How to Catalogue Non-Print Media: Essential Rules and Guidelines

Walk into any modern library and you will find far more than books on the shelves. There are CDs, DVDs, microfilms, audio cassettes, online databases, and educational films. These materials carry valuable information, but they cannot be catalogued the same way as a printed book. A DVD has no title page. An audio recording cannot be “read” without a player. These are the kinds of problems a cataloguer faces every day with non-print media. The good news is that there is a well-established framework to handle them, built largely on the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2R). This post explains the rules, the challenges, and the practical methods you need to catalogue non-print media accurately.

The unique challenges of non-print media 🔗

Cataloguing a printed book is relatively straightforward because the book itself tells you almost everything you need. Non-print media is different. The challenges begin before you even open the rulebook, and understanding them helps you appreciate why special rules exist.

The lack of a traditional title page 🔗

For books, the chief source of information is the title page. It neatly presents the title, author, edition, and publisher in one place. Non-print media has no such convenience. A sound recording carries its details on a small disc label or cassette sticker. A film carries them in title frames that appear briefly on screen. A computer file may show its information only after you load it. Because the data is scattered, the cataloguer has to know exactly where to look and in what order. This is why AACR2R defines a specific chief source of information for each material type, rather than assuming one fixed location like the title page.

Equipment dependency 🔗

A book is self-contained. You can hold it and read it without any device. Non-print media is equipment dependent. To examine a videocassette you need a player. To view a microform you need a microfilm reader. To run a CD-ROM you need a computer with the right software. This creates a real practical problem. If the library does not own the playback equipment, the cataloguer cannot access the content directly. AACR2R anticipates this. For example, the Yale University Library guidance based on rule 7.0B1 states that if a video is not playable because the equipment is unavailable, the cataloguer should treat the physical item itself, the carrier, as the chief source. Equipment dependency also affects how you describe the item, since technical details like playback speed, sound, and colour all matter to the user.

Sources of information for non-print cataloguing 🔗

Once you accept that there is no title page, the next question is simple: where do you take the details from? AACR2R answers this through the idea of the chief source of information and a clear order of preference when the chief source is incomplete.

Title screens, labels, and accompanying materials 🔗

The chief source varies by format, but the logic is consistent. You always prefer information that is permanently part of the item. For motion pictures and videorecordings, the chief source is the title and credit frames, including both the opening and closing credits. For sound recordings, the chief source is usually the label permanently affixed to the disc or cassette. For graphic materials and slide sets, it is the item itself including any affixed labels, or a container that is an integral part of the item if it provides a collective title.

Accompanying materials play an important supporting role. These include printed booklets, sleeves, boxes, user guides, and any leaflets that come with the item. According to cataloguing guidance for special materials under AACR2R, the accompanying textual material or container can serve as the chief source for a sound recording when it supplies a collective title that the labels themselves do not.

Prioritising sources when details are missing 🔗

Real-world items are often incomplete. A disc label may be worn, or the title frames may not name the producer. AACR2R handles this with an order of preference. Take a sound recording as an example. If the disc label does not give a collective title, the cataloguer turns to other sources in this order: the accompanying textual material first, then the container such as the sleeve or box, and finally other sources.

There is one rule you must never forget. Information taken from outside the chief source must be enclosed in square brackets. This tells future users and other librarians that the detail was supplied by the cataloguer rather than transcribed directly from the prescribed source. This small convention protects the integrity of the catalogue record and keeps it honest about where each piece of data came from.

The structure of a non-print media catalogue entry 🔗

A non-print catalogue record follows the same eight-area structure used for all materials under the International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD). The areas are: title and statement of responsibility, edition, material specific details, publication and distribution, physical description, series, notes, and standard number. What makes non-print cataloguing distinctive is how two of these areas are handled: the title area, which carries the General Material Designation, and the physical description area.

The General Material Designation (GMD) 🔗

The General Material Designation is a short term placed in square brackets immediately after the title proper. Its job is simple but important: it warns the user that the record is not for a book. When someone sees [videorecording] or [sound recording] right after the title, they instantly know the format before reading any further. This prevents a user from requesting an item expecting a printed book and receiving a DVD instead.

AACR2R provides a standardised list of GMD terms so that libraries everywhere use the same vocabulary. Common terms include sound recording, videorecording, motion picture, electronic resource (earlier called computer file), microform, filmstrip, slide, kit, and graphic. The Library of Congress Rule Interpretation for rule 1.1C lists the approved terms and instructs that they be written in lowercase letters within brackets. The title and statement area for a non-print item therefore looks like this:

Title proper [GMD] = Parallel title : other title information / statement of responsibility.

