IV.21. 655 Form & Genre Terms
- Vernica Downey
- Linda Isaac
- Former user (Deleted)
Use as many form and genre headings that would prove useful to users. In general, if a given term is applicable both as a subject heading and a genre heading, create both a 650 and a 655, even though they duplicate each other, since the former describes what it is about, and the latter what it is.
Use applicable terms from Appendix D: Form & Genre Terms for Rare Book Cataloging section of this manual. If no term from the table is deemed useful, however, choose terms from the following thesauri, listed in order of general preference:
Controlled Vocabularies | MARC Source Code ($$2) | Local MARC code usage ($$5 hou) |
|---|---|---|
RBMS Controlled Vocabulary for Rare Materials Cataloging (CVRMC) (Officially launched March 2023 as an integrated linked data thesaurus hosted on the Library of Congress Linked Data Service. The new integrated thesaurus does not allow subdivisions.) | rbmscv | mandatory if term applies only to Houghton copy |
aat | mandatory if term applies only to Houghton copy | |
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM II) | gmgpc | mandatory if term applies only to Houghton copy |
lcgft | mandatory if term applies only to Houghton copy | |
Language of Bindings Thesaurus (Ligatus) | lobt | mandatory if term applies only to Houghton copy |
OLAC Video Game Genre Vocabulary (published 2019) | olacvggt | mandatory if term applies only to Houghton copy |
tept | mandatory if term applies only to Houghton copy | |
Glossary of Early Modern Popular Print Genres (many terms overlap with CVRMC, but this resource has illustrations and detailed descriptions). | gemppg | mandatory if term applies only to Houghton copy |
gsso | mandatory if term applies only to Houghton copy | |
nmc | mandatory if term applies only to Houghton copy | |
Houghton's locally established terms (see Appendix D) | mandatory |
Policy on locally established terms
- Catalogers should not use new locally established terms until they have been discussed with the Head of Rare Book Section and approved. All approved terms will be added to Appendix D, indicating which are mandatory.
- At the cataloger's discretion, the local term may be submitted online for consideration by the RBMS Controlled Vocabularies Editorial Group, or AAT, provided no moratorium exists on submission of proposed headings.
- Locally established terms may be subdivided as usual.
** N.B. As of September 2018 - In compliance with the Metadata Standards Working Group's Best Practices, do not use carrier information that is more suitable for 33X and 34X fields (e.g., videocassette, VHS, etc.) as genre/form terms in 655. Consult the working draft policy on the MSWG's Best Practices wiki page: Best Practices for Genre/Form Added Entries. **