Genre and form: Difference between revisions
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Genre/form terms in catalog records describe what an item ''is'' (or contains), not what it is about. ''Genre'' corresponds roughly to the intellectual content of what is being described: for example, almanacs, depositions, plays, and poems. ''Form'' corresponds with physical characteristics. For instance, this [https://catalog.folger.edu/record/170013 catalog record for two copies of a 1635 edition of Sternhold and Hopkins ''Whole booke of Psalmes''] has been assigned the genre terms ''Psalters'', ''Adaptations'', ''Miniature books'', and ''Printing privileges'', and the form term ''Embroidered bindings''. In practice, "genres" and "forms" overlap, so the [[MARC]] cataloging standard uses the same field for both (the [[MARC 655 Index Term - Genre/Form|MARC 655 Genre/Form field]]).


Genre/form terms in catalog records describe what an item ''is'' (or contains), not what it is about. ''Genre'' corresponds roughly to the content of what is being described: for example, almanacs, depositions, plays, and poems. ''Form'' corresponds with formats and physical characteristics: for example, embroidered bindings, imposition errors, manicules, and sammelbands. This [http://hamnet.folger.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=170013 Hamnet record for two copies of a 1635 edition of Sternhold and Hopkins ''Whole booke of Psalmes''] includes the genre term '''Psalters''' and the form term '''Embroidered bindings (Binding)'''. Genre/form terms are controlled by authorized forms.  
==Genre and form in library catalogs==
Catalogers use [[Controlled vocabularies|controlled vocabularies]] to ensure that terminology is more or less the same between different institutions, or can be cross-walked to equivalent terms when sharing data. But as the saying goes, "the great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from."


=Genre and form in library catalog records=
Guidance for Folger catalogers can be found in the Folgerpedia article "[[MARC 655 Index Term - Genre/Form]]"; the general order of vocabulary preference is:
* RBMS [https://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/rbmscv.html Controlled Vocabulary for Rare Materials Cataloging]
* The Getty's [http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/ Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)] 
* [https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/tgm/ Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM)] or [https://id.loc.gov/authorities/genreForms.html Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms].
* [http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects.html Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)] or a local term.


Due to the limits of the card catalog, genre and form terms were not systematically recorded by early catalogers. Shelflist cards - usually 3" x 5" index cards - did not have much room anything besides title, author, and publication information, and maybe a few subject headings or free-text notes. Libraries often maintained separate card catalogs for books, manuscripts, and other materials, which decreased the need for additional genre access.
Form subdivisions also appear at the end of a subject heading, though this practice has largely been replaced by separate Genre/Form terms. At the Folger, these include, for example:
* <code> -- Early works to 1800</code> (material ''about'' the named subject that ''is'' pre-1801)
* <code> -- Manuscripts</code> (material ''about'' the named subject that ''is'' manuscript rather than printed)
* <code> -- Pictorial works</code> (material ''about'' the named subject that ''is'' primarily pictorial rather than verbal)


The advent of the [[MARC]] standard, however, allowed librarians to expand their item descriptions: catalogers could add as much descriptive information as needed to fully describe a book (or at least, they were constrained by computer processing power rather than the dimensions of the catalog card). The original MARC specification did not include a specific field for genre and/or form terms, but two were added during the 1980s: 655 (Index Term--Genre/Form) and 755 (Added Entry--Physical Characteristics). Due to some confusion over how these two fields were indexed, and how to differentiate which information went in which, the 755 field was officially made obsolete in 1995 in favor of the [[MARC 655 Index Term - Genre/Form|655 field]], which is still in use today.
==Searching genre/form terms in the catalog==
 
The [[Catalog|Folger catalog]] has several built-in ways to search for items by their genre and form.
==Controlled vocabularies==
* Begin a search then narrow your search results using the '''checkboxes in the Genre/form facet''' in the left-hand side bar (on a mobile device or narrow screen, use the “Options” button to reveal the facets).
Genre and form entries benefit especially from the use of [[Controlled vocabularies|controlled vocabularies]], enabling librarians and scholars to to describe and find resources via a shared language. By using controlled vocabularies, a user can assume that when they search for "Embroidered bindings," they will get similar types of results no matter which library catalog they are searching in.  Librarians can choose from a range of controlled vocabularies, many of which are specialized for particular fields, when cataloging their materials.
* Type '''genreform:''' immediately before a keyword search in the main search box (remember to use quotation marks around phrases). For example:
 
** [https://catalog.folger.edu/search?ln=en&p=genreform%3A%22Embroidered%20bindings%22 genreform:"Embroidered bindings"]
===LCSH===
** [https://catalog.folger.edu/search?ln=en&p=genreform%3A%28cookbooks+AND+manuscripts%29 genreform:(cookbooks AND manuscripts)]
The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is a controlled vocabulary set that was developed in 1898 (and has been regularly updated since) to be used broadly across many types of libraries. However, they are were originally meant for use only as subject headings, not genre terms; in other words, they describe what an item is about (dinosaurs, jewel heists), not what genre it belongs to (short stories, horror movies) or what form it takes (carousel books, calendars).  
** [https://catalog.folger.edu/search?ln=en&p=genreform%3A%28epigrams+NOT+manuscripts%29 genreform:(epigrams NOT manuscripts)]
 
* Follow the '''Advanced Search''' link near the bottom of the catalog's landing page and select "genre/form (what it is)" from the drop-down menus next to any of the three search boxes. You can search by genre/form alone, or combine it with other searches.
As libraries began to provide additional access to genre and form information, catalogers found attempted to find work-arounds to use LCSH headings as genre/form terms. Some added applicable subject headings to the 650 field (for subjects), even though that implied that an item was ''about'' a topic rather than an example of a topic (such as Haunted house films). Others added subject headings to the 655 field as genre/form terms, although this practice was not officially implemented until 2002.  Subfield ‡v was added to the MARC standard in 1995 to adapt subject heading fields for genre and form access as well. The ‡v indicates a genre/form term: "Pictorial works" indicates that images are a central part of an item, and "Early works to 1800" indicates that the item is a work printed or issued before 1800.  Even though the items being described are not necessarily about pictures or early modern printing, they are examples of those things. For instance:
* Follow the '''Browse records''' link near the bottom of the catalog's landing page and select "genre/form (what it is)" then hit the "Search" button to browse an alphabetical list.
 
<code>600 10 ‡a Shakespeare, William, ‡d 1564-1616 </code>
 
tells a user that an item is about William Shakespeare, but nothing more. In comparison,
 
<code>600 10 ‡a Shakespeare, William, ‡d 1564-1616 ‡v Calendars </code>
 
tells the user that the item is about Shakespeare, and it is in the form of a calendar. A popular term in the $v subdivision is '''Specimens''', which can be used to adapt most noun-based subject headings into genre or form headings (i.e. <code>650 _0 ‡a Swords ‡v Specimens</code> or <code>650 _0 ‡a Crows ‡v Specimens</code>).
 
===LCGFT===
Around 2010, the Library of Congress began to separate out the genre terms from LCSH, and establish them as a separate list, Library of Congress Genre and Form Terms (LCGFT). LCGFT headings are a [[Controlled vocabularies|controlled vocabulary]] specifically meant to be used in the 655 field as genre/form terms. Some headings, such as Ten-minute plays, are established in both LCSH and LCGFT - an item can be either ''about'' ten-minute plays, or an example of a ten-minute play (or both, for that matter).
 
===RBMS vocabularies===
As the development and implementation of the [[MARC]] standard allowed catalogers to record more information than ever, specialized library communities began to brainstorm how to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new standard. A 1979 [http://irla.lindahall.org/ IRLA] report, "Proposals for Establishing Standards for the Cataloguing of Rare Books and Specialized Research Materials in Machine-readable Form," proposed the creation of MARC fields for literary genre headings and physical characteristic terms (later merged into a [[MARC 655 Index Term - Genre/Form|single field]] - see above), and included a draft thesaurus of genre terms.  This thesaurus was finalized and published as ''Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing'' in 1983. Throughout the next decade, additional thesauri for physical and provenance terms were developed and released as well. <ref>Leslie, Deborah J.. 1997. “"Provenance Evidence" and "Printing and Publishing Evidence": Use and Revision of the RBMS Thesauri”. ''The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America'' 91 (4). [University of Chicago Press, Bibliographical Society of America]: 517–23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24304790.</ref>
 
Today, RBMS maintains six thesauri of genre and form terms; all are openly available on the [http://rbms.info/vocabularies/index.shtml RBMS website], and planning is currently in process to make them available as linked data.
 
