Review of the year in art cataloging, 2025-2026
(prepared for possible discussion at the CPDG session at the Montreal conference, Art Libraries Society of North America, May 2026)

DESCRIPTION & ACCESS

* LC catalogers using the BIBFRAME editor (MARVA) are using Modern MARC, which emphasizes text over codes and expedites linked data. All access points must have a related URI. Why is it that we call it "linked data" when mostly it's "repeated data"? Maybe, some day, it will be linked data. https://www.loc.gov/cds/downloads/ModernMARC.pdf

* There are some guides to cataloging artist books. None are particularly recent. Do you find the existing ones adequate? Should CAC work on a new guide/publication?

* There's a new PCC program to join NACO, SACO, BIBCO, and CONSER. EMCO is the identity/entity management cooperative. Emphasis on management, not control. https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/documents/EMCO.pdf

* At the NARDAC Update in early April 2026, we were told that the Metadata Application Profiles (MAPs) for BIBCO are in draft form and will be released before too long. This is part of the documentation for Official RDA, which will be implemented, in the coming months. There will be guidelines for working with records, print and e-serials and integrating resources, authority records (MAPs and bridge), and hybrid records. There will be PCC training groups for monographs, name authorities, and serials. Original RDA will be taken offline in May 2027 though PDFs will still be available. There was also a thorough discussion of the use of string encoding strings vs vocabulary encoding strings. NARDAC recordings at https://www.rdatoolkit.org/northamerica/presentations/2026

* ACRL RBMS does a "cool things we've cataloged" program of short talks every few months. They are included in the list of RBMS presentations and conference sessions at https://rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/preconferencearchives/

SUBJECT HEADINGS & GENRE/FORM TERMINOLOGY

* LC catalogers using the BIBFRAME editor (MARVA) are using Modern MARC which emphasizes text over codes and expedites linked data. The latter means that all access points must have URIs, this being an impetus behind genre/form policies such as no chronological and geographic subdivisions on LCGFT 655s and no $v on topical headings.

* LC is putting together a task group to look at LCSH modernization. The group has not started meeting.

* Art, Primitive was cancelled as a subject heading, as part of reparative work on the word "primitive" in LCSH. The term "primitive" still occurs in the N schedule. LC PTCP is working on it. (SACO Office Hour, April 2026)

* SACO Office Hours public file access (recordings, agendas, slides, etc.) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QDoKxix6LUHH8YlgtFQT8WNBQwv68t8l

* LCSH uses Wood-engraving and absorbs Woodcuts as a UF/450. CAC is wondering if it is worth it to do something more appropriate like establishing Woodcuts as a distinct heading. It could involve tons of close to impossible BFM. Is it worth it? CAC is also working on a proposal to add "wood engraving" and "screen printing" to the RDA Production Method vocabulary.

* The subdivision In art is allowed "under names of countries, cities, etc., individual corporate bodies, and individual Christian denominations, and under uniform titles." The Watson Library at the Met found about 150 examples of In art headings in their catalog that appear as subdivisions on all kinds of topical headings. CAC is proposing a SACO project to LC to create or revise LCSH records.

* William Blueher (Met) is on the SAC scope notes working group. If you know an LCSH record that could really use a scope note, let him know. There is also a new SAC working group on subdivision continuity. This group will look at how the community could develop the genre/form subdivisions that are now out of scope for LCGFT and perhaps more broadly at subdivisions.

* LC issues a Summary of Decisions from each Monthly List of LCSH and other vocabulary proposals. They can be quite instructive. A recent one included a reminder that when you have a heading like Color in art, you would not have a reference like Colour in art because the reference from Colour to Color on the base record takes care of getting you from the Canadian/British spelling to the American spelling. Like many things in our cataloging universe, this made more sense in a card catalog than in an OPAC.

* LC and Library and Archives Canada have been working on revising headings for indigenous peoples of the Americas. LC had a special position to study the area. Phase two of the project will involve changing headings such as Indians of North America. Lead responsibility has been absorbed into the permanent staff in PTCP.

* As a follow-up to the work on Western Hemisphere indigenous peoples, headings for East Indians and for East Indian as a style term and descriptive adjective are being studied by the indigenous project, the South Asia SACO Funnel, and the LC Delhi Office.

* SACO Shorts are quick tips that cover common proposal issues, tricky situations, or frequently asked questions. SACO Shorts are posted to SACOLIST on the first and third Mondays of the month and are collected at SACO Shorts.

* There was a thread on PCCLIST about how to record the content type for an artist's book that was a blank book. Some folks thought that a blank book had no content and was therefore just an object. (You may be able to tell what I think of that.) The list archive for PCCLIST can be found at https://listserv.loc.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A0=PCCLIST (most of the blank book messages are dated 15 Apr 2026)

* LC is updating memos in the Subject Headings Manual. Part of it is to use a common template which seems helpful. Some of it may also be related to more substantial changes to subdivision practice. For example, the list of subdivisions in SHM H1180 for plants and crops was divided into topical and genre/form subdivisions. In H1148 for art, only Catalogs and Chronology are marked as form. SHM = https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeSHM/freeshmabout.html

* Perhaps of interest: "Seeking approval, confronting objectivity: neutrality in the Library of Congress Subject Headings approval process" in In the library with a lead pipe (March 20, 2026) https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2026/seeking-approval/

If you have questions or comments, do not hesitate to send them to the Cataloging Section in Knowledge Commons: group-cataloging-section@reply.arlisna.hcommons.org

Compiled by Sherman Clarke
sherman.clarke@gmail.com

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