Cataloging CD Sound Recordings

When cataloging music sound recordings, the information needed is the same as when cataloging a book.   There are some areas of the cataloging record that are particularly created for non-book materials, though.  Some areas are the same, but the specific information put in them changes with the format of the item being cataloged.  Listed below are some of the areas of a cataloging record that are affected by the format of the item being recorded.

General Material Designation

For non-book items, there is a special area called the General Material Designation (GMD) that comes right after the title.  If there is a subtitle, the GMD comes right before it.  This GMD is used to indicate the format of the item being cataloged at a place where the user will notice it.  There is a specific list of the various GMD’s that are approved in cataloging standards in the Gorman rule book (1999), but the GMD for a music CD is ‘sound recording’.  The GMD is always enclosed in square brackets, and should always be used for non-book materials.  In the example below, the GMD comes right after the title, Appalachian spring.

Statement of Responsibility

Another area impacted by the format of an item is the statement of responsibility, or the author statement.  This is the area that follows the title, coming after the “/” character.  For most book entries, the statement of responsibility is the name of one or more persons who wrote the book.  For non-book items, the authorship may be hard to determine, or there may be many different people or groups who are responsible for the creation of a work.  This affects what is put in the statement of responsibility, and also the determination of the main entry.  Again, specific guidelines that help with this decision are in the Gorman cataloging text (1999), and should be followed when cataloging an item for a library.  Most of the time, when cataloging a music sound recording, the main entry will be title.    This is because there are often one or more composers, but there is usually also a musical group and perhaps other performers or conductors who are interpreting the original music created by the composer (s).  Because of this diverse pool of creators, it is often hard to pin down exactly who the ‘author’ might be.  In the example below, the statement of responsibility only lists the two persons who wrote the songs, but there is a note indicating the performers.  They cannot be listed in the statement of responsibility unless they are listed as such on the item itself.

Publication Area

An additional area impacted by the format of the item being cataloged is the publication area.  Most books just have one publisher and the location of that publisher is usually easy to determine.  Many music CD’s have a publisher and possibly a distributor, and the location of either of these companies may or may not be found in the material that accompanies the CD.  If there is both a publisher and a distributor, both can be listed in the cataloging record.  The standard format for the publication area is:

Place of publication : Name of publisher, date.

If there is a publisher and a distributor, that information can be given like this:

Place of publication : Name of publisher ; Place of distribution : Name of distributor, date.

Here is an example of a sound recording with information about both the publisher and the distributor.  This example also shows how contents notes can be effectively used in a computer catalog.  Each of the titles and composers listed, as well as the performers listed in the cast note, will be searchable with the keyword option in a computer catalog.

Another option for the publication area is to just list the distributor, and to indicate this is who is being listed by placing ‘[distributor]’ after the name and before the date.  Most of the time, listing both a publisher and distributor is more detail than is needed, but the option is available if the library chooses to use it.  As in cataloging for books, if the place of publication or distribution is not known, the abbreviation ‘[S.l.]’ is used to indicate that.  In the catalog card-style entry shown below, the place of publication was not determined.

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