:Binding Terms
:Genre Terms
:Paper Terms
:Printing & Publishing Evidence
:Provenance Evidence
:Type Evidence
 
Since the RBMS controlled vocabularies were developed specifically to meet the needs of the rare book community, they are heavily used at the Folger. They are the preferred vocabulary for Vault cataloging, and are sometimes used for open stacks materials as well.
 
=Genre and form use at the Folger=
==Searching genre/form terms in Hamnet==
[[Hamnet]] has several built-in ways to search for items by their genre and form.
* On the '''Basic Search''' tab, select "Subject & Form/Genre Browse" if you know an exact [[Controlled vocabularies|controlled vocabulary]] term you want to search, or select "Form/Genre (Keyword Phrase)" if you aren't sure what the controlled term is.
: [[File:Basic_Search_options.JPG|300px]]
* On the '''Advanced Search''' tab, select "Form/Genre" from the drop-down menus next to any of the three search boxes. You can search by form/genre alone, or combine it with other searches - for instance, to search for promptbooks marked by Edwin Booth.
: [[File:Advanced_Search_drop-down.jpg|500px]]
* You can also select the "Expert Search" option from the '''Basic Search''' tab, and search using Boolean operators and index codes. Use the code SKEY to search for form/genre terms and subjects.
: [[File:Expert_search_Booth.JPG|400px]]
 
==Cataloging policy==
* Enter genre and form terms in the [[MARC 655 Index Term - Genre/Form]].
 
==Conventions for maintenance of the table==
==List of common genre and form terms in Hamnet==
 
