Introduction

Video material currently includes VHS tape and DVD formats. All non-music video material is given directly to the video specialist, whether received through MonoAcq (barcoded) or through Gifts (not barcoded).

The cataloger searches all video material and catalogs those titles that have acceptable copy on-line. The cataloger may handle feature film copy lacking a call number due to the predictable nature of the classification scheme (this is an exception to MIT Libraries’ copy cataloging guidelines). Videos with content in subject areas other than feature film must carry a verifiable call number and subject headings to qualify it for copy cataloging. Material lacking any copy online or having insufficient copy is placed in the original cataloger’s backlog.

Searching strategies for video cataloging normally lack the ISBN/macro option. The cataloger may use author/title or title searches qualified by year and type (vis). Also available, in retrieving DVD copy, is a publisher number search, which more often than not appears on the spine of the case of a commercially produced DVD of a feature film. Matches for copy must be made by finding, if more than one hit is presented in a truncated list, the right record by type of video (videodisc vs. videotape) and year; sometimes specific editions are clear in a list. Once a record is selected, the cataloger verifies further with publisher information, dates, and any edition statements. The presence of series statements can help verify the copy but its absence won’t make the copy unacceptable.

Editing guidelines

Since LC doesn’t catalog videos, this document only considers fixed and variable fields from the angle of editing contributed copy.

Fixed fields

Type: g (projected medium, includes videorecordings) scan and correct
DtSt: p (date of distribution/release/issue and date of production when different) when cataloging a video of a feature film; copy should reflect video’s status as version of the film published at a later date; scan and correct
Dates: (date 1/date 2) when using p in DtSt, first date will be issue year of video; second date will be issue year of original film; scan and correct

Variable fields

007 <physical description fixed field> scan and correct these subfields:

ǂb <specific material designation> d (for disc)
ǂe <videorecording format> v (for DVD); g (for VHS tape)
ǂh <dimensions> u (for unknown); use for both DVDs and VHS tapes

028 <publisher number> if present, scan and correct; if not present, add:

ǂa <publisher number> most often these, along with a source, are printed on the spine of a videorecording
ǂb <source>

130 <uniform title> use if feature film is a manifestation of another collaborative form, such as a Broadway musical, or, to distinguish it from another film with the same title. Also, a 130 should be created if the video contains a film that has been released in a country other than its country of origin, with a title in that country’s language. The 130 would contain the original title in its original language.

Examples:

130 0 ǂa Producers (Motion Picture : 1968)
130 0 ǂa Producers (Motion Picture : 2005)
130 0 ǂa Producers (Musical)
130 0 ǂa Domicile conjugal <original French title; released in US as Bed and Board>

245 <title field> this field must contain the subfield for medium, ǂh [videorecording]. Example:

245 00 Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? ǂh [videorecording] / ǂc Warner Bros. Pictures

300 <physical description> scan and correct:

ǂa <extent> number of discs
ǂc <dimensions> size of disc or width of videotape

520 <summary note> a summary of the content of the videorecording; if present, scan and correct; if not present, add

538 <system details note> DVD, or, VHS; if present scan and correct; if not present, add

655 <Index term---genre/form> Video copy often comes with genre subject headings, one of which, Feature films, should always appear in our catalog in the bib record for a feature film; either form noted below is acceptable. If lacking, add as 650 0. Example:

655 0 Feature films.
650 0 Feature films.

Any bib record for a video of a documentary film should carry the index term, Documentary films. If lacking, add as 650 0:

655 0 Documentary films.
650 0 Documentary films.

700 1 <author/title added entry> use when an added entry is needed for a related work. Example:

700 1 Mitchell, Margaret, ǂd 1900-1949. ǂt Gone With the Wind

Feature films

Since LC does not class feature films, they don't assign a place for it in the schedules. Documentaries can be classed by subject, but for feature films it is necessary for MIT to create its own system of classification.

MIT practice is to class movies next to their screenplays (text and criticism), which LC classes in PN1997 (movies produced before 2001) and PN1997.2 (produced 2001- ).

It has been determined that LC practice for cutters for screenplays has changed, which means that MIT’s practice for feature film cutters must reflect that change.

Old system

LC used two cutters for the screenplay, the first for the name of the film, the second for the author of the screenplay. This had the effect of randomly placing the screenplay among works about the film, where the first cutter was for the name of the film and the second was for the author of criticism about the film.

For the video, MIT used only the first cutter for the name of the film, placing it before the screenplay and criticism.

PN1997.M436 1989 Metropolis [videorecording]
PN1997.M436.F75 2000 Fritz Lang's Metropolis : cinematic visions of technology …
PN1997.M436.L3 Metropolis : a film by Fritz Lang [screenplay]
PN1997.M436.M48 2000 Metropolis : ein filmisches Laboratorium der modernen Architektur

New system

LC now uses a single cutter for the name of the film for screenplays, and double cutters for criticism. Since the single cutter was what MIT was using for the video, we will now need to distinguish the video from the screenplay by adding a second cutter .A1. This will result in a shelflist order of:

• screenplay
• video of the film itself
• works about the film

i.e.,

• PN1997.S56 1986 Singin' in the rain (Classic film scripts) [screenplay]
• PN1997.S56.A1 1986 Singin' in the rain [videorecording]
• PN1997.S56.W67 1992 Singin' in the rain / Peter Wollen. (BFI film classics)

Assigning call numbers and subject headings to feature film copy

Call numbers and a subject heading for feature films may be added by copy catalogers to copy lacking classification and/or subject headings. Call numbers will be in either PN1997 or PN1997.2 (depending on the date; see above) and the subject can be simply "Feature films."