This document traces the history of cataloging different types of library materials from pre-AACR2 practices to the current RDA standards. It discusses how AACR2 introduced general material designations (GMDs) to standardize descriptions but issues remained regarding electronic resources, multimedia content, and alternative formats. RDA was developed using FRBR concepts to separate content from carrier and allow for clearer descriptions, though challenges around specificity and synthesis persist. The document examines proposals for displaying content/carrier information to users and maps some common material types under RDA.

1. EARLY
WARNINGS
CATALOGING MULTIPLE KINDS OF LIBRARY MATERIALS
USEFULLY, CONSISTENTLY, AND RATIONALLY
…OR AT LEAST THAT’S THE IDEA

2. PRE AACR2
• Separate collections1
• 1952 Library of Congress committees inconsistencies…
Picture: Title
Motion picture or filmstrip: Title (Motion picture) or Title (Filmstrip)
Phonorecords: Uniform title phonodisc or Title [phonotape]
• Color coding and Call numbers.2

3. AACR2 STANDARDIZATION
• 1974-1978: National Library of Canada & Library of Congress3
• Early warning sign
• Practical, not theoretical
• Medium specificity
• Understandable to users
• Media Designations -> General Material Designations (GMDs!)

4. UPDATES
• computer software vs. machine-readable data file4
• Added: art reproduction, braille, toy
• Changed: electronic resource
• Combined: map and globe -> cartographic material

5. GMDS USED IN THE UNITED STATES BY
20015
activity card game realia
art original kit serial
art reproduction large print slide
braille manuscript sound recording
cartographic material microform technical drawing
chart microscope slide text
diorama model toy
electronic resource motion picture transparency
filmstrip music videorecording
flash card picture (large print)/(tactile)/(braille)

6. PERSISTENT TROUBLES
• electronic resource vs. game6
• Multimedia: Multiple types of content on one carrier7
• Alternative Formats: Multiple types of carriers for one content
“With the increasing volume of alternative formats, the tension between
content and carrier was no longer a philosophical question, but a question
that confronted cataloguers daily.”8

7. CUSTOM WARNINGS
• Misplaced Holds in Westchester County9
• Local GMDs: DVD, web site, CD Audiobook
Before
sound recording
videorecording
videorecording
sound recording
After
Large Print
Audiobook
DVD
Video
CD Audiobook
10

8. A NEW FOUNDATION
“Attempts to resolve the multiple formats issue within the AACR2 framework
were unsuccessful and eventually led to the deconstruction of AACR2 and the
development of RDA. The key to understanding RDA is the fact that it is built
upon the conceptual framework expressed in the model known as FRBR.”11

9. FRBR-IZED
Carrier
Content
Expression
Work
Manifestation
Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer
text
paperback
preloaded playerBraille volume
audio performance by
Katherine Kellgren
compact disc

10. FRBR TO RDA: STANDARD BOOK
Expression
Manifestation
Content
Media
Carrier
text
unmediated
volume

11. FRBR TO RDA: BRAILLE BOOK
Expression
Manifestation
Content
Media
Carrier
tactile text
unmediated
volume

12. FRBR TO RDA: AUDIOBOOK ON CD
Expression
Manifestation
Content
Media
Carrier
spoken word
audio
audiodisc

13. FRBR TO RDA: AUDIOBOOK ON CASSETTE
TAPE
Expression
Manifestation
Content
Media
Carrier
spoken word
audio
audiocassette

14. WHAT TO DISPLAY TO USERS?
“A missed opportunity in RDA was the potential rejigging of GMD into
something more user friendly - instead, we end up with just the opposite, its
removal and replacement with a clutter of significantly less user-friendly
codified record cloggers (the 330s).”12
“We plan to just delete the 336-338 fields. They will do nothing but confuse our
patrons.”13

15. OPTION: CARRIER/CONTENT DIRECTLY
DISPLAYED
standard book volume/text
Braille book volume/tactile text
audiobook on CD audiodisc/spoken word
audiobook on cassette tape audiocassette/spoken word

16. OPTION: SYNTHESIZED TERMS (OR ICONS)
volume/text Book
volume/tactile text Braille Book
volume/still image,text Graphic Novel
audiodisc/spoken word CD Audiobook
audiocassette/spoken word Book on Tape
videodisc/two-dimensional moving image ?

17. FUZZY MAPS: DVD & BLU-RAY
Content Type
Media
Carrier
two-dimensional
moving image
video
videodisc

18. FUZZY MAPS: PLAYAWAYS
Content Type
Media
Carrier
spoken word
audio …or unmediated?
other …or object …or a local term?14

19. MIXED UP MAPS: TEXTBOOK WITH MULTI-
MEDIA CD
Content Type
Media
Carrier
still image, text, cartographic image, computer program
unmediated, computer
volume, computer disc

20. THE STATE OF THE WARNING
• Early warnings prevalent, but not fully standard warnings.
• CMC fields did separate content and carrier.
• Specificity issues remain.
• Synthesis issues remain.
• BIBFRAME on the horizon. More might be expected from CMC fields.

21. FOOTNOTES
1. Weihs & Howarth p. 4
2. Weihs & Howarth p. 5
3. Weihs & Howarth p. 6
4. Weihs & Howarth p. 7
5. http://www.uproc.lib.mi.us/cat/gmd.htm
6. Weihs & Howarth p. 8-9
7. Library and Archives Canada p. 6

22. FOOTNOTES
8. Library and Archives Canada p. 9
9. Chung p. 320
10. Chung p. 323
11. Library and Archives Canada p. ii
12. Kelleher
13. Lamantia
14. Library of Congress p. 25; Withrow; Online Audiovisual Catalogers p. 1

23. REFERENCES
• Chung, H.H. (2001). User-friendly audiovisual material cataloging at Westchester County Public Library
System. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 31(3-4), 313-325.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J104v31n03_08
• Kelleher, M. (2012, October 23). Additional work required by RDA. Posted to RDA-L list. Retrieved from
https://www.mail-archive.com/rda-l%40listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca/msg07736.html
• Lamantia, K.F. (2012, April 20). [Comment to blogpost: On form/format/media/content/carrier and
RDA.] Bibliographic Wilderness. Retrieved April 12, 20014 from:
http://bibwild.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/on-formformatmediacontentcarrier-and-rda/
• Library and Archives Canada. Initiative for Equitable Library Access. (March 2009). FRBR and RDA:
Advances in resource description for multiple format resources. Retrieved from:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/iela/005002-2200-e.html

24. REFERENCES
• Library of Congress. Cooperative and Instructional Programs Division. (2012). Module 2: Describing
carriers and identifying works. In LC training for RDA: Resource Description and Access. Retrieved from:
http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/RDA%20training%20materials/LC%20RDA%20Training/Module2Carri
ersandWorksSept12.ppt
• Online Audiovisual Catalogers. (2009, March). Playaways and RDA. Retrieved from:
http://www.olacinc.org/drupal/capc_files/PlayawaysAndRDA.pdf
• Weihs, J., & Howarth, L.C. (2008). Designating materials: From “germane terms” to element types.
Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 45(4), 3-24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J104v45n04_02
• Withrow, P. (2013, March 15). eBooks & Playaways. Posted to RDA-L list. Retrieved from:
https://www.mail-archive.com/rda-l@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca/msg08886.html