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Term !! Scope note !! Folger practice !! Link
|-
| Academic dissertations || AAT scope for Theses: Discourses advancing an original point of view as a result of research, especially as a requirement for an academic degree. || ǂ2rbgenr || ||
|-
| Account books || AAT scope: Books in which financial accounts are kept. Folger practice: UF Estate accounts, if unbound, and waste books. || ǂ2rbgenr || ||
|-
| Accounts || Documents in which monies or goods received and paid or given out are recorded in order to permit periodic totaling. || ǂ2aat || ||
|-
| Acting editions || Use for plays with extensive printed production information. Folger practice: apply when an edition explicitly identifies itself as the text of the play as it was performed, usually using words like "as it is acted at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden" or "Printed from the promptbook. They will often have cast lists, but that is not a necessary criterion. || ǂ2rbgenr|| ||
|-
| Addresses || AAT scope for Speeches: Documents containing the text of any public address or talk. || ǂ2rbgenr || ||
|-
| Advertisements || AAT scope: Public notices or paid announcements, especially those in print. || ǂ2rbgenr || ||
|-
| _Album amicorum use_ || Libri amicorum||| ||
|-
| Allegorical drawings || Folger Practice: Use for drawings representing truths or generalizations about human existence by means of symbolic images; often of classical derivation. || ǂ2gmgpc || ||
|-
| Allegorical paintings || Folger Practice: Use for paintings representing truths or generalizations about human existence by means of symbolic images; often of classical derivation. || ǂ2gmgpc || ||
|-
| Allegorical photographs || Folger Practice: Use for photographs representing truths or generalizations about human existence by means of symbolic images; often of classical derivation. || ǂ2gmgpc || ||
|-
| Allegorical prints || Folger Practice: Use for prints representing truths or generalizations about human existence by means of symbolic images; often of classical derivation. || ǂ2gmgpc || ||
|-
| Almanacs || Use for works containing a calendar of days, weeks, and months, together with information such as astronomical data, various statistics, etc. Do not use for modern factual compendia such as the World Almanac. || ǂ2rbgenr || ||
|-
| _Alphabets of arms use_ || Armorials || || ||
|-
| _Anagrams use_ || Games || || ||
|-
| Annotations (Provenance) || Use for remarks, notes, highlighting or commentary (generally in manuscript) on the text or on the history or provenance of the material. Subdivide by ǂy  Date; Folger practice: use for manuscript annotations by someone other than a scribe or transcriber || ǂ2rbprov || ||
|-
| Anthologies || AAT scope: Collections of choice extracts, from the writings of one author, or various authors, and usually having a common characteristic such as subject matter or literary form. Folger practice: use for books in which the owner has copied or written passages of interest or importance that are not organized under specific headings or in alphabetical order. Use Commonplace books for books in which the extracts are organized under specific headings or in alphabetical order. || ǂ2rbgenr ||  ||
|-
| Aphorisms  || Short, pithy statements of principle or precepts, often of known authorship; distinguished from Proverbs, which are statements repeated colloquially and which often embody the folk wisdom of a group or nation. Folger practice: UF Aphorisms and apothegms. || ǂ2aat ||  ||
|-
| _Aphorisms and apothegms use_  || Aphorisms ||| ||
|-
| Armorials  || Use for books containing depictions of coats of arms. Folger practice: UF Alphabets of arms; Heraldic manuscripts; Ordinaries of arms. <strike>Do *not* also use the BT Illustrated works. </strike> || ǂ2rbgenr || ||
|-
| Astronomical charts || Refers to maps of the heavens, including the constitution, relative positions, and motions of the heavenly bodies, which are all the bodies in the material universe outside of the Earth, as well as of the Earth itself relative to them. The earliest examples were often decorated with fantastic figures depicting the constellations and recognizable groupings of bright stars, and were primarily used as aids to navigation. Folger practice: Do not confuse with astrological charts; use Horoscopes instead. || ǂ2aat || ||
|-
| Auction catalogs || AAT scope: A listing of items, including works of art, manuscripts, books, or other items, that are for sale by auction. || ǂ2rbgenr || ||
|-
| _Autograph albums use_ || Libri amicorum||| ||
|-
| Autographs  || AAT scope for Signatures (names): Persons' names written in their own hand. Folger practice: use only for collections of autographs and single, clipped autographs. UF Signatures || ǂ2rbgenr || ||
|-
| _Ballads use_ || Songs or Poems, as appropriate |||
|-
| Bequests  || Gifts of personal property by will. UF Legacies || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| Blank forms  || AAT scope: Forms, which are formulary documents that arrange particular information in a prescribed sequence and format, that are created with blank spaces, lines, boxes, data entry fields, or other means to prompt users of the form to fill in the particular information. Blank forms may be handwritten, printed, typed, or online. When indexing, this term may be used for such forms, whether or not they have been filled in by a user of the form.. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| _Book auction catalogs use_ || Auction catalogs || ||
|-
| Book illustrations || Illustrations in books or pamphlets, whether photographs, photomechanical prints, or other media; whether still part of or detached from the volume. Also, drawings, photographs, prints, and other pictures made to be reproduced as illustrations, whether or not they were ever published. Folger practice: use for graphic materials only. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| Bookplates || Book owners' identification labels; usually intended for pasting inside a book. Folger practice: use when the item being cataloged _is_ a bookplate. For volumes containing bookplates, use an 852 ǂz note. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| Booksellers' advertisements || Use this term rather than "Publishers' advertisements" for examples appearing before the roles of bookseller and publisher were clearly differentiated. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Booksellers' catalogs || Use this term rather than "Publishers' catalogs" for examples appearing before the roles of bookseller and publisher were clearly differentiated. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Borders (Type evidence) || AAT scope: Ornamental areas of distinct pattern, material, color, or shape around the edge or boundary of something.  With regard specifically to tapestries, refers to the areas around the central field outside the inner guard and within the guard that edges the outer sides of the tapestry.  For the narrow surfaces showing the 'thickness' or smallest dimension of thin, flat objects, as distinguished from the broad surfaces, see "edges (object components)." Subdivide by ǂz &lt;Country&gt; ǂz &lt;City&gt; ǂy &lt;Date&gt; || ǂ2rbtyp ||
|-
| Botanical illustrations || Illustrations of plants or plant life. Used for Botanical drawings. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| _Bowdlerized books_ use || Expurgated editions |||
|-
| _Cablegrams use_ || Telegrams|| ||
|-
| Calendars || Use for tabular registers of days, not for lists of manuscripts or documents; subdivide by date. Folger practice: subdivide by century of publication only. ||ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Calf bindings (Binding) || Folger practice: Use also Goatskin bindings, Pigskin bindings, etc.  Use for decorative bindings only, i.e. exhibition-worthy bindings.  Subdivisions reflect the approximate place and date of manufacture of the binding.  Show bindings to Frank Mowery for identification. Subdivide by ǂz &lt;Country&gt; ǂy &lt;Date&gt;| ǂ2rbbin || B ||
|-
| Calligraphy || AAT scope: Works composed primarily of beautiful, elegant letters or flourishes that are typically created by hand with a pen, either in unjoined characters or in cursive writing. May also refer to similar works created by computer or another means. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| Caricatures || Use for verbal or visual works which portray in a critical or facetious way a real individual or group, or a figure representing a social, political, ethnic, or racial type. The effect is usually achieved through distortion or exaggeration of some characteristic or characteristics. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Cartularies  || Registers, usually in volume form, of copies of charters, title deeds, and other documents of significance belonging to a person, family, or institution. || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| Cast lists  || Use for lists associating specific performers with their parts. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Catechisms || AAT scope: Manuals or guides for instructing through a series of questions and answers, especially for religious instruction. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Censored works || Use for works that have been altered, prohibited, or suppressed because of allegedly objectionable content. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Certificates || Use for documents containing certified statements of ownership, membership, fulfilled requirements, legal status, etc. AAT scope note: Documents giving authoritative recognition of a fact, qualification, or promise. UF: Diplomas || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Chapbooks || Use for small, inexpensively printed books or pamphlets sold primarily by traveling peddlers beginning in the 17th century. Do not use for 20th century items which represent themselves as chapbooks. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| _Charades use_ || Games |||
|-
| Charters || AAT scope: Documents, usually sealed, granting specific rights, setting forth aims and principles of a newly established entity, and often embodying formal agreements and authorizing special privileges or exemptions. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Checks (bank checks) || AAT scope: Written orders drawn on a bank or the Treasury of the United States to pay on demand a specified sum of money to a named person, to his order, or to bearer, out of money on deposit to the credit of the writer; must be endorsed to be transferred. Folger practice: UF any bank in any country, plus the US Treasury || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| Chronicles || Use for histories in which events are described in chronological order. These differ from annals in being more connected and full. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Ciphers || Use for texts, the meaning of which is concealed by substitution or transposition of letters or numbers. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Cityscapes || General or broad views of cities and towns or sections of them. Usually made from an elevated or distant vantage point, such as a view from a roof or a view of a skyline. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| Clasps (Binding) || AAT scope: Fasteners made of two or more parts, often of metal, and consisting of separate interlocking hooking and catching elements that hold together two or more objects or complimentary parts of the same object.  Folger practice: Use whenever there is evidence of original clasps, even if now missing. || ǂ2rbbin || B M ||
|-
| Clippings || TGM scope note: Use for Illustrations, pages, articles, or columns of text removed from books, newspapers, periodicals, or other publications. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Coats of arms || Heraldic bearings, usually depicted on an escutcheon often with a crest, motto, or other adjuncts. Folger practice: <strike> Do not also use Illustrated works.</strike> For books, only make for extraordinary exemplars, such as 225- 452f|| ǂ2gmgpc || B|| M||
|-
| _Coats of arms, books of_ use || Armorials |||
|-
| Coins || AAT scope for Coins (money): Pieces of metal stamped by government authority for use as money. Folger practice: use for actual coins; for depictions of coins, use  650 0 Coins, ǂe depicted.  || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| Commonplace books  || Use for personal notebooks in which the owner has copied passages of interest or written his or her own compositions; use also for printed versions of such works. Folger practice: use only for such books organized alphabetically or thematically under specific headings. For similar books without headings, use Anthologies; Poetical miscellanies; Memorandums || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Composition errors (Printing) || Use for dittography, omissions of text, misspelling, and any other compositorial errors. || ǂ2rbpri || B ||
|-
| Concealed editions (Publishing) || Use for closely similar editions, printed from substantially different settings of type, not distinguished as such by the printer and/or publisher || ǂ2rbpub || B ||
|-
| Concordances  || AAT scope: Includes indexes to the location of words or phrases in a text and finding aids, in two columns, establishing the relationship between the past and present reference numbers of individual items. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Contracts || AAT scope: Documents, enforceable by law, embodying agreements between two or more competent parties to do or not to do something, and specifying the terms and conditions of the agreement. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Cookbooks  || Folger practice: Use for books of cooking directions and recipes. UF Receipt books || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Copy books (Penmanship) || Use for penmanship or calligraphy manuals which include instructional text and examples as well as blank areas designed for a pupil's practice writing. For works which do not contain such blank areas for practice, use "Penmanship manuals." || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
|Corantos||Use for single-leaf forerunners of newspapers. For similar items consisting of more than one leaf, use "Newsbooks"|ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Costume design drawings || Graphic delineations made for the design and production (or documentation of design and production) of costumes for theatrical and other performing arts productions and for special events, such as costume balls or Halloween. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| Counterproofs || In printmaking, impressions taken from a print or drawing by passing it through a press against a sheet of damp paper. The image appears in reverse. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| _Court rolls_ use ||Judicial records |||
|-
| Courtesy books || Use for books outlining the education, conduct, duties, and training of noble or royal persons, or persons serving at court. || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
|-
| Dates (Provenance) || Use for evidence dating the acquisition or period of ownership. || ǂ2rbprov || B ||
|-
| Daybooks  || Use for account books of original entry which record the various transactions of the day in the order in which they occurred. For works sometimes known as daybooks which are diaries rather than account books use "Diaries." || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| _Debates_ use || Addresses || ||
|-
| Decorated papers (Binding) || Use for the occurrence of such papers as any part of bindings, cases, endpapers, or doublures. || ǂ2rbbin || B ||
|-
| Decorations || Images that ornament a text or picture but do not relate specifically to its meaning. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| Decretals || Letters of the pope determining some point or question in ecclesiastical law and possessing the force of law within the Roman Catholic Church. || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| Deeds  || AAT scope: Documents, usually executed under seal, containing a conveyance, especially of real estate. Folger practice: Consult Curator of Manuscripts when coming across more specific types of deeds. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Depositions  || Testimonies of witnesses, under oath or affirmation, before a person empowered to administer oaths. || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| _Designs and ornaments_ use || Decorations |||
|-
| Devotional literature || AAT scope: Religious texts that explore the values, ideas, and behaviors that a religion is seeking to advance, for the purpose of leading the individual, through devotion, closer to an ultimate state of grace or perfection. || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
|-
| Dialogues || AAT scope: Written compositions in which two or more characters are represented as conversing. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Diaries  || AAT scope: Refers to books containing the daily, personal accounts of the writer's own experiences, attitudes, and observations. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Dictionaries  || AAT scope: Reference sources containing alphabetical lists of words with information given for each word; generally including meanings, pronunciation, etymology, and often usage guidance. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| _Diplomas_ use || Certificates ||  ||
|-
| Documentary films || Folger scope: use for films and programs which depict actual persons and/or events. Exclude frank historical re-creations, but do not attempt to judge the "truth" of the depiction in a film purporting to be factual or documentary in character. UF Factual films || ǂ2lcgft ||
