BIBCO Guidelines for Core-Level Records

Cataloging at a core level uses a combination of data elements less extensive than that for full-level cataloging but more extensive than that employed for minimal-level cataloging. Core-level cataloging includes fewer notes, subject headings, and added entries. All access points should be expressed with authorized forms of names with the authority work completed.

In 2010 the PCC Monographic Bibliographic Record Cooperative Program (BIBCO) replaced its core record standard with a single encoding level BIBCO Standard Record (BSR). The BSR for Textual Monographs was implemented in January 2010 and updated in April 2015. Although the encoding level "4" earlier used for core records is still valid in OCLC, new and upgraded PCC bibliographic records should be coded as “blank” (full).

According to the PCC’s introduction to the BIBCO Standard Record Metadata Application Profiles, the BSR is “a “model” for bibliographic monographic records using a single encoding level in a shared database environment. Catalogers satisfy BSR requirements when creating and/or modifying bibliographic records, and determine the level of fullness that best suits the resources in their collections and the needs of their users. The BSR is a floor record, which emphasizes access points over extensive, redundant descriptive data.” BSR Metadata Application Profiles are available for both AACR2 and RDA and should be consulted by those institutions participating in BIBCO.

When cataloging Slavic materials the following BSR elements should be considered:

- notes
- subject headings
- non-Latin fields

Notes

The BIBCO Standard Record (BSR) Metadata Profile recommends the inclusion only of those notes that support the identification of an item and specifies the kinds of notes that may be required for different kinds of items (cf. pp 11, 14-15 17-18). The following list gives links to chapters of this manual that provide detailed information about different types of notes used in cataloging Slavic materials and indicates for each whether or not its use is required for the core-level description of an item.

- Corporate Bodies at Head of Title (not required)
- Hierarchical Corporate Bodies at Head of Title (not required)
- Languages in Multiple Scripts (required)
- Notes for Textbooks and Other Publications for Instructional Purposes (not required)
- "Pseudo-Edition Statements" in Colophons (not required)

Subjects

The BIBCO Standard Record (BSR) Metadata Profile’s instructions regarding the entry of subject and genre/form access data in 6XX MARC fields directs catalogers to "Use judgment in assessing each resource. As appropriate, assign a complement of access points that provide access to at least the primary/essential subject and/or form of the work at the appropriate level of specificity. Assign such access points from an established thesaurus, list, or subject heading system” (p. 37, notes to final row of table).

For Slavic catalogers, geopolitical changes may affect the number of subject headings assigned. For example, a resource might require duplicate headings to cover the transition between Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic (see Authorized Access Points, Subject Headings, and MARC codes for Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, and Slovakia) or even triplicate headings to cover the transition from Russia to the Soviet Union to the Former Soviet republics (see Russia / Soviet Union / Russia (Federation) Subject Headings and Former Soviet Republics: National and Supranational Subject Headings). Catalogers creating Core records and faced with this issue are urged to keep the assignment of headings to the minimum.

Non-Latin fields

Although the decision to include data in non-Latin form in a BIBCO Core record is strictly optional, when that option is exercised, it must be done so according to the supplementary Guidelines for Multiple Character Sets. The fields in which data in non-Latin form may be used are outlined in the following table taken from these Guidelines; please note that Field 260 (Publication, distribution, etc.) in the left-hand column of the table has been changed to 264 in RDA.

Mandatory (if applicable)

245 (Title/statement of responsibility)
246 (Varying form of title)
247 (Former title)
250 (Edition statement)
260 (Publication, distribution, etc.)
490 (Series statements)
740 (Title added entry)

Optional

1XX (Main entry)
240 (Uniform title)
362 (Dates of publication and/or sequential designation)
5XX (Notes)
600-630, 651 (Subject access fields)
700-730 (Added entries)
760-787 (Linking entries)
8XX (Series added entries)