06/04/2013
The Classification and Shelflisting Manual (CSM) contains the policies on assigning LC classification numbers. Originally written in the 1980s and last updated in 2010, it reflects the AACR2 environment. The U.S. national libraries’ decision to implement Resource Description and Access (RDA) led the Policy and Standards Division (PSD) to review the CSM and determine which instruction sheets needed to be revised to reflect RDA instructions. Generally, the text was updated to ensure consistency with past classification and shelflisting practice, and new examples were chosen. Specialists in PSD also took this opportunity to reevaluate some long-standing practices both to simplify them and to make them more sustainable in today’s linked, global, environment. The priority was to first revise the instruction sheets that are most heavily affected by the implementation of RDA, and those sheets are provided as free PDFs below. PSD will update this page periodically with additional instruction sheets, as more revisions are completed. The revised sheets will also be published through the Cataloging Distribution Service later this year. Cataloger's Desktop will be updated in December. Until that update occurs, the instruction sheets below supersede instructions in Cataloger's Desktop.
The brief descriptions of the significant policy changes provided below are for guidance only. The full instruction sheets should be consulted for instructions and examples.
F 175 — Editions [PDF, 113 KB]
- The instructions for classifying simultaneously published editions were clarified.
F 275 — Biography [PDF, 149 KB]
- The definition of collective biography was revised. Works that discuss the lives and/or contributions of two or more individuals should be classed as collective biographies, if each individual is given substantial treatment in the work.
- Biographies of the members of a single family should now be classified as collective biographies.
F 603 — Government Documents [PDF, 138 KB]
- The rule defining which works should be treated as government documents was clarified and the examples were updated.
F 632 — Literary Authors [PDF, 189 KB]
- Individual literary authors born before 1925 and anonymous literary works published before 1925 must now be printed in the schedule (i.e., numbers must be proposed for them). The cutoff dates had been 1870 and 1899, respectively.
- A section was added to clarify the classification of criticism and commentaries about an individual author’s works.
- Individual literary authors born before 1925 and anonymous literary works published before 1925 must now be printed in the schedule (i.e., numbers must be proposed for them). The cutoff dates had been 1870 and 1899, respectively.
- A section was added to clarify the classification of criticism and commentaries about an individual author’s works.
F 633 — Literary Authors: Subarrangement of Works [PDF, 165 KB]
- Compilations are no longer classified either as collections or as separate works based on whether the author is still living. Instead, the existence of an RDA conventional collective title is now the sole determinant.
- The caption Selections, which is used frequently in the literary author tables, will be revised to Selections. Extracts. Passages in order to clarify the distinction between Selected works and Selections.
F 634 — Literary Collections [PDF, 137 KB]
- The treatment of a literary collection versus a collection in which one of the works is predominant was clarified.
G 100 — Filing Rules [PDF, 148 KB]
- The rule on the filing of entries containing bracketed data was updated.
- A section on the treatment of names with a suffix was added.
- The examples of date formats were updated to reflect RDA instructions.
- Policy on the use of work letters was revised. New editions of works entered under corporate body should also be assigned work letters beginning with b, if necessary to distinguish between editions published in the same year. This change makes the policy for corporate bodies consistent with the policy for works entered under a personal name or title. [The instruction to use the workmark a for serials was not changed.]
G 145 — Editions [PDF, 119 KB]
- The practices for shelflisting editions with author and/or title variations were clarified for the RDA environment.
- A section explaining the shelflisting procedure when the entry of a work changes from the pre-RDA edition was added. The new edition should be Cuttered from the new form of entry.
G 150 — Translations/Texts in Parallel Languages [PDF, 88 KB]
- The title was revised to reflect the fact that in addition to resources that are traditionally considered to be translations, the instruction sheet now also covers texts in parallel languages (called “language editions” in the LC-PCC Policy Statements).
- The Background statement was been revised to reflect the new scope of the instruction sheet and defines both translations and texts in parallel languages in the context of shelflisting.
- Several languages were added to the Translation Table.
- Polyglot was redefined to mean that there are two or more translations present within a resource (previously, the presence of three translations was necessary).
- The Cuttering practice for translations in which the language is not listed in the Translation Table was revised. Instead of repurposing a Cutter extension in the Table, the language should now be assigned a unique Cutter extension.
G 220 — Corporate Bodies [PDF, 118 KB]
- When a corporate body issues more than one publication in a given year, and the publications are classed in the same number, work letters beginning with “b” should be added to the publication date (previously, the work letters began with “a”).
- A section addressing corporate bodies that were previously established in an abbreviated form was added (sec. 5.b). Continue to use the established Cutter number.
G 230 — Conferences, Congresses, Meetings, Etc. [PDF, 70 KB]
- The definition of conference in the Background statement was revised.
- The shelflisting of conference publications when the conference is established subordinately to a higher body was clarified.
- When a conference issues more than one publication in a given year, and the publications are classed in the same number, work letters beginning with “b” should be added to the publication date (previously, the work letters began with “a”).
- The rules for shelflisting conference publications that are not entered under the conference name (usually entry is under the title instead) were clarified.
- The earliest date of the conference should be used in the call number for conferences occurring in multiple years (previously, the latest date was used).
- The section on commentaries about conferences was revised.
G 340 — Criticism/Commentaries [PDF, 47 KB]
- The rule for shelflisting a criticism or commentary when the original work is entered under a corporate body was revised. Successive Cuttering practices should now be employed, as described in the instruction sheet (previously, criticisms of works that were entered under corporate body were assigned the same call number as the original work, plus the designation Suppl.).
- Examples were updated throughout, to reflect RDA descriptive cataloging practices.
