Policy on levels of cataloguing treatment

This is a living document, and will be revised and expanded on an ongoing basis. Cataloguers are encouraged to use their judgement as appropriate.

Introduction

The cataloguing records created within the Description Division of Library and Archives Canada (LAC) serve a variety of purposes, including:

to identify and provide access to published items in the LAC collection;
to record the existence of Canadian publications within the national bibliography;
to provide MARC-based metadata that follow internationally recognized standards and that can be re-used by Canadian and international libraries in their local systems and in their contributions to the National Union Catalogue (Voilà), to WorldCat, and to other shared databases;
to provide cataloguing metadata to support Canada's inter-library loan infrastructure;
to provide a valuable source of reference and research for Canadian studies; and
to ensure that related works are brought together (by subject, creators' names, titles, geographic area, etc.) when searching Aurora and other large bibliographic databases.

The policy on levels of cataloguing treatment was first introduced by the former National Library of Canada in 1996 and was revised in 2003 and again in 2009. The present version (2021) was created to reflect the environmental shift brought by LAC’s transition to OCLC WorldShare Management Services (WMS) in 2018 as well as the decreased ratio of cataloguing resources to publications received through various channels of acquisition.

Context

In 2018, Library and Archives Canada decommissioned its in-house integrated library system AMICUS and replaced it with WMS. As a result, LAC’s bibliographic data were migrated into WorldCat, a shared bibliographic environment where member libraries can use, enhance, and enrich other member libraries’ records.

Furthermore, authority work is now done in two separate files:

Library of Congress/NACO Authority File (LC/NAF) for English-language authority records. This file is shared with other members of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) as part of the Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) Program.
Canadiana Name Authorities in French for French-language authority records. This file is shared with Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) and member libraries of the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI) as part of the PFAN - Francophone Name Authority Program.

This shared cataloguing environment allows LAC to leverage the contributions from other libraries to improve the efficiency of its own processes. However, as a consequence, LAC has relinquished some control over the cataloguing metadata it creates.

Principles

The present version of the policy on levels of cataloguing treatment is a response to LAC’s current bibliographic context. It recognizes the need to address the growing accumulation of publications received through various channels of acquisition and the limited resources available to catalogue them fully, while maintaining the programmes and services that are considered priorities for LAC and its stakeholders.

Concretely, this policy considers:

resource capacity

The Description Division has seen a significant reduction in staff since the last revision of the policy. Consequently, the present policy provides for a significant reduction in overall cataloguing work to reflect the change in capacity.

growth of the backlog

Each year, LAC acquires more publications than Description Division staff can fully catalogue. Consequently, the present policy provides for a significant reduction of overall cataloguing work to decelerate the growth of the cataloguing backlog.

LAC’s priority programmes and services

Cataloguing priorities

Cataloguing priorities are based on the current service standards as well as the assumption that older publications are more likely to have already been described by another institution.

Services to publishers are prioritized over other description work:

Cataloguing in Publication (CIP) requests
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) pre-publication assignments

Publications with service standards are prioritized over other material:

Federal publications selected from the Depository Services Program (DSP) Weekly Acquisitions Lists
Public Opinion Research Reports (PORR)
Reference collection

Current publications are generally processed before older imprints.

Bibliographic work

New records

Overall, this policy provides for a reduction in the number of publications that are subject to cataloguing at the full level as compared with the previous policy.

All bibliographic records will be done at the Minimal level.

Exceptions are as follow:

Full level

CIP update (regardless of age)
Reference collection & Canadian Genealogy Centre collection
Serials selected from DSP Weekly Acquisitions Lists
Federal publications selected from DSP Weekly Acquisitions Lists considered to be of “heritage value”
Newspapers

Minimal plus level
(This is an internally-defined level that meets the MARC21 requirements for full level but does not meet LAC’s definition of a full level record.)

Federal publications selected from DSP Weekly Acquisitions Lists (except serials)

Abbreviated level

Public Opinion Research Reports (PORR)
Other government publications
Foreign publications
Musical sound and video recordings published outside of Canada
Maps & Atlases (except serials, which are catalogued at the minimal level)
Non-music sound and video recordings
Pamphlets (except DSP pamphlets, which are not catalogued)
Publications that have been in the backlog for more than four years (i.e., the publication year is earlier than the current year minus three)

Prepublication level

CIP preliminary
ISSN prepublication

Existing records

When working on a bibliographic record created by another library, LAC cataloguers will only revise data elements that are required for the level of cataloguing treatment prescribed by this policy. Cataloguers will revise the other data elements in the existing record only if they find an obvious error.

Other workflows

Some categories of publications will not be catalogued by Description Division staff and will be processed by Acquisitions Division and then sent directly to storage.

Direct-to-shelf

To decelerate the growth of the backlog and to focus Description Division staff’s efforts on higher priority work, some categories of analogue publications will be sent directly to storage by Acquisitions Division. Factors considered when making this determination include the expected amount of Canadian content, the metadata requirements for identification and access, and how easily items belonging to the category can be identified.

Metadata ingest

Digital publications acquired through the Digital Assets Management System (DAMS) will have publisher-supplied metadata attached to them. These metadata elements are then manipulated and validated according to procedures before being loaded into WorldCat. These metadata are deemed sufficient for identification and access and therefore will not be further enhanced by Description Division staff. The ingested metadata are encoded at the abbreviated level.

Exceptions: Federal publications selected from DSP Weekly Acquisitions Lists and publications for which Canadian CIP data was provided.

Backlog cataloguing

Some older materials will be processed in an expedited fashion using existing records, if available in WorldCat.

Authority work

Authority work will generally be limited to the authority file corresponding to the language of cataloguing: LC/NAF for English-language records and Canadiana for French-language records. Exceptions: Headings used as subject will be created in both authority files.

Furthermore, LAC cataloguers will no longer create or revise authority records for non-Canadian entities (works, expressions, agents) unless a change is required to the access point or to address privacy issues. They will also limit authority work done to other entities as per the Policy on Authority Work (under development).

This policy applies to all levels of cataloguing treatment.

Monitoring and review

This policy will be reviewed regularly and may be updated to respond to changing library practices and organizational pressures.

Appendix A - Definition of level of cataloguing treatment

Full: Full level bibliographic records include all applicable bibliographic data elements, including unlimited notes. Subject analysis includes full Dewey classification, Library of Congress classification, and as many subject headings and genre-form terms as appropriate.
Minimal plus (coded as full): Minimal plus level bibliographic records include most applicable bibliographic data elements, with notes limited to those listed in the appendix. Subject analysis includes abridged Dewey classification, Library of Congress classification, and a maximum of two subject headings or genre-form terms (plus their equivalents).
Minimal: Minimal level bibliographic records include most applicable bibliographic data elements, with notes limited to those listed in the appendix. Subject analysis includes at least one classification number (Dewey and/or Library of Congress), but no subject headings or genre-form terms.
Abbreviated: Abbreviated level bibliographic records include only the core bibliographic data elements, with other data elements added if only needed for identification and access and if easily determined. No subject headings or genre-form terms. Classification is limited to Library of Congress for shelving purposes.

BACLAC - Policy Statements

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