The Charter Book of Raoul de Campront: A Study of MSD47 at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library Department of Special Collections at the University of Kansas

This master's thesis examines MSD47, a cartulary of legal instruments pertaining to the Campront family of Normandy. Most documents date from the mid-15th century. The social and historical context of the family's affairs is also examined. The text of the Charter Book of Raoul de Campront is included as a supplement to the thesis

Looking for Someone Special: Special Collections Cataloging, 1980-2000 and Beyond

The provision of access to materials in special collections intersects the fields of cataloging and special collections librarianship, sharing characteristics and challenges with both. In order to reveal the changing expectations regarding special collections cataloging professionals, the author examined job notices for positions advertised in C&RL News from 1980 to 2000. Three related hypotheses were tested in this study: fixed-term appointments would become more common; published requirements for consideration would be more rigorous; and positions would offer less relative compensation than in the past. These hypotheses were demonstrated to be untrue. In a larger context, the results of this study can be extrapolated to suggest means of improving education and training for professionals in special collections cataloging, highlighting the skills and abilities future employing institutions will be seeking

DACS and RDA Insights and Questions from the New Archival Descriptive Standard

Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) is the new archival content standard published by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The publication of this forward-thinking and comprehensive response to changing information needs and technologies should be of interest to all cataloging communities. DACS raises issues about content standards for resource description that should be addressed much more broadly. The library cataloging community is in the process of an extensive revision of its cataloging codes, and new approaches in this standard appear to be embodying some of the same concepts as DACS. DACS, therefore, can be seen as a smaller and more focused implementation of some of the principles that will emerge in the new Resource Description and Access (RDA). Simultaneously, the standard can be used to examine whether taking some of these developments further would improve access to materials

Hidden Wisdom and Unseen Treasure: Revisiting Cataloging in Medieval Libraries

DOI: 10.1300/J104v26n03_03Scholars working in the fields of medieval history and cultural history have recognized that understanding the cataloging and accessioning of books is central to understanding the transmission of ideas. This view should come as no surprise to catalogers themselves, who daily struggle with the problem of providing intellectual, and sometimes physical, access to texts and information. Unfortunately, general histories of libraries and even the library literature seem content to sketch out a chronological development of cataloging in line with the nineteenth and twentieth century view of library development, from a simple list to complex intellectual systems. In truth, however, those individuals responsible for cataloging books in medieval libraries faced many of the same challenges as catalogers today: how to organize information, how to serve local needs, and how to provide access to individual works within larger bibliographic formats. This article will summarize recent scholarship in the history of the book that relates to library cataloging, as well as providing parallels to the cooperative library environment of today

Marriage Contracts in Fifteenth-Century Normany: An Examination of MSD47 at the Spencer Research Library

This is a Senior Honors Thesis submitted to the Department of History of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts. The complete text of MSD47, the Charter Book of Raoul de Campront, is included as a supplement to http://hdl.handle.net/1808/6664

Description and Access in Rare Books Cataloging: A Historical Survey

DOI: 10.1300/J104v35n03_10Rare book cataloging codes and practices have been shaped by a constant interplay between the tradition of descriptive bibliography and the evolution of library cataloging codes. At the same time, technological changes, such as the emergence of bibliographic databases and online catalogs, have led to promises of increased flexibility and usability in records for rare books. This article will focus on the development of modern Anglo-American rare book cataloging, highlighting special access points that often appear to exist outside the mainstream of library cataloging. By focusing on the treatment of several “hallmarks” of rare book records in codes published during the second half of the twentieth century, the development of rare book cataloging and its relationship to the traditions of bibliography and general library emerge