Uniform Titles: Past Policy

[   Introduction  |    Voluminous Authors and Anonymous Classics  |    Other Former Practices:  |    Headings for Individual Works |    Collective Uniform Titles  |    Cross References  |    Uniform Titles: Policy  |    Uniform Titles: Cataloguing Procedures  |    Table of Contents (Access Points)  |    Table of Contents (Top)]

Introduction

Before 1996, policy at Queen's was to strictly limit the number of uniform title headings created. The intention of this policy was to save time and trouble. It was thought that LC was creating far too many authority records for uniform titles for simple modern translations (a practice they have since moderated).

As authority headings for uniform titles became increasingly available and as they became more common in copy, the trouble involved in removing them outweighed the trouble of adding them. It was eventually decided to accept them wherever they occurred in copy. Since then, some of the uniform titles that were stripped out earlier have been restored. However, the impact of the previous policy on the database has not been erased, and therefore it is useful to retain a description of what it was.

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Voluminous Authors and Anonymous Classics

Uniform title headings were used with a limited list of authors, locally termed "voluminous authors," and with titles that came under the heading of "anonymous classics".

• "Uniform titles" policy for voluminous authors/anonymous classics was established on a case-by-case basis.
• The Librarians were responsible for the establishment of uniform title policies according to their assigned subjects. In the case of writers whose works were interdisciplinary, consultation with colleagues was required. The decisions, in each case, were noted in the Authority file.
• Derived Cataloguers then had to search the Authorities under a particular name or title to determine the "uniform titles" policy, and refer headings not yet assessed to the appropriate subject cataloguer Librarian.

Policies for Establishing Anonymous Classics or Voluminous Authors

"Anonymous Classics" or "Voluminous Authors" were to be established according to the following guidelines:

1. The author is generally considered a major figure in his/her field and has written an enormous number of works and/or the works have been often translated. (see AACR2r, p. 484)
2. The author's name appears frequently in the Queen's database and the LC/NLC authorities databases. Use a variety of search types (author, title, subject, dictionary) to determine the difficulty of user access. The longer the file and the more complex the arrangement, the more likelihood that uniform titles are required as a filing device. e.g. -- more than 100 headings in the dictionary index (disregarding subject subdivisions under personal name)
3. • multiple editions, translations, etc.
   • multiple authority records in LC/NLC each with numerous cross references (variant titles)
4. The author is significant in relation to what you know of the Queen's University curriculum and research requirements (i.e., frequency of user searches). Consult a reference Librarian, if necessary.

The librarian was then to make the restrictions clear in a 690 note on the authority record for the author's name or the anonymous work, e.g.

"Use uniform titles for all individual works."

"Use uniform title for '[specific title]' only."

"Use collective uniform titles in bibliographic records but do not establish authorities."

"Retain uniform title in bibliographic records" or

"Anonymous classic" (= use uniform title) or

"Do not use uniform title".

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Other Former Practices

Headings for Individual Works

Once it was decided that the author should be treated as voluminous, it was still policy to establish as few uniform titles/authorities as necessary in terms of database requirements. If there were only one or two occurrences of a title and/or no title variants, a uniform title was not to be used. The decision to use a UT heading in the bibliographic record did not always mean a concomitant authority record was necessary.

We also adopted a policy different from LC's when a name-title authority record was established for an individual work. LC creates multiple headings with |l subfields to distinguish the various languages involved. We created instead a single authority to cover all translations and editions of that work, and added cross references from titles in translation to the authority record for the original title.

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Collective Uniform Titles

We also did not make authority records for collective uniform titles, even if edition dates and language of translation were added to such generic headings as Poems, Works, Selections, or Correspondence.

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Cross References

We did not make references from title to author-title in authority records.

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Section 2a, Uniform Titles: Past Policy
Oct. 11 1991 by V. Taylor
Revised May 1, 1996 by E. Read
Revised June 7, 2004 by D. Rutherford

Page maintained by Elizabeth A. Read, readel@queensu.ca. Created: 01/05/96 Updated: 10-Jun-2004 05:19 PM