|-
| Documentary television programs ||  || ǂ2lcgft ||
|-
| Drafts (negotiable instruments) || Written orders drawn by one party ordering a second party to pay a specified sum of money to a third party (who may be the first party); usually restricted to domestic transactions. For similar orders to pay used for foreign transactions, prefer "bills of exchange." || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| Dramatic music || NO LCSH definition. NT's are Ballets, Incidental music, Intermedi, Librettos, Masques with music, Melodrama, Modern dance music, Motion picture music, Music theater, Musicals, Operas, Pantomimes with music, Revues, Sacred dramatic music, Secular oratorios. [Q aeb use this BT for all of these except Incidental music, Libretti, Masques (or perhaps use both?), Operas]  Folger use: Music written for the stage. Use more specific terms (e.g. Incidental music, Operas) whenever possible ||lcsh; use 650_0, no ǂ2 %ENDCOLOR%|
|-
| Drawings || AAT scope: Visual works produced by drawing, which is the application of lines on a surface, often paper, by using a pencil, pen, chalk, or some other tracing instrument to focus on the delineation of form rather than the application of color. This term is often defined broadly to refer to computer-generated images as well. TGM scope: Narrower terms include both physical media and genre categories but are limited to those which use drawing in the sense of a specific medium rather than in the everyday sense of graphic representation. Folger practice: when applicable, prefer the following narrower/related terms: Set design drawings; Watercolors || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| Educational films || This heading is used as a genre/form heading for films that are intended to impart knowledge and information, including those for classroom viewing. Films that use a structured format to teach or train the audience are entered under Instructional films. Folger practice: use Educational films also for instructional films || ǂ2lcgft
|-
| Educational television programs || || ǂ2lcgft
|-
| Emblem books || Use for collections of emblems, i.e., mottoes or epigrams accompanied by a verse and sometimes a symbolic illustration, based upon a poetic conceit or moral statement, particularly popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Emblems (allegorical pictures) || Allegorical pictures, often inscribed with mottoes, common especially in the 16th and 17th centuries. Distinct from "emblems (symbols)," which are simpler symbolic objects or representations of an object. || ǂ2aat || ||
|-
| Embroidered bindings || UF Needlework bindings || ǂ2rbbin || ||
|-
| Ephemerides || Use for works giving the computed positions of celestial bodies for each day or other regular interval; used by navigators and astronomers. || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
|-
| Epigrams || Use for short satiric poems or any similar pointed sayings. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Epitaphs || Folger practice: use for inscriptions copied from sepulchral monuments in the memory of those buried in the tomb or grave. (Adapted from AAT). Also use for satirical epitaphs found in poetical miscellanies. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Erotica ||Use for literary or artistic works focused on sexual love or desire. || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
|-
| _Estate accounts use_  || Account books, if bound; accounts, if unbound |||
|-
| Expurgated copies (Provenance) || Use for copies of a work from which objectionable parts have been defaced, obliterated, or removed, usually on moral grounds. This term is copy-specific and applies only to individual copies. ||  ||
| Expurgated editions || Use for editions or versions of works from which objectionable parts in the original text -- whether or not that text has been published -- have been deleted, usually on moral grounds. UF Bowdlerized books; Expurgated books; Expurgated works. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Extra-illustrated copies (Provenance) || Folger practice: Use only when enough material was added to necessitate rebinding. Otherwise, use Insertions (Provenance) || ǂ2rbprov ||  ||
|-
| _Factual films_ use || Documentary films || ||
|-
| False imprints || AAT scope for Fictitious imprints (also encompassing False imprints): An imaginary imprint used for the purpose of evading legal and other restrictions, to mask piracies, to protect anonymity of the author, etc. Folger practice: a decision has not been made whether to use the rbgenr term Fictitious imprints or False imprints for imaginary place and/or publisher names and/or dates.  || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Family histories || Use for narrative family histories. For family trees and other genealogical listings of family members, use "Genealogies." || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Family papers || Group of the personal papers of several and various members of a single family; usually of parents and their children, but sometimes including papers of spouses and their families as well. || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| Feature films || Here are entered individual full-length films with a running time of 40 minutes or more || ǂ2lcgft ||
|-
| Festival books || Use for accounts of festivals, parades, ceremonial entries, and the like. || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
|-
| Film adaptations || Folger practice: Use for films based on any written literature || ǂ2lcgft ||
|-
| Film scripts || AAT scope for "screenplays": Written forms of stories prepared for motion picture productions, including description of characters, details of scenes and settings, dialogue, and stage directions. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Filmed performances || Here are entered films that document a performance, event, or concert of dance, music, opera, operetta, theatrical stage productions, magic, circus, stand-up comedy, burlesque, or other vaudeville or variety stage acts. etc. Also apply the topical or genre heading for the specific performance, concert or event, e.g., Rock concerts || ǂ2lcgft ||
|-
| Financial records || Documents pertaining to money matters. || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| Fists || Use for previous owners' indications drawing attention to text. UF: Index fingers, Note signs, Pointing hands, Manicules (local UF); BT Annotations || ǂ2rbprov ||
|-
| Fore-edge paintings || Paintings done on the fore edge of a book, either with the edge solid so that the resulting image is visible when the book is closed, or, in the more usual sense of the term, with the edges fanned out so that the image is visible only when the book is open. || ǂ2aat || B ||
|-
| _Forgeries_ use || Literary hoaxes || ||
|-
| Frontispieces || Illustrations placed next to the title page. Folger practice: use when cataloging individual frontispieces in the art collection. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| Games || Use for materials designed for play, usually according to prescribed rules. Folger practice: UF Anagrams, Charades, Puzzles, Riddles || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Genealogical notes (Provenance) || Needs scope note. || ǂ2rbprov || B ||
|-
| Genealogies  || Use for family trees and other listings of family members. For narrative histories, use "Family histories." Folger practice: UF Pedigrees || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Gift books|| Use for illustrated literary miscellanies, popular in the 19th century, intended to be given as gifts and often published annually. || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
|-
| Greeting cards || Cards sent or given on special occasions; usually bearing messages of good will. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| _Heraldic devices_ use || Coats of arms || ||
|-
| _Heraldic manuscripts use_ || Armorials || ||
|-
| Herbals || AAT scope: Books containing names and descriptions of herbs, or of plants in general. || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
|-
| Horoscopes || From LCSH: Horoscope is a chart or diagram representing the positions of the planets, other celestial bodies and sensitive angles at the time of any event, such as a person's birth; other common names include astrological chart. || lcsh; use 650_0, no ǂ2 || ||
|-
| Housebooks || Documents in which are recorded household expenditures such as for food, utilities, and domestic help, maintained in a journal or other book; also includes classed or chronological files of the bills and receipts for household goods and services|| ǂ2aat ||
|-
| _Household accounts use_ || Housebooks || ||
|-
| Human hair || Folger practice: use for locks of hair, single strands of hair, and hair incorporated into jewelery. Do not use for wigs in the costume collection. || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| Humorous pictures || Images intended to be funny. UF Comic pictures. Folger practice: UF Humorous sketches || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|-
| Illuminations || Book leaves or single sheets of text embellished with hand-drawn ornamental letters, scrolls, paintings, and other designs; usually gold and color; may be decorations or illustrations.  Folger practice: Illuminated letters, for very early books || ǂ2gmgpc || B ||
|-
| Illustrated works || Folger practice: Use for works which are 30% or more illustrative matter, or for works whose illustrations are particularly significant. Do not use for armorials. || ǂ2rbgenr || B M ||
|-
| Imposition errors (Printing) || Needs scope note. || ǂ2rbpri || B ||
|-
| _Imprimaturs_ use || Printing privileges (Publishing) || ǂ2rbpub || B ||
|-
| %PURPLE%Incidental music|| NO LCSH scope. Folger definition: Music played during a performance of a spoken drama, which is of secondary importance to the speech (though it may still have dramatic significance) and thus the term does not refer to the operetta, musical, Singspiel, or masque. It embraces both the music 'outside' the drama (e.g., overtures before the play or interludes between acts) as well as the music performed as part of the action (e.g., fanfares, songs, dances, marches, and mood music) whether on or off the stage. || lcsh; use 650_0, no ǂ2 ||
|-
| Inquisitiones post mortem || Use for official documents concerning the nature, extent, and value of a deceased landholder's possessions. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
%PURPLE%
| Insertions (Provenance) || Use for any kind of insertion that might allow identification of the provenance, e.g., autograph letter, news clipping, photograph, etc. Folger practice: Use for insertions with intrinsic interest (e.g., flyers, pictures, flowers, newspaper clippings), whether there is just one or several. Do not use for insertions without intrinsic interest, such as a plain strip of paper used as a bookmark, unless there's firm evidence of specific former owner placement (for example, if it's pinned). For numerous insertions requiring rebinding, use Extra-illustrated copies (Provenance). || ǂ2rbprov || ||
|-
| Interleaved books (Binding) || Use for books bound with blank leaves systematically inserted between the original leaves, whether by the publisher or owner, to facilitate user-added content. Folger practice: not to be used for tissues bound in to protect illustrations. || ǂ2rbbin||
|-
| _Interleaved copies (Provenance) use_ || Interleaved books (Binding)||
|-
| Interludes || LCSH scope: Here are entered collections of dramatic interludes. Musical interludes are entered under Interludes (Music). Folger practice: Use for dramatic or mimic representations, usually of a light or humorous character, such as was commonly introduced between the acts of the long mystery-plays or moralities, or exhibited as part of an elaborate entertainment || lcsh; use 650_0, no ǂ2 ||
|-
| _Instruction books use_ ||Textbooks || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
|-
| _Instructional films use || Educational films (Folger practice) ||
|-
| Intaglio prints || AAT scope: Prints made using the process of intaglio printing. || ǂ2gmgpc || B ||
|-
| Inventories || Detailed lists of things in one's view or possession, as of all goods and materials on hand, or detailed lists of all items in a given category. For documentation of examination conducted to achieve a comprehensive view, use "surveys." || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| Invitations || Use for printed or handwritten requests for one's presence at an event. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|-
| Invoices || Documents showing items supplied, together with the prices charged for each; also, itemized bills or accounts. || ǂ2aat ||
|-
|Journals (accounts) || Use for books containing accounts of an individual's or organization's occurrences or transactions, including records of financial transactions. Use "diaries" when referring to personal accounts of the writer's experiences, attitudes, or observations. || ǂ2aat ||
|-
|Judicial records || Records of a tribunal established for the administration of justice. UF court rolls. || ǂ2aat ||
|-
| _Lampoons_ use || Satires || ||
| Landscapes (Representations) || General or broad views of natural scenery, including inland bodies of water; may also include figures or man-made objects, but these are of secondary importance to the composition. Usually made from an elevated or distant vantage point, such as a view from a hill; not ground level close-up view of, for example, a tree. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| _Law reports, digests, etc. use_  || Legal documents || ||
| Leases || Contracts by which one conveys land or other property for a specified time usually for compensation or rent. Folger practice: also use BT Deeds. || ǂ2aat||
| Lecture notes  || AAT scope: Use for notes made with reference to a lecture, both those from which the lecturer speaks, and those taken by people in attendance. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| _Lectures_ use || Addresses || ||
| _Legacies_ use || Bequests || ||
| Legal documents || Documents having legal relevance in general. For documents that give expression to a legal act or agreement for the purpose of creating, securing, modifying, or terminating a right, or for the purpose of furnishing evidence of a right, use "legal instruments." Folger practice: UF Legal notebooks; Law reports, digests, etc. || ǂ2aat ||
| Legal formularies || Folger practice: use for collections of specimens of legal documents. UF Legal notebooks. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Legal instruments || Use for documents that give expression to a legal act or agreement, for the purpose of creating, securing, modifying, or terminating a right, or for the purpose of furnishing evidence of a right. For documents having legal relevance in general, use "legal documents." _Note: Since this term refers to the AAT term legal documents code as AAT rather than RBGENR._  || ǂ2aat ||
| _Legal notebooks use_ || Legal documents or Legal formularies, depending on content || ||
| _Legends use_ || Myths and legends || ||
| Legislative proceedings || _need definition_ || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Letter books || Books of blank or lined paper on which letters to be sent have been written; also copies of letters, originally on loose sheets, bound together, usually in chronological order. || ǂ2aat ||
| Letters || AAT scope for Letters (correspondence): Use for pieces of correspondence that are somewhat more formal than memoranda or notes, usually on paper and delivered. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Letters of advice || Folger scope: conduct of life letters written by parents or grandparents (sometimes cribbed from printed sources), meant to be kept and passed on, specifically in the form of a letter. Add LC subject term for Conduct of life; also add genre term for Letters. || ǂ2aat || M ||
| Letters patent || Written communications, usually signed and sealed from a government or sovereign of a nation, conferring upon a designated person a grant (as a right, title, status, property, authority, privilege, monopoly, franchise, immunity, or exemption) that could not otherwise be enjoyed. || ǂ2aat ||
| Library catalogs || Folger practice: Use for lists of books or other materials held in public or private libraries ||ǂ2rbgenr ||
| %PURPLE%Libretti|| AAT scope for _Librettos_: Books or booklets containing the text or words of an opera or similar extended musical composition. Folger practice: Use for printed or manuscript books giving the literary text, both sung and spoken, of an opera (or other musical work). ||ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Libri amicorum || AAT scope note for _autograph albums_: Books, loose-leaf binders, or other volumes containing blank leaves, on which persons have written sentiments, quotations, or signatures. UF _Album amicorum_, _Autograph albums_ || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Literary hoaxes || AAT scope note for _forgeries (derivative objects)_: Valued objects or documents that are made or altered with intent to deceive; may range in falsehood from counterfeiting of whole works to altering of signatures or other deliberate misrepresentations. Distinguished from "copies (derivative objects)" by the intention of deception. UF _Forgeries_ || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Loyalty oaths || Oaths, usually mandatory, affirming the loyalty of the takers, such as to a government, ruler, constitution, or set of principles. || ǂ2aat ||
 
