, with minor technical changes."

This record most precisely matched what I had in hand, so worked well for copy cataloging.

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The red atlas : how the Soviet Union secretly mapped the world / John Davies, Alexander J. Kent ; foreword by James Risen. (OCLC #978389095)

This volume has “atlas” in its title, and has quite a few maps in it, but is it really an atlas? Catalogers disagree; OCLC has multiple records for this title, mostly as a book, but one as an atlas.

Our maps cataloger took a closer look, and said that while it had a large section of maps, they were used as illustrations for the text, not the main content of the work themselves. I did feel the maps were numerous enough to merit inclusion in the content type though:

336  ǂa text ǂb txt ǂ2 rdacontent
336  ǂa cartographic image ǂb cri ǂ2 rdacontent
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ספר מורה נבוכים /להרב משה בן מימון ; … בהעתקת הרב ר’ שמואל אבן תיבון ; עם ארבעה פירושים … אפודי, שם טוב, ן’ קרשקש, אבברבנאל. (OCLC #29328452)

We found copy possibly matching this book, but without strong skills in Hebrew, and so much omitted (using …) from paragraphs on the title page, how to be sure?

Fortunately, the copy also included a link to an electronic copy online, including the title page, which was an exact match:

856 41 ǂu http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14118&st=&pgnum=1&hilite=
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The safe care and handling of gases. (OCLC #6526758)

Slides! I’ve never gotten to catalog slides before. It was a nice opportunity to review the rules for this format. The set does have an accompanying audiocassette:

300 ǂa 37 slides : ǂb color ; ǂc 2 x 2 in. + 
    ǂe 1 audiocassette.

So there are two sets of Content/Media/Carrier fields:

336 __ ǂa still image ǂb sti ǂ2 rdacontent
337 __ ǂa projected ǂb g ǂ2 rdamedia
338 __ ǂa slide ǂb gs ǂ2 rdacarrier
336 __ ǂa spoken word ǂb spw ǂ2 rdacontent ǂ3 accompanying material
337 __ ǂa audio ǂb s ǂ2 rdamedia ǂ3 accompanying material
338 __ ǂa audiocassette ǂb ss ǂ2 rdacarrier ǂ3 accompanying material 

However, the soundtrack is considered an integral part of the slide set, so its sound characteristics are included in the slides’ 007 (not as a separate 007):

007 __ ǂa g ǂb s ǂd c ǂf b ǂg f ǂh j
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Chem sources-international–1998 edition. (OCLC #39262429)

This is the thickest book I’ve ever received for cataloging:

300 __ ǂa iv, 2259 pages : ǂb illustrations ; ǂc 29 cm

It made me wonder if RDA had exceptions in the rules for recording Dimensions of a volume related to a book’s thickness (as there are for the cover’s width). There don’t appear to be; it’s probably covered by pagination.