I knitted a pair of socks.
Then I cataloged them.
100 1 Melton, Laura, ‡d 1979- 245 1 0 [Cabled socks]. 260 ‡c [2005]. 300 1 pair socks : ‡b wool, brown : ‡c 54 cm. long. 500 Title supplied by cataloger. 500 Pattern: Reynolds Yarns no. 372.
Non-librarians may wish to stop reading here; it’s going to get technical. Moreover, librarians who don’t give a rat’s behind about the nits of cataloging should probably skip it too, because I’m going to pick some.
The description was pretty easy; AACR2 is clear about how to handle three-dimensional objects. It’s possibly even easier than books, because the areas of description for published works simply don’t apply.
However, choosing access points tripped me up. I gave myself main entry, but I’m not absolutely sure that’s correct. AACR2 doesn’t mention three-dimensional objects specifically in its chapter on choosing access points, so my only clue is the general rule:
21.1A. Works of personal authorship.
21.1A1. Definition. A personal author is the person chiefly responsible for the creation of the intellectual or artistic content of a work. For particular applications of this definition, see subsequent rules in this chapter. For persons who function solely as performers on sound recordings, see 21.23.
The question is, who is chiefly responsible for the creation of the intellectual or artistic content
of my socks? I knitted them, but someone else wrote the pattern from which I created the socks. I changed a couple of details and put in the effort to turn the yarn into something wearable, but amount of work doesn’t factor into AACR2’s rules. It’s all about intellectual content.
In fact, these socks are somewhat similar to a performance of classical music, for example Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. The composer gets main entry, the performing musicians added entry (or sometimes no entry at all). This seems unfair to the musicians, but it does make sense because it’s more likely that I will search for Bach rather than for the orchestra performing the concertos. In other ways it makes less sense.
The pattern (or, by analogy, the score) for my socks was published by Reynolds Yarns but lists no author. That doesn’t make a difference to whether I get main entry or not, but it means that my choices for main entry are myself or title main entry.
Sadly, I come to the conclusion that according to AACR2, I do not get main entry for my own socks but am relegated instead to a mere added entry.
245 0 0 [Cabled Socks]. 700 1 Melton, Laura, ‡d 1979-
I know I’m taking this far too seriously, but is this how a professional cataloger would assign headings? If these socks were in a knitting museum or in a museum about me as a person, would that make a difference to how it’s cataloged in practice (assuming that those institutions use AACR2 and not a completely different standard)?
nichole says:
I like the music analogy. Very apt.
One of my colleagues says, "I believe the title main entry form is correct. She should also have a 500 note to indicate the source of the added entry."
I wouldn't mourn too much for the relegation of your name to an added entry - all entries are equal in OPAC's eyes.