Step One in Formalizing the Rules in AACR2 for Cataloguing E-Serials: Chapter 9 and the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Amendments 2001 Package

摘要

The cataloguing community has long struggled with how to quickly formalize cataloguing rules for rapidly evolving and newly emerging formats and entrench them into its cataloguing code, AACR2. How do we balance the immediacy of the need by cataloguers for rules for these new and evolving formats with the consensus-building, committee structure of AACR? How do we change the structure of the cataloguing code so that it lends itself to precipitous change? The most flagrant recent example has been the need for rules for cataloguing e-serials. In October 2001, the Amendments 2001 package and the revamped Chapter 9 (Electronic Resources) were published. With the amendments, we came one step closer to officially having the rules to catalogue e-serials at our fingertips, but we are not there yet. It will not be until at least February 2002, with the publication of the 2002 Amendments package containing the revamped Chapter 12 (Continuing Resources), that the rules will be ensconced in AACR2, and then, not completely. The cataloguing community must further deliberate, reach decisions on Areas 3 and 5 of Chapter 9, and continue forward with its study on GMDs. Is this quick enough?