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Table of Contents

Guidelines on Form and Genre Thesauri

Assign Form/Genre terms according to cataloger judgment and/or project guidelines. The policy attempts to establish uniformity in the description of similar materials, while also accommodating description of the broad range of rare materials held in PUL’s collection. Catalogers’ application of form/genre terms should take into consideration the research needs/interests of PUL Special Collections users: curatorial and public services staff, faculty, students and other researchers.

CaMS professional catalogers should apply MARC 655 form/genre terms from the thesauri indicated, in order of preference, in the table below. 

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Controlled Vocabularies for Form or Genre Terms

Order of PreferenceOrganization

Name of Thesaurus

Number of Terms (as of Aug 2024)

Source Code

Chronological Subdivision

Geographic Subdivision

WebsiteURL

1RBMS

RBMS Controlled Vocabulary for Rare Materials Cataloging

1466

rbmscv

Do not subdivide

Do not subdivide

Introduction

Thesaurus

2LC

LC Genre/Form Terms

2571

lcgft

Do not subdivide, as per LC policy

Do not subdivide, as per LC policy

Introduction

Thesaurus

3Getty AAT

Art & Architecture Thesaurus

(Terms in the categories of "object facets" or "genres in literature and performing arts")

aat

Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known

Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known

Introduction

Thesaurus

4LC

Thesaurus for Graphic Materials II: Genre and Physical Characteristic Terms (TGM II)

1287

gmgpc

Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known

Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known

Introduction

Thesaurus

Indicators and Source Codes

When applying thesauri terms from the list above, catalogers should add the source code of the specific thesaurus, using MARC format 655 _7 ‡2 [source code]. For example,

  • 655_7 ‡a Cumulative tales. ‡2 lcgft

Item-Specific Terms

Form terms used to describe aspects of materials that are specific to the item (copy) at hand, such as inscriptions, presentation autographs, or bespoke bindings, should be coded ‡5 NjP at the end of the 655 field.  For example: 

...

Form terms that refer to aspects of the broader manifestation (issue or edition, in bibliographic terms), such as printed paper wrappers in an edition or a publisher's edition binding, should not be coded as ‡5, since these are not unique to the item at hand.

Subdivisions for Item-Specific Terms

RBMS Controlled Vocabulary for Rare Materials Cataloging , and LC Genre/Form Terms should not be subdivided chronologically, geographically, or topically.

Chronological and geographic subdivisions may be applied to item-specific form terms only from the following vocabularies:

...

  • 655 _7 ‡a ... ‡z United States ‡y 20th century. ‡2 aat ‡5 NjP

Retired Vocabulary Sets (Do Not Use)

Expand
titleClick to see legacy practices


Organization

Name of Thesaurus

Source Code

Parenthetical Qualifier

Chronological Subdivision

Geographic Subdivision

Website

RBMS

Genre Terms

rbgenr

[none]

Do not subdivide

Do not subdivide

Introduction

Thesaurus

RBMS

Binding Terms

rbbin

(Binding)

Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known

Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known

Introduction

Thesaurus

RBMS

Paper Terms

rbpap

(Paper)

Subdivide Item-specific terms by century, if known

Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known

Introduction

Thesaurus

RBMS

Printing & Publishing Evidence

rbpri
rbpub

(Printing)
(Publishing)

Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known

Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known

Introduction

Thesaurus

RBMS

Provenance Evidence

rbprov

(Provenance)

Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known

Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known

Introduction

Thesaurus

RBMS

Type Evidence

rbtyp

(Type evidence)

Subdivide item-specific terms by century, if known

Subdivide item-specific terms by country, if known

Introduction

Thesaurus

PUL

Local terms

Do not use; update legacy terms if possible

Do not use

Do not use

Do not use

Consult above vocabularies for controlled headings




1) RBMS thesauri

RBMS Controlled Vocabularies, previously comprising six distinct thesauri, have been integrated into the RBMS Controlled Vocabulary for Rare Materials Cataloging.

2) PUL Local Terms

Previously, a select number of Local Form/Genre terms were developed by Special Collections curators and catalogers, for application to specific subsets of material. As their application and MARC encoding has been sporadic, the use of local terms by PUL cataloging staff has been discontinued. 

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  • Replace the local term with an equivalent term from a preferred controlled vocabulary. For instance, "Photographs, Original" is equivalent to "655 _7 $a Photographs. $2 lcgft"
  • Leave the term as-is if no alternative can be found.

Appendix