Manuscript Music Cataloging Manual

This manual documents local decisions of the Beinecke Library for cataloging single manuscripts consisting of music notation, coded as record type d (manuscript music) in Yale’s online catalog. This manual conforms to instructions for single items in Yale University Library’s Manuscript Cataloging Guidelines and the Beinecke Manuscript Cataloging Manual. Consult these first, and refer to this manual for decisions about options, local practice, and additional descriptive detail specific to manuscript notated music.  See also Music Cataloging at Yale for the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library’s local procedures for description, access points, and MARC coding.

The original version of this manual, created in 2000, was based on the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition (AACR2). In 2021 it was revised in conformance with Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Music) (DCRMM), Library of Congress MARC fields for controlled vocabulary were added (336, 337, 338, 348, 380, and 382), and Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT) for types of composition were implemented (655).

Use this manual only for single items requiring subject and form/genre access points.  Items relating to music that do not require these access points, such as notated music fragments, correspondence, or photographs, may be added to the General Manuscript Music Miscellany (call number Gen Mss Music Misc).  Before 2021, some music manuscripts cataloged in Voyager were also listed in the General Manuscript Music Miscellany.

For collections of notated music, use Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) and Guidelines for Archival Description of Notated Music, A Supplement to Describing Archives: A Content Standard.  For Beinecke Library local procedures, see the Library’s Processing Manual>Chapter 5. Special Formats>Section 5.7. Music.

Last updated by Karen Spicher in August 2021.