BCC Response to Library of Congress PSD Proposal:
Genre/Form Implementation at the Library of Congress: Musical Works (Feb. 11, 2009)
March 13, 2009

The Bibliographic Control Committee of the Music Library Association supports the LC proposal, with some additions and clarification as suggested below.

BCC thanks LC for its work in preparing the two lists of terms based on current LCSH usage, and we agree that this serves as a good starting point for the music genre/form implementation project.

The Feb. 11, 2009 proposal from PSD does not address the future of the medium of performance headings list, beyond the creation of the list itself.  BCC, together with LC, recognizes the paramount importance of this data element:
    1) Medium of performance is currently an integral part of music subject headings in LCSH.
    2) Medium of performance conveys a critical piece of information: what the work is /for/.
    3) Many LCSH terms used for music resources do not otherwise include a form or genre portion as part of the heading, e.g., "Piano music".     4) To the extent that the terms generated through the music genre/form project will replace current LCSH terminology for "non-topical" access to music resources, this integral part of defining musical works must remain in cataloging records.

Because medium of performance is an essential part of "non-topical" access to musical works, BCC recommends expanding the scope of this ground-breaking project to provide for the disposition of medium of performance headings in bibliographic records which employ genre/form terms.
 
BCC suggests the following amendments to the original proposal, especially regarding the timeline:

           1.  During March 2009, PSD will post two separate working lists of terms on its genre/form web site (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/genreformgeneral.html).  One list will comprise the music genre/form terms, and the other, mediums of performance.  (LCCNs will be included.)  The lists will not include syndetic structure at this point.

           2.  From March-July 2009, a task force made up of MLA volunteers will review the lists and suggest additional terms, using LCSH, other established lists and reference works as sources.  Suggestions for terms can also come from MLA members at large.  The task force will vet these suggestions and forward them to PSD as appropriate.

           3.  PSD will add the recommended headings to the two lists on the PSD website as they complete their review.

           4.  From March-July 2009, the MLA task force (see 2.) will coordinate the collection of comments from the music community on the syndetic structure of the terms, the MARC authority records which will be created, any technical or implementation issues that might arise, as well as potential future uses of the terms. The task force will welcome comments from MLA committees, individual music catalogers, and others with an interest in music genre/form headings and terms for medium of performance. The task force will send comments and questions to Geraldine Ostrove, gost@loc.gov with copies to Janis Young, jayo@loc.gov, in PSD. Comments may also be sent directly to PSD.

           5.  Between July 2009 and February 2010, PSD and MLA will collaborate on establishing syndetic structures for each list.

           6. PSD and MLA will also collaborate on coding and other issues for medium of performance terms, including making recommendations to MARBI for consideration at ALA Midwinter 2010 if necessary.

           7. Beginning April 2010, PSD and MLA will collaborate to create full MARC 21 authority records for the agreed-upon headings representing both genre and medium of performance. This will allow training to happen during the annual MLA meeting in mid-March.