Colophon and Summary Titles

This chapter provides information about how to deal with titles in colophons and summaries of books, with special emphasis on colophon and summary titles in languages other than the language of the title proper.

According to RDA 2.3.3.1, a parallel title is the title proper in another language and/or script. Catalogers are instructed to treat an original title in a language different from that of the title proper being cataloged as a parallel title if it is presented as the equivalent of the title proper. Parallel titles proper may be taken from any source within the resource being cataloged (RDA 2.3.3.2). If a parallel title proper is taken from a different source than the title proper, and that fact is considered important for identification, the cataloger should make a note on the source (RDA 2.3.3.3).

There is some disagreement in the cataloging community as to whether titles in colophons and summaries that are in languages other than the title proper of a work constitute parallel titles proper or not. This has implications for how such titles are treated within the framework of the MARC bibliographic record. There are two different interpretations: the traditional one and a newer one adopted by the LC. The SCM recommends that catalogers follow the traditional approach to treating colophon and summary names described below.

1. The traditional approach

Traditionally, colophon and summary titles in languages other than that of the title proper have been understood not as equivalents of the title proper but as variant titles. This understanding stems from the purpose for which these titles are placed in the resources. Summaries in a foreign language are usually prepared by somebody other than the author and are intended as an aid to potential users of a resource who do not have knowledge of the primary language. Often rendered by non-native speakers, the titles of summaries in foreign languages refer to the summary rather than the work, frequently contain grammatical quirks and are, strictly speaking, extraneous to the work itself; they are never used in reference sources for the resource or in scholarly citations.

Similarly, colophon titles in a different language are usually supplied by publishers to aid potential users in geographic regions in which two or more languages are used with equal frequency--a practice especially common in the Soviet Union, where almost any book published in languages other than Russian was given a colophon title in Russian. As with summary titles, colophon titles will never be used to refer to the resource in reference sources or in scholarly citations; they are similarly often rendered by non-native speakers and may contain grammatical quirks. For works of fiction, colophon titles may differ from the title of work as later translated into the language of the colophon.

For the reasons given above, the nature of summary and colophon titles is closer to that of variant than to parallel titles. On this interpretation, then, only the title proper is given in the 245 field, while the colophon and summary titles are recorded as variant titles in the 246 field.

Note that, strictly speaking, the 246 is not a required field for the BIBCO Standard Record; however, providing titles in foreign languages can be a great aid to catalog users who are unfamiliar with the language in which the main title of a work is written, and so it is strongly recommended that they be recorded.

Example (in MARC format):

The title proper of a Ukrainian-language book is Ukraïns´ka mova i ïï hovory, while the colophon gives a Russian version of the title: Ukrainskiĭ i͡azyk i ego dialekty. This is recorded as follows:

245 10 ‡a Ukraïns´ka mova i ïï hovory / ‡c I.H. Matvii͡as.

246 1 ‡i Russian title in colophon: ‡a Ukrainskiĭ i͡azyk i ego dialekty

Example (in MARC format):

The title proper of a Slovak-language book is Slovensko na prahu novoveku and the book includes two summaries, one in English and the other in German, each of which has a different version of the title, Slovakia on the threshold of modern times and Slowakei an der Schwelle der Neuzeit. This is recorded as follows:

245 10 ‡a Slovensko na prahu novoveku / ‡c Matúš Kučera.

246 1 ‡i Title from English summary: ‡a Slovakia on the threshold of modern times

246 1 ‡i Title from German summary: ‡a Slowakei an der Schwelle der Neuzeit

2. The LC’s approach to colophon and summary titles

The LC operates on a different understanding. In accordance with RDA 2.3.3.2 and LC-PCC PS 2.3.3, it takes colophon and summary titles as constituting parallel titles proper and so adopts the practice of recording them in the 245 field as well as in the 246 fields.

Example (in MARC format):

245 10 ‡a Ukraïns´ka mova i ïï hovory = ‡b Ukrainskiĭ i͡azyk i ego dialekty / ‡c I.H. Matvii͡as.
246 1 ‡i Russian title in colophon: ‡a Ukrainskiĭ i͡azyk i ego dialekty

Example (in MARC format):

245 10 ‡a Slovensko na prahu novoveku = ‡b Slovakia on the threshold of modern

times = Slowakei an der Schwelle der Neuzeit / ‡c Matúš Kučera.

246 1 ‡i Title from English summary: ‡a Slovakia on the threshold of modern times

246 1 ‡i Title from German summary: ‡a Slowakei an der Schwelle der Neuzeit

Revised: Sept. 2015