A useful detail worth knowing: when an item combines parts from two or more media categories and no single part dominates, the GMD [kit] is used. The IASA cataloguing rules based on AACR2 1.1C4 give the example of a package containing a book, two CDs, and a videocassette, which is described as a kit.

AACR2R rules for various media types 🔗

The general rules sit in Chapter 1 of AACR2R, and each material type gets its own dedicated chapter. As outlined in the structure of AACR2R Part I, the chapters are organised by format. The ones most relevant to non-print media include Chapter 6 for sound recordings, Chapter 7 for motion pictures and videorecordings, Chapter 8 for graphic materials, and Chapter 9 for electronic resources. Each chapter follows the same eight areas but adds rules suited to the medium. For instance, the physical description area for sound recordings and films records technical details such as playback speed, while electronic resources record file characteristics. This combination of common structure and format-specific detail is what allows one set of rules to cover such a varied collection.

Practical examples and best practices 🔗

Theory becomes clear when applied. The three most commonly catalogued non-print formats are sound recordings, films, and digital media. Each illustrates a different aspect of the rules.

Cataloguing sound recordings 🔗

For a music CD or audio cassette, the cataloguer starts with the disc or cassette label as the chief source. The GMD [sound recording] follows the title. A point worth noting is the choice of main entry. Although you might expect a recording to be entered under the composer, the main entry for sound recordings follows the principle of personal authorship under rule 21.1A1, and in many cases of collected works by different artists the entry is made under the principal performer. The physical description records the number of discs and technical details such as playing time and whether the sound is mono or stereo.

Cataloguing films and videorecordings 🔗

Films present the issue of diffused authorship. A motion picture involves directors, producers, writers, performers, and technicians, so it is rarely the work of a single author. For this reason, most motion pictures are entered under their title rather than a personal name, following rules 21.1C1 and 21.6C2. An exception applies when a film is administrative in nature and deals with a corporate body itself, in which case it is entered under the sponsoring body. The physical description area captures format-specific details. As set out in the physical description rules adapted from AACR2 7.5C, films and videos record whether the item has sound (sd.) or is silent (si.) and whether it is in colour (col.) or black and white (b&w). A typical extent statement reads “1 videocassette (VHS, 35 min.) : sd., col.” Technical staff and performers who are not named in the main statement of responsibility are listed in a credits note.

Cataloguing digital and electronic media 🔗

Electronic resources are covered by Chapter 9 of AACR2R, which deals with data, programs, and combinations of both. As the IGNOU study material on cataloguing non-book material explains, the publication and distribution area is handled carefully here. For an unpublished electronic resource, you do not record the place or name of the publisher, and you do not use the substitutes s.l. or s.n. either. The physical description records the carrier, such as a CD-ROM or online resource, and notes are heavily used to record system requirements, file format, and mode of access. For a resource available over a network, access details replace physical dimensions.

Best practices to keep records consistent 🔗

A few habits separate a good non-print record from a confusing one. Always identify the correct chief source first before transcribing anything, because the source determines what counts as authoritative. Bracket all supplied information so users know which details came from outside the prescribed source. Use notes generously, since non-print items often need explanations about equipment, system requirements, language, or accompanying material that do not fit neatly into other areas. Finally, standardise your GMD terms by sticking to the approved list rather than inventing your own labels, so that records remain consistent across the whole catalogue.

It is worth knowing that AACR2R has since been succeeded by Resource Description and Access (RDA), which replaces the single GMD with three separate elements: content type, media type, and carrier type. Even so, a strong grasp of the AACR2R approach remains essential, because millions of existing records were built on it and continue to serve users every day.

What do you think? If your library acquired a rare film but owned no equipment to play it, how would you decide what to record as the chief source of information? And as collections shift increasingly toward streaming and online databases, do you think the idea of a single “chief source” still makes sense for born-digital material?

References

1. https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2018/12/anglo-american-cataloguing-rules-aacr.html
2. https://www.lisedunetwork.com/anglo-american-cataloguing-rules-aacr-and-aacr2/
3. https://web.library.yale.edu/cataloging/videorecording/page2
4. https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/lisp3/chapter/cataloguing-of-special-materials-electronic-resources-according-to-aacr2-r1988-2002/
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_material_designation
6. https://www1.columbia.edu/sec/cu/libraries/inside/clio/docs/bcd/cpm/gmd.html
7. https://www.iasa-web.org/cataloguing-rules/1c-general-material-designation-optional-addition
8. https://www2.archivists.org/groups/standards-committee/anglo-american-cataloging-rules-2nd-edition-revised-aacr2
9. https://www.iasa-web.org/book/export/html/176
10. https://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/35746/5/Unit-8.pdf