 
---++ M
| Made-for-TV movies || Folger scope: Use for feature-length films made exclusively for television, although some are released theatrically or made available on video-cassette. || &#8225;2 lcgft ||
| _Magazine illustrations_ use || Periodical illustrations |||
| Manorial records || Records having to do with the history and transactions of a manor house and its estate. || ǂ2aat ||
| Manuscript waste (Binding) || Folger practice: Use for the presence of manuscript waste paper in bindings || ǂ2rbbin ||
| Manuscripts || Use especially for handwritten documents; may also be used to distinguish certain documents from published or otherwise printed documents, as in the cases of typed personal letters or a typescript from which printed versions are made. Folger practice: use for all manuscripts in English. Further subdivide by physical format if applicable (e.g., Facsimiles). || ǂ2aat ||
| Manuscripts, &lt;language&gt; || Folger practice: Use for all non-English manuscripts || 2nd indicator '0', no ǂ2 ||
| Manuscripts for publication || Folger practice: Use for manuscripts used as copy-text by typesetters, &amp;c. || ǂ2aat ||
| Manuscripts from print || Folger practice: Use for manuscripts copied directly from printed texts || ǂ2local ||
| Maps || TGM scope note: Graphic delineations at a set scale, of all or part of the earth or another celestial sphere indicating the relative position of selected artificial and natural features. Folger practice: use for resources that are entirely, or substantially, composed of maps. Subdivide by location depicted in the maps, not by place of production/publication || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Masques || AAT scope: Short allegorical dramatic entertainments performed by masked performers, popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| _Masques with music use_ || Masques aeb Q also use Dramatic music? |||
| Maxims || AAT scope: Rules or principles of conduct, morality or prudence, expressed in sententious form. It is often used specifically for precepts of morality or prudence occurring in Old English verse, or for self-evident propositions assumed as a premiss in mathematical or dialectical reasoning. The meaning of this term may overlap somewhat with "aphorisms." || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Medical formularies  || Use for works not having the contemporary status of a standard.  &#8230; Folger practice: Use for works formulating the ingredients and amounts to be used in medical preparations. UF Receipt books. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Memorandums || Documents recording information used for internal communication. Folger practice: use for early modern manuscripts which consist of simple notes of something to be remembered, or a record (for future reference) of something that has been done, without the formulas and signature characteristic of a letter, and conventionally bearing the heading 'Memorandum' ('It is to be remembered') and often the writer's name (OED). || ǂ2aat ||
| Menus || AAT scope: Lists of dishes to be served or available for meals. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Military manuals || Folger practice: use for manuals on military or naval instruction, training, or operations || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Military orders || Use for commands issued by a military superior. _Note:_ Use only if it is a directive issued from a higher authority to a lower one. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Miniature books (Printing) || Use for volumes 10cm or less in height || ǂ2rbpri || B ||
| Miniatures (Illuminations) || Pictures in an illuminated manuscript; distinct from the initials and borders. _For non-manuscripts, use_ Miniatures (Paintings) || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Miniatures (Paintings) || Paintings on a very small scale (usually five inches or less), especially the portraits on vellum or ivory popular in England and America from the Renaissance into the 1800s. _For miniatures in manuscripts, use_ Miniatures (Illuminations) || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Minutes || Records of what was said and done at meetings or conferences. || ǂ2aat ||
| _Miscellanies use_ || Anthologies |||
| Money orders || Credit instruments ordering the payment of a specified amount of money, usually issued and payable at a bank or post office. ||ǂ2aat||
| Morality plays || Use for allegorical plays of the type which offer discourses in praise of morality between actors representing characters such as Charity, Faith, Death, etc. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Musical notation || Folger practice: Use for a system of expressing musical sounds through the use of written symbols. Use only when cataloging a resource other than on the scores format. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Musical works|| Folger practice: Use for written compositions in musical notation not covered by a more specific genre || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Mystery plays || Use for medieval religious plays based on scriptural incidents. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Myths and legends || AAT scope for "legends (folk tales)": Stories handed down by tradition from earlier times, usually concerned with a real person, place, or event, and popularly regarded as historical although not entirely verifiable. Folger practice: UF Legends. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
 
