Submitted by William Blueher, Manager for Cataloging, Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Member of the Cataloging Advisory Committee
In 2009, the ARLIS/NA Cataloging Advisory Committee (CAC) published Cataloging Exhibition Publications: Best Practices (CEP), which is meant to provide practical guidance to catalogers working with art exhibition publications. Much has changed in the art cataloging world since 2009, so the CAC has revised all four of the original chapters, which are now available through ARLIS/NA’s Humanities Commons website.
The first revised chapter, “Assigning Subject and Genre/Form Headings,” provides guidance on assigning a broad range of subject headings. For instance, there are examples of named works of art (600 10 $a Monet, Claude, $d 1840-1926. $t Water lilies $v Exhibitions), exhibitions of private corporate collections (610 20 $a Mellon Bank $x Art collections $v Exhibitions), and topical headings (650 #0 $a Art pottery, French $y 20th century $v Exhibitions). There is also a section on assigning genre/form headings, which now includes an example of Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms, a vocabulary that was not available when CEP was originally published.
The second revised chapter, “Notes,” provides guidance on adding notes at the work, expression, manifestation, and item level (that’s right, we cover the entire WEMI spectrum). For instance, physical description notes are common at the “manifestation level,” so we provide several examples, such as “Issued tête-bêche, each part with a separate title page.” There are dozens of examples throughout the chapter.
The third revised chapter, “Title and Statement of Responsibility,” provides guidance on creating this type of bibliographic information for exhibition publications, which often requires more use of cataloger’s judgment, as well as more intervention in terms of transposing, omitting, and supplying data. For instance, phrases such as “X Gallery presents” and the like sometimes precede the title of the catalog. Our advice: “Do not include these words as part of the title (see RDA Title of manifestation, 08.49.91.11).” And as with all these chapters, there are dozens of examples throughout to help clarify these guidelines.
The fourth revised chapter, “Name and Title Access Points,” provides guidance on choosing name and title access points for exhibition publications, which is complicated by the need to record information about the exhibition as well as the publication. Curators, translators, designers, editors, writers, photographers, and artists whose works are displayed in the exhibition or reproduced in the catalog contribute to the intellectual and artistic content of both the exhibition and the publication. Corporate bodies such as museums, galleries, foundations, governmental agencies, or for-profit corporations may also play an important role in producing or sponsoring the exhibition and/or the catalog. Even information that is exhibition specific, such as the names of exhibition venues or an exhibition name that differs from the title of the publication, is important to record, because users often search for an exhibition catalog by these access points.
Some forms of exhibition documentation, such as brochures or checklists, are produced in-house and may present bibliographical information in an unconventional fashion, requiring the cataloger to look well beyond the title page or even beyond the publication itself. Exhibition publications often require more use of cataloger’s judgment, and more intervention in terms of transposing, omitting, and supplying data.
We hope that the CEP can be a useful guide to many types of catalogers (not just experienced art catalogers), including those who infrequently work with exhibition publications and solo librarians for whom cataloging is only a minor part of their job.
Many thanks to all the CAC members who have contributed to the revision over the years (there have been a lot of us!): Bronwen Bitetti, William Blueher, Katelyn Borbely, Sherman Clarke, Nick Curotto, Tamara Fultz, Marie-Chantal L’Ecuyer-Coelho, John Maier, Christina Manzella, Cheryl Miller, Calli Neumann, Elizabeth O’Keefe, Maria Oldal, Sarah Osborne Bender, Treshani Perera, Alexandra Provo, Andrea Puccio, Raphael Sasayama, Karen Stafford, and Karly Wildenhaus.
