How To Use General Materials Designators (GMDs)

Standard List

GMD's serve to identify the medium in which a work is presented. Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd Edition (AACR2) defines the following GMD values in section 1.1C2:

GMD values in section 1.1C2
activity card art original art reproduction braille chart diorama electronic resource (new!)	filmstrip flash card game globe kit manuscript map	microform microscope slides model motion picture music picture realia	slide sound recording technical drawing text toy transparency videorecording

GMD's should be enclosed in square brackets and entered, all in lower case, in subfield h of MARC field 245. The GMD "text" is treated as a default and is understood, if no other value is present. The rules state,
For materials for the visually impaired, add "(large print)" or "(tactile)", when appropriate, to any term in [the list above]. Add "(braille)", when appropriate, to any term in [the list] other than "braille" or "text".

Examples given:

...[map (tactile)]
...[music (braille)]
...[text (large print)]

If used, the GMD should immediately follow the title proper, which is generally stored in 245$a. It precedes a subtitle, if any, in 245$b, and a statement of responsibility in 245$c. Here are some examples:

245 10 Wait till next year|h[sound recording] /|cby Doris Kearns Goodwin.

245 00 Gladiator|h[videorecording] /|cDreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures ; directed by Ridley Scott ; writer, David Franzoni ; screenplay by David Franzoni and John Logan and William Nicholson ; story by David Franzoni ; produced by Douglas Wick ; produced by David Franzoni, Branko Lustig.

245 10 No ordinary time|h[sound recording] /|bthe home front in World War II|cDoris Kearns Goodwin.

The Case FOR Additional Local General Material Designators Within Minerva

GMD's are meant to provide users of an online catalog with an immediate indication of the physical form of the work being described. Unfortunately, the current list of allowable GMD's has substantial shortcomings.

The main problem with the AACR2 list is lack of specificity. For many purposes, a videorecording on DVD is not interchangeable with one on VHS tape. Yet "videorecording" gives no clue as to which physical format is involved. Whether an electronic resource consists of text, graphics, program files, or a web site is usually worth knowing. The physical medium on which an electronic resource is stored and/or from which it can be accessed are also of interest. How is one to convey to a catalog user whether the physical CD form is a CD-ROM, audio compact disc, or an antique video disc?

Good cataloging practice requires that additional information about medium of expression appear in 300|a Extent, within the Physical Description area, and 538|a System Details Note. However, this does not meet the needs of the casual user of the online catalog. Neither field appears in the browse screen of the OPAC where the user decides which of the sometimes many editions of a given work are worth pursuing. Only after one has gotten to the display of an individual bib record do the contents of these two fields appear on screen. If there are more than one or two copies listed, the user must scroll the screen before seeing this information, often surrounded by a variety of other bibliographic detail that often confuses library users.

Adding compact but specific designations in a 245|h GMD speeds up navigation to the record for the user's preferred medium within the browse screen and gives prominence to medium at the beginning of the full bibliographic display.

Should AACR2 and/or other national bibliographic standards change, but not follow the pattern put forth here, the Global Update available to MSL staff makes it extremely easy to replace specific subfields with new preferred forms. Should a library require a data export without the Minerva extensions to GMD syntax, MSL staff will be able to quickly and easily strip off the local values or replace them with standard values.

The Case AGAINST This Proposal

Efficient cataloging, particularly in a consortial system, requires reliance on use of cataloging copy from authoritative agencies. Principal among these is the Library of Congress. Original work done by OCLC member libraries is also important. In both cases, cataloging practice is dictated by AACR2 rules. Local practices for GMDs that diverge from those of major cataloging agencies necessitate local revision. Moreover, revisions must be consistant and timely in order to avoid confusing users with a mix of standard and non-standard practices.

While consistant use of |h[videorecording (DVD)] might be useful, the inevitable mix of modified and unmodified records would cause a user to either assume that the only DVDs are those explicitly designated as such, or not rely on the new usage once it is discovered that its application is not comprehensive.

In addition, comprehensive implementation of a purely local standard is likely to require more coordination and a greater consortial, as opposed to local focus than most Minerva catalogers will be able to sustain.

If this sort of proposal makes sense to Minerva libraries, it should be pushed with standards bodies. In the meantime, GMD extensions should be avoided and other approaches to identifying media for search access should be explored.

Proposed GMD List for Minerva (Non-AACR2 values are in red and italics)

The list below proposes a few non-AACR2 values for use in Minerva that would quickly and unambiguously provide additional format and medium information to users of the online catalog.

GMD List for Minerva with a few non-AACR2 values
activity card art original art reproduction braille chart computer file diorama electronic resource electronic resource (CD-ROM) electronic resource (Floppy Disk) electronic resource (WWW) filmstrip flash card game globe kit manuscript map microform microscope slide model	motion picture music periodical picture realia slide sound recording sound recording (audio cassette) sound recording (cassette book) sound recording (CD) sound recording (CD book) technical drawing text (board book) text (large print) toy transparency videorecording videorecording (VHS) videorecording (DVD) videorecording (Video Disk)

Further Info On the Issues

"General Material Designation in the Twenty-First Century: Results of a Survey by Jean Weihs", at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/cts/olac/capc/gmd.html

Updates

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