 
---++ N
| _Neo-Latin plays use_ || Plays |||
| Neo-Latin poems || Use for poems written in Latin since ca. 1300. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
|Newsbooks||Use for forerunners of newspapers, consisting of more than one leaf, published in the 16th and 17th centuries. For similar items consisting of one leaf, use "Corantos"|ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Newsletters || AAT scope: In the 16th and 17th centuries, manuscript reports produced for special subscribers and issued irregularly or weekly; from the 20th century to the present, periodic reports on the activities of a business or organization. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Notebooks || Folger practice: use for books in which notes of memorandums are recorded, or notes taken during a class, lecture, or meeting. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
---++ O
| Obituaries || AAT scope: Published notices of a death, usually with a brief biography of the deceased. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| _Ordinaries of arms use_ || Armorials || ||
| %PURPLE% Operas|| LCSH scope: Here are entered musical compositions. General works about opera are entered under the heading Opera. Folger practice: Use for dramas set to music to be sung with instrumental accompaniment by singers usually in costume. Defintion: A dramatic musical work in which singing forms an essential part, chiefly consisting of recitatives, arias, and choruses, with orchestral accompaniment; a performance of such a work; a libretto or musical score for such a work. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| %PURPLE% Oratorios|| LCSH scope: Here are entered musical compositions. Works about the oratorio are entered under the heading Oratorio. Folger practice: Use for a musical settings of a religious libretti for solo singers, chorus, and orchestra, in dramatic form but usually performed without scenery or costumes in concert-hall-or church. Defintion: A large-scale, usually narrative musical work for orchestra and voices, typically on a sacred theme and performed with little or no costume, scenery, or action. Also: this as a musical genre. Formerly also (U.S.): {dag}a concert of sacred music of any sort (obs.). || lcsh; use 650_0, no ǂ2 ||
| %PURPLE%Overtures|| LCSH scope: Here are entered overtures for orchestra. Overtures for other mediums of performance are entered under this heading followed by the medium, e.g. Overtures (Chamber orchestra). Works about the overture are entered under the heading Overture. Folger practice: Use for instrumental music composed as an introduction to an opera, oratorio, ballet, or other dramatic work, or intended for independent concert performance. Defintion: Music. An orchestral piece of varying form and dimensions, forming the opening or introduction to an opera, oratorio, or other extended composition, and often containing themes from the body of the work or otherwise indicating the character of it. Also: a similar orchestral piece, usually of descriptive or programmatic character, intended for independent performance; = concert overture n. at CONCERT n. Compounds 2. || lcsh; use 650_0, no ǂ2 ||
 
