GENERAL INTRODUCTION

0.1.

These rules aim to provide a consistent and common foundation for the description of archival material based on traditional archival principles. The rules can be applied to the description of archival fonds, series, collections, and discrete items. The application of the rules will result in descriptions for archival material at various levels, e.g., fonds, series, file, and item levels, and will aid in the construction or compilation of finding aids of all kinds. The rules cover the description of, and the provision of access points for, all forms of material, e.g., text, graphic material, moving images, commonly found in Canadian archives at the present time. The integrated structure of the text makes the general rules usable as a basis for the description of uncommon material and material yet unknown.

In accordance with the recommendations made by the Canadian Working Group on Archival Descriptive Standards in Toward Descriptive Standards,¹ and the decision of the Planning Committee on Descriptive Standards of the Bureau of Canadian Archivists to make the rules compatible with the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, second edition (1988 revision)² the rules extend its provisions and translate its language and terminology so as to make it usable for archivists and archival repositories and can be used independently.

Accordingly, the style used in the rules complies with the prescriptions of the Anglo- American Cataloguing Rules and, therefore, is in accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style³ and for spellings with Webster’s New International Dictionary.⁴

Where Webster’s gives as a permitted alternative a British spelling (e.g., catalogue, centre), it has been used in the rules; where the American usage is the only one specified (e.g., capitalize), it has been used in the rules. As in AACR2, agreement on terminology has similarly resulted sometimes in the use of an American term (e.g., membership in) and sometimes in as British term (e.g., full stop).

(0.1. and 0.2.)

STRUCTURE OF THE RULES

0.2.

Although most archivists start to gather information about the material to be described during the accessioning process, the rules assume that the material already has been examined, arranged, and the information necessary for description compiled. The rules are, therefore, most usefully applied at the stage when arrangement has been completed and formal description starts.

Part I deals with the provision of information describing the material itself and part II deals with the determination and establishment of headings (access points) under which the descriptive information is to be presented and with the making of references to those headings. The rules define and standardize the description of archival material and their application will result in finding aids of various kinds. The format for the presentation of particular finding aids is a matter of institutional policy and will depend on the type and purpose of the finding aid being prepared.

The introductions to these rules are part of the rules and are numbered accordingly.

(0.3.)

0.3.

In both parts the rules proceed from the general to the specific. In part I the specificity relates to the broad class of material being described, e.g., text, graphic material, sound recordings, moving images, to the level of detail required for each element of the description, and to the analysis of the parts of the unit being described, e.g., series, file(s), item(s).

(0.4.)

ACCESS POINTS

0.4.

In part II the rules are based on the proposition that one or more provenance, author and/or non-subject access points are chosen to make accessible units of material at various levels of description.

(0.5.

ALTERNATIVES AND OPTIONS

0.5.

Some rules are designed as alternative rules or as optional additions, and some other rules or parts of rules are introduced by optionally. These provisions arise from the recognition that different solutions to a problem and differing levels of detail and specificity are appropriate in different contexts. Decide some alternatives and options as a matter of description policy for a particular finding aid or institution and, therefore, exercise them either always or never. Exercise other alternatives and options case by case. All institutions should distinguish between these two types of option and keep a record of their policy decisions and of the circumstances in which a particular option may be applied.

(0.7.)

0.6.

The word prominently (used in such phrases as prominently named and stated prominently) means that a statement to which it applies must be a formal statement found in, or on, one of the prescribed sources of information (see 1.0A) for areas 1 and 2 for the broad class of material to which the unit being described belongs.

(0.8.)

0.7.

The rules recognize the necessity for judgement and interpretation on the part of both the person who performs the description and the institution responsible for it. Such judgement and interpretation may be based on the requirements of a particular finding aid or upon the use of the material being described. The need for judgement is indicated in these rules by words and phrases such as if appropriate, important, and if necessary. Such words and phrases indicate recognition of the fact that uniform legislation for all types and sizes of finding aids is neither possible nor desirable, and encourage institutions to develop a description policy based on specific local knowledge. This statement in no way contradicts the value of standardization. Apply such judgement consistently within a particular context and record the institution’s policy.

(0.9.)

APPENDICES

0.8.

Matters of general application (abbreviations, capitalization, and the treatment of numerals) are dealt with in appendices. The instructions given in those appendices are rules and must be applied consistently. A glossary is given as the final appendix.

(0.10.)

STYLE

0.9.

In matters of style not covered by the rules and appendices (e.g., matters of punctuation other than prescribed punctuation), follow the Chicago Manual of Style.

(0.11.)

LANGUAGE PREFERENCES

0.10.

The rules contain some instances in which a decision is made on the basis of language and in which English is preferred. Users of the rules who do not use English as their working language should replace the specified preference for English by a preference for their working language. Authorized translations will do the same.

(0.12.)

0.11.

The ALA/LC romanization tables6 are used in examples in which romanization occurs. This usage is based on the recognition that these tables are used by the overwhelming majority of archival institutions and libraries in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Authorized translations will, in examples, substitute romanizations derived from the standard romanization tables prevailing in institutions in the countries or areas for which the translation is intended.

(0.13.)

EXAMPLES

0.12.

The examples used throughout these rules are illustrative and not prescriptive. That is, they illuminate the provisions of the rule to which they are attached, rather than extend those provisions. Do not take the examples or the form in which they are presented as instructions unless specifically told to do so by the accompanying text.

Examples often have explanatory notes in italics added to them. Do not confuse them with notes to be added to the description by the person who prepares the description, i.e., the archivist (see 1.8). In part I of the rules, a note to be added to the description is indicated in the examples by Note. Do not add this word to the actual description.

(0.14.)

Merriam-Webster ; Harlow, Essex : Distributed by Longman Group, c1986.