Issue 29

SCIS records for videorecordings follow the rules for cataloguing set out in the Anglo-American cataloguing rules (1988 revision) (AACR). The AACR lists the different locations from which the title of a videorecording can be taken and ranks the locations in order of preference. The order is:

• the item itself, ie the title from the title screen on the videorecording
• the container and its label
• accompanying material or other sources if the information is not available in either of the above locations.

The SCIS cataloguers play all videos, and install all software, that we catalogue to locate the title on the item itself. That is the reason we need the item itself to catalogue, rather than cataloguing from the container or accompanying material. If you are searching the WEBOPAC, the title on the videorecording is the first choice. Sometimes the titles from the other locations may be given an added entry, so they may appear on the WEBOPAC, but the title from the videorecording is still the first choice.

The ABC television programs 'Many Nations. One People' and 'Pathways to Australian Science' have both been supplied to us by the ABC. Records have been made for the whole of each series and each episode. For 'Many Nations, One People' the SCIS record for the whole series is 947354. It contains a contents note listing each episode. The first episode, 'Family and Kinship', has a series entry of Many nations, one people; episode 1, and subject headings and a Dewey number for that episode.

The suffix, or book number, is made from the first three letters of the title of the episode. For that reason, the call number can be different for each episode of the videorecording, and different to the call number on the record for the whole series. The call number for the whole series of 'Many Nations, One People' is 305.89 MAN an.d for the episode 'Language' is 499 LAN.

Creating both a record for the series and records for each episode is one way of catering for the different ways in which teacher librarians record and store these programs. The decision has been based on feedback from teacher librarians, who agreed that one record for the series (with numerous subject headings and added title entries) is cumbersome. We would be interested to know if this decision is useful.