 
 
---++ P
| Paintings || Folger practice: use for all paintings except miniatures and watercolors, _q.v._ || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Pardons || Official documents declaring the exemption of a convicted person from the penalties of an offense or crime by the power of the executor of laws. || ǂ2aat ||
| _Parish registers use_ || Parochial records |||
| Parochial records || Folger practice: use for records established and kept by an ecclesiastical parish, recording chronologically baptisms, marriages, burials, and other information. UF Parish registers. || ǂ2aat ||
| Parodies|| Use for humorous, sometimes satiric, imitations of other works. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Part books || Folger practice: use for copies of one or more (but not all) parts for the use of participating voices or instruments in a musical work || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Pasquinades || Use for satires or lampoons intended to be posted in a public place. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Patent rolls || Folger practice: use for rolls that record grants of lands, and honors, pensions and privileges given by the king to individuals or corporate bodies. || ǂ2local ||
| Pattern books || Use for books of actual patterns. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| _Pedigrees use_ || Genealogies |||
| _Pen and ink drawings use BT_ || Drawings || ||
| Periodical illustrations || Detached illustrations are included as well as original drawings, photographs, and prints intended for publication or actually published as illustrations in periodicals. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Periodicals || AAT scope: Publications issued at regular intervals of more than one day. || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
| Perpetual calendars|| Use for tables that allow determination of the correct day of the week for any given date over a wide range of years. Folger practice: use only when cataloging a stand-alone perpetual calendar. || ǂ2rbgenr || B, G, M ||
| Petitions || AAT scope: Includes any written requests and lists of signatures submitted to an authority to appeal for the performance of specific action. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Photographs || AAT scope: Refers to still images produced from radiation-sensitive materials (sensitive to light, electron beams, or nuclear radiation), generally by means of the chemical action of light on a sensitive film, paper, glass, or metal. Folger practice: Photographs reproducing paintings or other artworks should NOT be traced in a 655 || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| %PURPLE%Photomechanical prints || Prints made from photographically prepared printing surfaces. Most have a distinctive dot or screen pattern, but some are continuous tone. Usually planographic. USED FOR: Process prints || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Pictorial bindings (Binding) || Needs scope note. || ǂ2rbbin || B ||
| Pipe rolls || Folger practice: use for rolls that contain the details of revenues of the Crown, according to the counties, not merely from land, but from every source, together with the public expenditure. || ǂ2local ||
| Plans || Graphic delineations of a site, structure, or object in a horizontal projection. Projection lines are parallel to the picture plane rather than in perspective. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Playbills || Use for single-sheet items advertising plays, usually announcing the cast. Folger practice: assume printed unless ms. is specified. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Players' parts || Folger practice: use for actors' individual scripts, containing only their own dialogue and cue lines. || ǂ2local ||
| Playing cards || Cards made in sets of a designated number of cards and marked for use in playing one or more games or telling fortunes. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Plays || AAT scope for "plays (document genre"): Use for dramatic compositions, arranged for enactment, as by actors on a stage. || ǂ2rbgenr || M ||
| _Plots use_ || Scenarios |||
| Poems || AAT scope: Written or oral compositions characterized by condensed language chosen for sound and suggestive power as well as meaning, and by the use of such literary techniques as structured meter, natural cadences, rhyme, or metaphor. || ǂ2rbgenr || 
| Poetical miscellanies || Use for collections of contemporary poems by different authors, usually dealing with various topics and primarily published from the 16th through the 18th centuries. Folger practice: use also for manuscript collections. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Portraits || Graphic representations, especially of the face, of real persons, usually posed, living or dead. Pictures whose purpose is the portrayal of an individual or several people, not pictures that merely include people as part of an event or scene. Folger practice: subdivide by gender _(ǂx [Female or Male])_ as well as century. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Postcards || Cards on which a message may be written or printed for mailing without an envelope; often include a pictorial, comic, or other scene on one side.  || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Posters || TGM scope: Single or multi-sheet notices made to attract attention to events, activities, causes, goods, or services; also, purely decorative posters. For posting, usually in a public place; chiefly pictorial. Intended to make an immediate impression from a distance. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Prayer books || Use for books of personal prayer; they may include selections from liturgical books. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Prayers || Use for individually issued prayers, not in book form. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Presentation copies (Provenance) || Folger practice: Use for materials that have been formally presented as a gift to a person or body. Use in conjunction with the relationship designators _inscriber_ and _former owner_ as appropriate. Subdivide by century if it can be confidently dated. || ǂ2rbprov ||
| Press kits || Packets of promotional materials for distribution to the press, as at a press conference. For official or authoritative statements distributed to the press typically by a public relations firm or government agency, use "press releases." Folger practice: do not subdivide. || ǂ2aat ||
| Pressbooks (theatre manuals) || Manuals provided to theater owners, especially in the 1930s and 1940s, advising them on how to promote a particular motion picture being shown in their theater. Folger practice: Use for exhibitors' campaign books. Folger practice: do not subdivide. || ǂ2aat ||
| Prices (Provenance) || Use for prices in materials indicating purchase cost information by a previous owner or relating to secondary selling, e.g., second-hand dealer prices, auction prices. Folger practice: Use for pre-19th century manuscript prices, especially auction prices. || ǂ2rbprov || B ||
| Printed waste (Binding) || Folger practice: Use for the presence of printed waste paper in bindings || ǂ2rbbin ||
| Printers' advertisements ||Folger practice: Use for advertisements for books &c. printed by an entity who is clearly not the bookseller or publisher || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Printers' devices (Printing) || Folger practice: Use only for printers' devices cataloged as individual items; add a 590 "For printers' devices in the Folger rare book collection, search for "printer's device" as a phrase." AAT scope: Emblematic designs or devices of a printer or publisher. The printer's mark as an identifying device was used in typographic books with the invention of printing in the 15th century; printers gradually added a blank piece of paper at the front of a book to protect the first page from soiling. The identifying device, monogram, or emblem was applied to this page or with a brief sentence at the rear of the book; when the printer's mark was incorporated into the colophon, it is sometimes itself known as a "colophon."  || ǂ2rbpri || G ||
| Printing privileges (Publishing) || Folger practice: use for printed works containing a statement granting an exclusive right to print a work or a class work of works. UF Imprimaturs: works containing an official endorsement of the content, usually by the Roman Catholic church. Subdivide by ǂz &lt;Country&gt; ǂz &lt;City&gt; ǂy &lt;Date&gt; || ǂ2rbpub || B ||
| Prints || Images formed by transfer from one surface or source to another. Usually created with ink(s) and produced in multiple impressions. Folger Practice: do not use narrower terms, e.g., mezzotints, etchings, lithographs, etc. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Private press books (Publishing) || Needs scope note. || ǂ2rbpub || B ||
| Prize books (Provenance) || [scope note to come] || ǂ2rbprov || B ||
| Proclamations || AAT scope: Documents that are publicly announced or officially declared; especially a public notice by an official of some order, intended action, or state of facts. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Programs || Use for lists of the events, pieces, performers, speakers, etc., of an entertainment, ceremony, or the like. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Prologues and epilogues || Folger practice:  Use for poems, speeches, or other literary works written to be spoken or performed before or after a play. || ǂ2local ||
| Promissory notes || Unconditional written promises to pay on demand, or at a fixed or determined future time, a certain sum of money to, or to the order of, a specified person or to the bearer. || ǂ2aat ||
| Promptbooks || Use for plays with manuscript production annotations. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Proofs (Printing) || AAT scope for Proofs (printed matter): Refers to trial sheets of printed matter that are checked against original manuscripts and on which errors can be corrected and alterations made. Folger practice: for proofs of graphic materials, use the gmgpc term. || ǂ2rbpri || B M ||
| Proofs || In printmaking, impressions taken at any stage from a plate, block, or stone, but not considered part of the edition. In photography, photographic prints made as quick records of a negative or for clients to choose from, as with studio portraits. Folger practice: use a more specific term when appropriate: Trial proofs, Counterproofs, Proofs before letters. For proofs of textual material, use the rbpri term. || ǂ2gmgpc || G ||
| Proofs before letters || In printmaking, impressions complete except for a title or publication statement to be printed outside of the image area. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Prophecies || Folger practice: use for written utterances declaring divine will and purpose, or predicting things to come. || ǂ2local ||
| _Props use_ || Stage props |||
| Prospectuses || Use for formal summaries of proposed commercial, literary, or other ventures to solicit investment, purchase, or participation. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Proverbs || AAT scope: Refers to short, concise sayings repeated colloquially expressing a general truth or observation about human life or behavior, often embodying the folk wisdom of a group or nation. Distinguished from Aphorisms which are statements of principle or precepts, often of known authorship. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Psalters || Use for books containing only the Psalms. ||ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Publishers' advertisements || Use "Booksellers' advertisements" rather than this term for examples appearing before the roles of bookseller and publisher were clearly differentiated. ||ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Publishers' catalogs || Use "Booksellers' catalogs" rather than this term for examples appearing before the roles of bookseller and publisher were clearly differentiated. ||ǂ2rbgenr ||
| _Puzzles use_ || Games |||
 
 
---++ R
| Radio plays || Folger practice: Use for scripts of radio plays || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| _Receipt books use_ || Cookbooks and/or Medical formularies. Folger practice: Most Folger receipt books will require both _use_ terms |||
| Receipts (financial records) || Written acknowledgment of the receiving or taking of goods or money delivered or paid. || ǂ2aat ||
| Regulations || RBGENR Broader term: Legal works. AAT scope for Administrative regulations: Regulations issued by a governmental agency, having the force of law, to interpret or implement the provisions of a statute. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| _Riddles use_ || Games |||
| Romances || Use for medieval and Renaissance tales in prose or verse celebrating the adventures, in love and war, of some hero of chivalry. Do not use for modern romance novels. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
---++ S
| Sammelbands (Provenance) || Use for separately-produced works bound together for the owner during the medieval or early modern period. _Note_: this scope note is in the process of being revised, partly to remove the period limitation || ǂ2rbprov||
| Satires || AAT scope for Satires (document genre): Literary compositions in verse or prose in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule. Folger practice: use for both literary and visual satires. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Scenarios || Use for plot outlines of dramatic works. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Scores || AAT scope: Original and entire drafts or transcripts of musical compositions or arrangements, with the parts of all the different instruments or voices written on staffs one above another, so that they can be read at a glance. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Scrapbooks || AAT scope: use for albums containing a variety of items, especially when those items serve as memorabilia. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| _Screenplays use_ || Film scripts |||
| Seals (Impressions) || Wax or embossed impressions; chiefly used to certify a signature or authenticate a document. Folger practice: use for personal or unofficial seals || ǂ2gmgpc || B || G ||
| Seals (Impressions) ǂx Official || Wax or embossed impressions; chiefly used to certify a signature or authenticate a document. Folger practice: use for official seals; subdivide by country and century.  || ǂ2gmgpc || B || G || M ||
| Sermons || AAT scope: Religious discourses delivered as part of a church service. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Set design drawings || Graphic delineations made for the design and production (or documentation of design and production) of stage settings for theatrical, movie, broadcast, or other performing arts productions. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Ships' logs || Daily records of the progress of a ship at sea, with notes on the weather and important incidents of the voyage. || ǂ2aat ||
| Ships' manifests || Lists or invoices of cargo on a ship, usually containing marks or indication of contents or commodity, consignee, and other pertinent information for use at terminals or customhouses. || ǂ2aat ||
| Short films || This heading is used as a genre/form heading for films usually limited to a running time of less than 40 minutes || &#8225;2 lcgft||
| Shorthand || Use for methods of handwriting that use simplified strokes, abbreviations, or symbols to facilitate rapid writing. || ǂ2aat ||
| _Signatures use_ || Autographs |||
| Signing patterns (Printing) || Use for signatures with patterns such as alternating 12's and 6's. Folger practice: only use in extremely unusual signing pattern situations. Subdivide by ǂz &lt;Country&gt; ǂz &lt;City&gt; ǂy &lt;Century&gt; || ǂ2 rbpri ||
|Silent films || This heading is used as a genre/form heading for films produced in the early days of the motion picture industry before the advent of talking films || &#8225;2 lcgft ||
| Silhouettes || Images shown in profile in a single hue against a contrasting background; cut, drawn, painted, printed, or photographic; often portraits. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| %BLUE%Slides || Transparent materials on which there is a drawn image or a positive photographic image; intended to be bound or held in a mount and usually designed for use in a projector or viewer. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
|Slurs (Printing) || Use for blurred or doubled ink impressions caused by the sliding of the paper on the printing surface. || ǂ2rbpri||
| Songs || Folger practice: use for written poems that include musical notation, specify a tune, and/or call themselves a song. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Souvenir programs || Use for programs distributed to commemorate a specific event, e.g., the dedication of a monument. Folger practice: use for published souvenirs, even if a specific date or occasion is not mentioned. Subdivide by century only. ||ǂ2rbgenr|| B || G || 
| Stage props || Folger practice: use for movable physical objects used on a stage set that are not costume or structurally part of the set, such as furnishings, decorations, and objects held or touched by actors. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Subscription lists (Publishing) || AAT scope: Lists or records of subscriptions and subscribers. || ǂ2rbpub ||
| Surveys (documents) || Documentation of examinations or inspections conducted in order to achieve a comprehensive view, as of a place, a group of related items, or to ascertain condition or value. For detailed lists of items on hand, or of items in a given category, use "inventories." For sets of questions submitted to a number of persons to obtain information, use "questionnaires." || ǂ2aat ||
 
