Page 232 - DLIS002_KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING THEORY

Unit 12: Library Catalogue Codes

53 countries and 12 international organizations. The report of the international conference was Notes
issued in 1963. It drew upon Lubetzky’s 1960 code and restated the objectives of both Lubetzky
and Cutter.
The new code known as (AACR I) appeared in 1967 and was received by the profession with a
mixed reaction. The rules in the code were organized in two parts, part 1 dealt with entry and
heading consisting of four chapters, and part 2 covering description.
When work on AACR I began, books and periodicals were the basic and popular materials. Card
catalogue was the norm. But when the code appeared in 1967, the situation changed vastly. As a
result of technology, a variety of new media (non-book materials) found their way into libraries.
Computer manipulation of data made possible other form of catalogue. The need to integrate
the descriptive record of different forms of materials (book and non-book items) necessitated
studies to find analogies between their characteristics. IFLA brought out a document entitled
International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) in 1971. This was later improved/revised
and published in 1974 as International Standard Bibliographic Description for Monographic
publications (ISBD (M)). Along with it, another standard for serials, viz., International Standard
Bibliographic Description for Serials (ISBD (S)) was also published. The AACR 1 incorporated
these documents and revised its chapters. Iola’s International standards for other kinds of material
including a general one followed in succession.

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Caution This piecemeal revision was found unsatisfactory. It needed development of overall
principles and integration of descriptive rules for various media.

12.3.2 AACR 2 (1978)

The second edition proved superior revealing basic principles that provided the structure of the
code. The code presented the descriptive rules in part 1, which being with a general chapter can
be applied to all materials in general followed by the chapters on specific media which are
elaborations of the provisions of the general chapter. Part 2 included rules for determining and
establishing headings/access points. These rules were also based on ISBDs (the general and
specific ones). In the rules for access points, it worked out many terminological improvements
to remove conceptual irritants, e.g., statement of responsibility in place of statement of authorship,
corporate entry, instead of corporate author, etc. The standardized punctuation to conform to
the pattern established in ISBDs.

12.3.3 AACR 2, 1988 Revised

The Library of Congress began the implementation of AACR 2 (1978) code in January 1981. Like
the earlier edition (AACR 1), the second edition too appeared at a time when there were rapid
developments taking place. AACR 2 resolved the problems of authorship more satisfactorily;
the rules were found inadequate in dealing with new media. In course of implementation of the
code, some rules presented themselves as confusing, insufficient, and complicated. Therefore,
attempts were made to clarify, expand, or alter rules in necessary cases.
Three sets of revisions of AACR 2 comprising of geographical corrections, textual amendments,
and altered and additional rules were issued in 1982, 1984, and 1986. These were followed also
by a draft revision of chapter 9 for computer files. The code too came into wide use and found
translations in many languages. The revised code, decided to be named as AACR 2, 1988 revision
and not as 3rd edition. The revision sort to incorporate the editions and modifications already
made as well as further revisions contemplated, viz., description of material for blind (tactile),
rethinking of the concepts of the separate bibliographical identities, treatment of titles, author

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