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I think niche industries is too general. Let’s say I only want food that is real cheap and don’t care whether it’s made with care, or can’t afford to care. That is my “niche.”

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niche_market

 

I think Michael’s talking about another “niche” which specifies things “fabricated by hand or persons,” as you put it. So generally the food would be more expensive than in the other niche. “Artisanal” fits people’s usage well.

 

Ted Gemberling

UAB Lister Hill Library

 

 

 

From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Founders.ILL
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I think the term "niche industries" work better then artisanal.  Artisanal inplies some thing that is fabricated by hand or persons.  It does not carry business connotations.  

 


From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Ted P Gemberling <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 2, 2016 11:40 AM
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Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] Comments requested on suggested subject proposals.

 

I don’t think the term “artisanal industry” is necessarily oxymoronic, because there is one definition of “industry” in the Webster’s Third International Dictionary: “a group of productive and profit-making enterprises or organizations that have a similar technological structure of production and that produce or supply technically substitutable goods, services, or sources of income.” I highlighted the phrase similar technological structure of production, because it seems to imply an industry doesn’t have to be mechanized when it gives these examples of usage: “the smuggling of gold, liquor, and other contraband has become a secondary industry” and “the tourist industry.”

 

So to state it more simply, it seems like that use of industry is something like “a form of enterprise.” Artisanal or craftsman work can fall under it.

 

Ted Gemberling

UAB Lister Hill Library

 

From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Borries
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2016 4:41 PM
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Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] Comments requested on suggested subject proposals.

 

My thanks to all who have responded.

 

Kurt Winkler suggested, based on an online definition, that “Artisanal” already related “especially” to food and drink.  This is true, but there are also artisanal soaps and cosmetics, so I don’t think we can say that “artisanal” relates *only* to food and drink.

 

Laura Wilson suggested the possibility of “Gourmet” or “Local,” although acknowledging that these terms were not as close as one would like.  I think that, while the terms “organic,” “local,” “gourmet,” and “artisanal” certainly overlap to some degree, they are also different in that they refer to different aspects of the product concerned.  I would agree with Chris Baer below that artisanal is a more recent term, but I’m not sure it only arose as a marketing ploy, and I do think that most people would include the Amish pie lady in the artisanal category (but pies are not usually considered a gourmet food).  And perhaps “Artisanal food industry and trade” is no more of an oxymoron than “Cottage industries.”

 

Michael

 

Michael S. Borries

Cataloger, City University of New York

151 East 25th Street, 5th Floor

New York, NY  10010

Phone: (646) 312-1687

Email: [log in to unmask]

 

From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chris Baer
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2016 3:30 PM
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Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] Comments requested on suggested subject proposals.

 

Mr. Borries,

 

This is an example of a more general problem dealings with material goods and consumables.  Perceptions and labels change with technological change, mores and fashion.

 

My suspicion, just based on shopping over the years, is that “artisanal” is a relatively recent coinage made to single out non-industrial foods and thus justify a greater social cachet and price premium. “Organic” falls in the same category.  It’s no wonder that this definition would float to the top in a Google search.  In the days before ubiquitous mass-produced food products, it made no sense to call things “artisanal.”  When as a child I would pick up store-made foods from the corner deli or ice cream parlor, no one would have thought of calling them “artisanal” even though they were made in small lots by hand.  By the same token, I doubt if the Amish lady selling homemade pies, or cider or fresh-picked, naturally-ripened vegetables from a roadside farm stand bothers to call them “artisanal” or “organic,” though they may be even more artisanal than things prepared in Brooklyn.  The same holds true of similar homemade foods offered for sale in other less-urbanized or less developed countries or regions.  They are simply adhering to the local norm for food, which for us is now mass-produced and prepackaged.

 

However, as “artisanal” is essentially a modern, U.S. marketing ploy, and this marketing takes place through media like the directory in question, and not via the shop window or table of actual wares, then it probably make sense to have headings for “Artisanal …”  There will probably be more things like this to catalog, at least for a while.

 

By the way, “Artisanal food industry” is either an oxymoron or a suggestion that the artisanal claim is in fact a fraud.  Either that, or the concept of “industry” is thought to embrace activities that are not properly industrial but either pre- or post-.  Since the works to be cataloged are actually part of the selling process, perhaps “Artisanal … trade” is the most descriptive.  I think that should cover it, so that separate “Artisanal …” prefixes for things like cheese and beer would not be necessary.

 

The problem with using the three separate headings is that they draw too large a circle around the work.  As noted, “artisanal” is a relatively modern coinage, but “artisans” is exactly the opposite.  Go back a century or to a less developed region, and all sorts of things are being made by people properly called “artisans,”  embracing almost anyone working by hand with simple tools in a small shop.  The exact relationship between artisan and food industry, already potentially oxymoronic, is left hanging.  What exists in the work is a modern or post-modern, consumerist notion of “artisan.”  It is about trendy retailers in Brooklyn, not the traditional village publican or the Amish pie lady.  “Artisanal” properly captures the trendy, somewhat pretentious, up-market quality.  “Artisan” does not.

 

Chris Baer

Hagley Museum and Library

 

 

 

From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kurt Winkler
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2016 1:16 PM
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Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] Comments requested on suggested subject proposals.

 

Mr. Borries,

 

When I googled “Artisanal” this definition appeared. “(of a product, especially food or drink) made in a traditional or non-mechanized way”. Since food and drink is part of the definition, perhaps leaving it with simply Artisanal is properly descriptive.

 

-Kurt Winkler

Brigham Young University

 

From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Borries
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2016 10:59 AM
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Subject: [PCCLIST] Comments requested on suggested subject proposals.

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

Before formally submitting two new subject proposals, I would like some feedback.

 

I have a book, Made in Brooklyn, that is a directory (with commentary) of artisanal food and drink makers in Brooklyn.  While there is a heading for “Artisans,” there is nothing that limits those artisans to those who make food and drink.  Looking through the subjects available, the only other ones I see that might apply are Food industry and trade and Beverage industry.  I am considering proposing two additional subject headings, Artisanal food industry and trade and Artisanal beverage industry (or one could add “Artisanal” at the end; whichever form was chosen for the 150, I would add a 450 for the other form).

 

So my questions are: Should I propose these, or should I simply use all three subjects (Artisans, Food industry and trade and Beverage industry) on the same record?  Given the increasing popularity of artisanal products, I am inclined to think I should propose the new headings.

 

Should the form be inverted or direct?

 

Should there be some sort of “see also” note on the heading for “Artisans?”  And what kind?  I suspect “artisanal” headings may increase.

 

Thanks to all for their responses.

 

Michael

 

Michael S. Borries

Cataloger, City University of New York

151 East 25th Street, 5th Floor

New York, NY  10010

Phone: (646) 312-1687

Email: [log in to unmask]

 

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