To Rare Book and Special Collections Librarians,

We invite you to review the latest draft of the Core Standard for Rare
Books (DCRB Core). This supercedes the draft that has been on the RBMS
Bibliographic Standards Committee (BSC) home page for about six months. The
updated version that takes its place was altered according to the input
given via electronic mail, by the comments made at the hearing at ALA
Mid-winter and finally, by the comments made by the PCC Standing Committee
on Standards. The first two sets of comments convinced the Task Group to
omit the transcription recommendation and the comments of the PCC Cte
convinced us to format the standard in the same way as the others
(field-by-field guidelines, with footnotes). We believe that the result is
quite useful.  Assuming that this draft meets with general approval during
this review, it is probable that it will be granted official approval by
ALA Annual (June 1998).

As a reminder about the background of the DCRB core standard: it is a
standard for applying less-than-full cataloging for selected books from
special collections or rare book departments or institutions. It has been
created in alliance with the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, which has
been developing "core" standards for all formats. The RBMS Bibliographic
Standards Committee believed that the overall Core Standard for Books was
not sufficient guidance for those who treat special books material, so
worked to develop an alternative guideline to be used in conjunction with
its cataloging rules, Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Books (DCRB).

Since selection of books to be treated as "core" could be in the purview of
any combination of bibliographers, selectors, curators,
catalogers--possibly even administrators--and will certainly have some
impact on users, we continue to be interested in response from as wide a
range of people possible from the rare book community.  The current version
of the draft, with more information about the standard, can be accessed on
the BSC home page under "Committee documents":

http://www.lib.byu.edu/~catalog/people/rlm/bsc/home.htm

Please note when you are there that there is an important link to the PCC
Core Standard for Books that must be looked at for a full comprehension of
the DCRB Core standard. Once there, if you are interested in learning more
about the program and its purpose, you can navigate around that page to
find useful background and information.

Please also note that there is a link both on the BSC home page and on the
Core document itself to a set of examples prepared by Jain Fletcher showing
how rare core records might compare with full records.

   We are interested in hearing your comments, both on the DCRB Core and on
the accompanying examples.

Robert L. Maxwell   -   Chair, RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee
Special Collections and Ancient Languages Cataloger
6428 Harold B. Lee Library
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 378-5568
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Jain Fletcher   -   Chair, PCC Task Group on Developing DCRB Core Std
Head, Monographic Cataloging Section
University Research Library - UCLA
Box 951575
Los Angeles, California    90095-1575
phone # - (310) 825-1337
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
FAX #:  (310) 206-4974