Bibliographic Standards Committee
DCRM(MSS): Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Manuscripts)
DCRM(MSS) draft texts
Version: Beta 20091025
Current status
The editorial team is currently seeking comments and input on Area 1 of version Beta 20091025 of DCRM(MSS). The DCRM(MSS) wiki is being used to document ongoing progress.
History and background
In 2004, the Society of American Archivists adopted as its cataloging standard Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS), which focuses primarily on describing collections. As DACS was implemented in the archival community, a need was felt for a standard that would provide more guidance on the cataloging of individual manuscripts. After some discussion, the Society of American Archivists asked the RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee to take on the project of developing such a standard, recognizing that the item-level description of manuscripts would benefit from a standard that bridges the ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description) framework of DCRM and the ISAD(G) (General International Standard Archival Description) framework of DACS. Accordingly, the Bibliographic Standards Committee formed an editorial team and charged it to develop the new standard as one of the DCRM suite of manuals. The team is using the text of DCRM(B) as its point of departure, but is drawing on DACS, Descriptive Cataloging of Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Manuscripts (AMREMM), Archives, Personal Papers and Manuscripts (APPM), and other manuals to help ensure full coverage of the issues raised by individual manuscripts in their various forms.
While DACS focuses mainly on manuscript collections, DCRM(MSS) will provide guidance for the cataloging of individual manuscripts, picking up where AMREMM leaves off at 1600.
- RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee charge to form the Manuscripts Working Group: MssWG-charge-200708.pdf
Scope
DCRM(MSS) will cover individual manuscripts on paper, on microfilm, or in the form of digital surrogates. It will not cover manuscript music, manuscript maps, or graphics, all of which are covered by other DCRM manuals currently envisioned or in development.
DCRM(MSS) editorial team
- Alison E. Bridger, Senior Manuscript Cataloger, Folger Shakespeare Library
- Diane Ducharme (SAA liaison), Archivist, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University
- Kate Moriarty, Rare Book Catalog Librarian, Saint Louis University
- Jennifer K. Nelson, Reference Librarian, The Robbins Collection, UC Berkeley School of Law
- Margaret Nichols (chair), Head, Special Materials Unit, Library Technical Services, Cornell University
- Elizabeth O’Keefe, Director of Collection Information Systems, The Morgan Library
- Heather Wolfe, Curator of Manuscripts, Folger Shakespeare Library
- Bill Landis (ex-officio), Head of Arrangement, Description, & Metadata Coordinator, Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University
SAA DACS Working Group liaisons
- Kathryn (Kate) Bowers, Collection Services Archivist, Harvard University Archives
- Roslyn (Lynn) Holdzkom, Assistant Curator, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill