LC does not classify fiction films. Nancy Olson's Cataloging of audiovisual materials (4th ed., 1998, p. 55) recommends PN1995.9 <class number for special topics in motion pictures, cuttered to topic>. The advantages of PN1995.9 are that all fiction films are not placed under one number; and that these films are arranged by genre. The advantages of PN1997 are that all fiction films can be placed under one number without further classification decisions (useful for copy cataloging workflow), and that Yale's collection of published screenplays and criticism and interpretation is relatively large and classes these works under PN1997. For research purposes it is useful to have the video, the screenplay, & the criticism kept together in the shelflist. However, it should be noted that there is no guarantee that copy catalogers will necessarily use the same base cutter number with any consistency.
Decisions:
1) Use PN1997/PN1997.2 rather than PN1995.9 to class fiction films.
2) For workflow purposes, the video will be cuttered only to title; no attempt should be made to determine or add a second "main entry," "author," or "production company" cutter.
3) For the video, add a format term to the end of the PN1997/PN1997.2 call number to distinguish the video number from the number assigned to the screenplay. Authorized terms: DVD or VHS.
Note: Decision to use VHS (instead of Video) because VHS is used as the format term in CHRON for videocassettes as accompanying material, as well as in the Item Statistical Category list, and because it is not always clear whether "video" applies solely to the analog (videocassette) format or to both the analog and digital (DVD) formats. VHS will not be further differentiated for PAL or SECAM. Should we ever obtain Beta or U-Matic videocassettes, or Laserdiscs, we will use those specific format terms.