Submitted by William Blueher, outgoing chair 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 three of the original four 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.
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.
The CAC is currently working on revisions to the final remaining chapter, “Name & Title Access Points,” and we’re hoping to have that revision published by the time we meet for the 2024 ARLIS/NA Conference.