042 Task Group

Background:

At the November 1999 Policy Committee meeting, one of the members raised the issue as to whether pre-AACR2 bibliographic records could be labeled "pcc" in the 042 field if all the access points were under authority control while the description and punctuation remained unchanged. This issue was discussed at the BIBCO Participants meeting at ALA (January 2000) and referred on to the BIBCO Operations Committee.

The BIBCO Operations Committee discussed the issue at their April 2000 meeting. It was decided that BIBCO was too young of a program to weather the confusion generated by the infusion of PCC records that were not totally AACR2 compliant. However, it was noted that the idea was not without merit and it was decided that a task group should be formed to study the matter of defining a new code in the 042 that would indicate that the headings in the record were under authority control.

Charge:

Keeping in mind one of PCC's goals (Goal 2.1 of the PCC Strategic Plan) mandating that PCC establish practices and conventions that support cost- effective cataloging, the PCC Policy Committee charges the 042 Task Group to:

1. Explore the usefulness of developing a code for inclusion in the 042 field of a bibliographic record which would indicate that access points for names on pre-AACR2 records have been evaluated and established to current rules and which are represented by records in the national authority file.
2. Determine whether such a code, if implemented, would be restricted to BIBCO participants only or BIBCO and NACO participants.
3. Consult with the appropriate agencies/bodies (e.g., OCLC, RLIN, CONSER, etc.) concerning implementation of such a code.
4. Determine what documentation would need to be created and/or changed to reflect the implementation of such a code.

Timeframe: Interim report due October 15, 2000. Final report due February 15, 2001. Both reports will be delivered to the Chair of the Standing Committee on Standards.

Final report submitted Jan. 8, 2001.