[GenreFormTerms#L][L]]  [[GenreFormTerms#M][M]]  [[GenreFormTerms#N][N]]  [[GenreFormTerms#O][O]]  [[GenreFormTerms#P][P]]  Q  [[GenreFormTerms#R][R]]  [[GenreFormTerms#S][S]]  [[GenreFormTerms#T][T]]  [[GenreFormTerms#U][U]] [[GenreFormTerms#V][V]] [[GenreFormTerms#W][W]] 
 
---++ T
| Telegrams || Messages sent by telegraph. UF Cablegrams|| ǂ2aat ||
| Textbooks || AAT scope: Books used as standard works for the formal study of a particular subject. _UF Instruction books_ || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
| Tickets || Slips of paper, cardboard, or other material used for admission or passage. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Ties (Binding)| AAT scope for ties (fasteners): Cords, bands, or similar flexible devices used for fastening, especially by interlacing, such as in a knot or bow. Folger practice: Use whenever there is evidence of original ties on bindings, even if now missing. || ǂ2rbbin || B M ||
| Title pages || Pages bearing the title and usually the names of author and publisher, and date and place of publication of a book, portfolio, or other material. Folger practice: use when cataloging individual title pages in the art collection. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Toy theaters || Toys comprising engravings in miniature of the characters, scenery, stage, and proscenium, either hand-colored or without color for the child to color him- or herself; they were designed to be cut out and mounted on stiff backing such as cardboard or wood ... || ǂ2aat ||
| Translations || AAT scope: Translated versions of a text. || ǂ2rbgenr || B M ||
| Treasure bindings || "Covered with gold and silver, ivories, enamelwork, and gems." -- Needham. UF: Medieval treasure bindings. Folger practice: use for narrow terms Enamel bindings, Ivory bindings, Jewelled bindings, and Silver bindings. || ǂ2rbbin ||
| Treaties || AAT scope: Agreements or contracts made between two or more states, formally signed by duly authorized representatives, and usually ratified by the lawmaking authority of the states, as treaties of peace or alliance, or commercial treaties. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Trial proceedings || Folger practice: Use for official or unofficial written accounts of judicial trials of any kind ||ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Trial proofs || Prints made before the completion of the accepted impression. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
 
---++U
| Underscoring (Provenance) || Folger practice: use for resources that have been underlined in ms. || ǂ2rbprov || B ||
 
---++ V
| _Verses use_ || Poems || ||
| Visiting cards || Small cards bearing a person's name and sometimes address; presented when making a formal social call. May have a portrait, scene, or decoration; may be accompanied by an envelope. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Volvelles || Use for devices, whether individual or in books, consisting of one or more movable circles surrounded by other graduated or figured circles and intended for the calculation of astronomical or other data. || ǂ2rbgenr ||
| Vues d'optique || %PURPLE%Prints intended for viewing through an optical system such as a zogroscope that enhances the effect of perspective. Because the viewing device included a mirror, the lettering and image are usually laterally reversed. Common in the late 1700s in Europe for peep shows. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
 
---++ W
| Warrants || AAT scope: Documents giving authority to do something; especially used in civil and criminal law for the arrest of persons or for their production in court as witnesses. Folger practice: Most commonly used for documents authorizing payment || ǂ2aat ||
| Watch papers || Circular papers used to ensure a tight fit between inner and outer cases of a pocket watch. Often contain watchmaker's or watch owner's name. ||ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Watercolors || Use for Watercolor drawings and Watercolor paintings. || ǂ2gmgpc ||
| Watermarks (Paper) || Use for any pattern in the paper which appears when the paper is held up to the light, and light shines through because the paper is thinner where the pattern is formed. Terms listed here are general designations of types of watermarks, and do not indicate specific shapes or patterns, which can be described in notes in the cataloguing record. Libraries may wish to sub- divide the general term Watermarks by the images they portray. For example: 655 Watermarks (Paper) ǂx Lion.  Folger practice: use when the item being cataloged is a watermark. || ǂ2 rbpap ||
| Wedding books || Use for works which recount and depict nuptial festivities and events, chiefly of royalty, nobility, or famous persons, and which may also include literary works offered to the principals, such as epithalamia or the Italian "per le nozze." || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
| Wills || Legal instruments in which a person declares the disposition of his/her property, to take effect after his/her death, and which is revocable during the lifetime of that person. || ǂ2aat ||
| Writing books || Use for books which provide instruction in handwriting or penmanship. || ǂ2rbgenr || B ||
| Writing tables (Paper) || Use for paper or vellum treated to enable erasure and intended for use with a metal stylus. || ǂ2rbpap ||
 
 
|}
 
[[Category:Cataloging]]
[[Category:Staff policies and procedures]]

Latest revision as of 13:50, 30 September 2024

Genre/form terms in catalog records describe what an item is (or contains), not what it is about. Genre corresponds roughly to the intellectual content of what is being described: for example, almanacs, depositions, plays, and poems. Form corresponds with physical characteristics. For instance, this catalog record for two copies of a 1635 edition of Sternhold and Hopkins Whole booke of Psalmes has been assigned the genre terms Psalters, Adaptations, Miniature books, and Printing privileges, and the form term Embroidered bindings. In practice, "genres" and "forms" overlap, so the MARC cataloging standard uses the same field for both (the MARC 655 Genre/Form field).

Genre and form in library catalogs

Catalogers use controlled vocabularies to ensure that terminology is more or less the same between different institutions, or can be cross-walked to equivalent terms when sharing data. But as the saying goes, "the great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from."

Guidance for Folger catalogers can be found in the Folgerpedia article "MARC 655 Index Term - Genre/Form"; the general order of vocabulary preference is:

Form subdivisions also appear at the end of a subject heading, though this practice has largely been replaced by separate Genre/Form terms. At the Folger, these include, for example:

  • -- Early works to 1800 (material about the named subject that is pre-1801)
  • -- Manuscripts (material about the named subject that is manuscript rather than printed)
  • -- Pictorial works (material about the named subject that is primarily pictorial rather than verbal)

Searching genre/form terms in the catalog

The Folger catalog has several built-in ways to search for items by their genre and form.

  • Begin a search then narrow your search results using the checkboxes in the Genre/form facet in the left-hand side bar (on a mobile device or narrow screen, use the “Options” button to reveal the facets).
  • Type genreform: immediately before a keyword search in the main search box (remember to use quotation marks around phrases). For example:
  • Follow the Advanced Search link near the bottom of the catalog's landing page and select "genre/form (what it is)" from the drop-down menus next to any of the three search boxes. You can search by genre/form alone, or combine it with other searches.
  • Follow the Browse records link near the bottom of the catalog's landing page and select "genre/form (what it is)" then hit the "Search" button to browse an alphabetical list.