Reconciling sibling rivalry in the AACR 2 "family": The potential for agreement on rules for archival description of all types of materials

Abstract

Archivists and others faced with the cataloging of special materials have been searching for ways to resolve existing conflicts among a number of special descriptive cataloging manuals that have been prepared to clarify or expand upon rules presented in the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules 2nd edition (AACR 2). The author discusses the problems, issues, and conflicts that surfaced when cataloging rules in AACR 2 and the special manuals were compared with each other and with the 5XX fields (the "containers" available for notes) in the USMARC format. Three manuals used widely by archivists in their own repositories and in bibliographic networks that include archival materials receive special attention: Archives, Personal Papers, and Manuscripts; Graphic Materials; and Archival Moving Image Materials.