Extremely preliminary notes - November 2021
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Remember that these categories are fluid:
Use cataloger’s judgment and respect the decisions made by other catalogersAnd
For original cataloging, use another format if it better suits the Artist’s book
Also, don’t completely redo another catalogers judgement when copy cataloging
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500 Number in/of edition
e.g.:
500 “Limited edition of 50 copies, signed by artist.”–Colophon.
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590 Utah State University Special Collections and Archives has number 12.n ←for SCA items.
Subject and Genre
Artist’s book, Private press, Small press, or Livre d’artiste?
Artists books are produced by artists and intended as visual art objects; they often play with the form or idea of a book.
Small press are put out by a small press and finely produced (handmade paper, etc.) with runs of less than 500 (but can at same time be an Artist’s book)
Private press is a guy “guy in a garage garage” (but can also be used to produce an Artist’s book)
Privately printed is something printed for an individual (old rare books, not usually a 20th century thing).
Livre d’artiste is an overlapping term for books containing collections of original works of art, usually printed directly from a source created by the artist themselves, rather than from a source that was created by a technician from the artist's design. Originated in France around the turn of the 20th century.
However: if an artist states that the item is an Artist’s Book, then catalog it as an Artist’s Book
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When using LCSH to describe what the item is, always follow the a genre term by Specimens to distinguish it from a book with on the subject topic of Artists booksa term.
650 0 Letterpress 0 Letterpress printing |z United States |v Specimens.
650 0 Paper0 Paper, Handmade |z United States |v Specimens.
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655 Genre and Format terms:
In the past we have used Rare Books Binding & Genre Thesaurus (in SCA) or the Art and Architecture Thesaurus, but there are also newer sources available, such as Library of Congress Genre and Format Terms (available in Classification Plus, which makes it particularly useful).
On occasion, we have used our own Local list of genre terms, but usually for SCA onlyitems.
Selection of examples:
655 7 Artists’ books. |2 lcgft n ←in general, prefer lcgft for non-SCA items, if the term is in there
But older records might have:
655 7 Artists' books. |2 rbgenr
OR:
655 7 artists' books (books) |2 aat
We do not need three identical 655 fields for the same term, but we can have 650/655 combos in the same record:. Also, we are leaving in all OCLC fast subject headings even though they duplicate the 650 terms.
650 0 Artists' books |v Specimens.
650 7 Artists' books. ǂ2 fast ǂ0 (OCoLC)fst00817660
655 7 Specimens. ǂ2 fast ǂ0 (OCoLC)fst01423861
655 7 Artists' books |y 20th century. |2 lcgft
If familiar with the Rare Books Thesaurus Thesauri for genre/form entryterms, feel free to add in more detailed genre/form terms as neededwould be useful to a patron:
655 7 Accordion fold format (Binding) |z United States |y 20th century. |2 rbbin
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655 7 Broadsides (Posters) |y 20th century. |2 lcgft
710 Name of the Press/Publisher is useful
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for searching, so add it, it missing (if you can discover it).
710 2 Name of Press (check for authorized form, if available)
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Selection of resources
Lewis, N., McCormack, A., Skeen, B., Wiederhold, R. (2019, May 15). Beyond Books: Cataloging Special
Format Items [Pre-conference training workshop]. Utah Library Association Annual Conference, Sandy, UT
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