Cataloging Tools from LC
As I was reading the excellent Q&A column written by JayWeitz, of OCLC, in the Music OCLC Users Group Newsletter, I was reminded of a tremendous source of cataloging tools of which we probably aren't adequately aware. It's funded by our tax dollars, so we should be sure to get our money's worth!
The source is LC's Cataloging and Acquisitions homepage which contains a myriad of cataloging resources.
One great resource that was just posted last week is an FAQ about Form/Genre Headings. Who hasn't struggled occasionally to keep the distinction between subject headings and form/genre headings clear, or to figure out whether an authority record represents a form/genre heading or not? (OK, maybe I should narrow that down a bit - what cataloger hasn't struggled...? This probably doesn't trouble the minds of your average person on the street.)
Another helpful document I found on this site covers LC's practice for describing the new sound recording formats. I'm not sure how recent this is, but it has great tips. If you've wondered how to do descriptive cataloging for an MP3 file, or a CD/DVD combo, or other tricky audio formats, this is the tool for you!
The main homepage doesn't have room to list very many titles, so be sure to click the "View All" under the various sections to see full lists of what's there. For example, to find the Sound Recording document I described above, I had to click "View All" in the General, Descriptive Cataloging section, and then scroll down a long list of subcategories to the Sound Recordings listing. There were lots of other interesting resources listed in the other categories, so have fun looking around while you're there!