11. Audiobooks, Subject Headings (Sound Recordings, RDA)

Audiobooks

Audiobooks are abridged or unabridged sound recordings of printed works read by single or multiple speakers. Scope note: "This heading is used as a genre/form heading for recordings of oral readings of books."

MARC tagging: use 655 _7 ‡a Audiobooks. ‡2 lcgft

Punctuation note: period at the end of ‡a; no period after lcgft.

Although not entirely clear from the scope note, since compilations are considered to be works in RDA, it should be OK to assign Audiobooks to a compilation of poems or short stories never collected previously in printed form. Restricting Audiobooks to audio expressions of works first appearing in print does not seem like a useful distinction.

Generally do not apply the Audiobooks heading to recordings of dramatic performances (including monologues, radio plays, and performances of stage plays). Assign a specific form/genre topic if available.

In the following examples, bear in mind that LC is working to replace 650s  functioning as genre/forms in literature to 655s. Since 650 can be subdivided geographically, but the 655s are not, it is probably ill-advised to assume current 650s can be converted to 655 willy-nilly prior to any official announcements from DC, since the structure of literature form/genre assignments may change radically. Continue to use currently established 650s if the scope notes indicate they may be used as form/genre access, but expect that in the future many of the examples will need to be modified.

EXAMPLES:

Nasar, Sylvia. A beautiful mind. Assign 655 _7 ‡a Audiobooks. ‡2 lcgft [reading of a printed book]

Milton, John, 1608-1674. Paradise lost. Assign 655 _7 ‡a Audiobooks. ‡2 lcgft [reading of a single poem]

Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860-1904. The cherry orchard. Assign 650 _0 ‡a Radio plays if the play was adapted for radio (or is a recording of a radio performance). If it is just a sound recording of the play (direct to tape or a live recording of a stage performance), Radio plays is not assigned. In either case, 655 _7 ‡a Audiobooks. ‡2 lcgft is not assigned.

Bogosian, Eric. Pounding nails in the floor with my forehead. "Recorded live at the Knitting Factory, New York City, Dec 16-17, 1997." Assign 650 ‡a Monologues, American, NOT 655 _7 ‡a Audiobooks. ‡2 lcgft.

Compare with:

Pryor, Richard. Are you serious? Assign 650 _0 ‡a Stand-up comedy NOT 655 _7 ‡a Audiobooks. ‡2 lcgft 

Cherry, Shai. Introduction to Judaism. (The great courses). No form/genre subject assigned on the LC pre-RDA record, but this is an audio. [recording of lectures]

Voices of the Old West. Assign 650 _0 ‡a Oral history, NOT 655 _7 ‡a Audiobooks. ‡2 lcgft. [collection of interviews]

Thalib, Ja'far Umar. Jihad solusi mengembalikan kewibawaan Islam. Assign 650 _0 ‡a Islamic sermons, Indonesian ‡z Indonesia; 650 _0 ‡a Islamic sermons, Arabic ‡z Indonesia. [sermons in Arabic and Indonesian]

Subject Headings

Subject Cataloging Manual H 2230 Visual Materials and Non-Music Sound Recordings

1.  General rules.  Assign subject headings for all important topics mentioned in the summary statement. 
 
If a specific topic is emphasized in order to illustrate a more general concept, assign subject headings for both the specific and the general topics.
 
Assign form subdivisions only to the extent that such subdivisions are applicable both to print and audiovisual media. 
 

2.  Particular places.  When a topic is discussed in conjunction with a particular place, make, insofar as possible, a subject entry under both the topic and the place.

3.  Particular persons.  When a particular person is treated as illustrative of a profession or activity, assign a heading for both the person and the field of endeavor.  Do not, as a general rule, treat such materials as biographies.

The manual provides examples for all 3 instructions.

Different Manifestations

The following is LC practice. Consider applying a. or b. as appropriate if not too time-consuming.

a.  Audio or visual presentations of published works.  If the contents of the printed edition and the sound recording or visual presentation are the same, the subject cataloging should match, even if it is necessary to assign new, more appropriate headings to the printed edition(s).
 
b.  Identical works in different formats.  A single work is sometimes issued in more than one format, for example, as a motion picture and as a video recording, or as a cassette and as a compact disc.  The subject headings for the work in all formats with records in MARC should match, even if it is necessary to correct the subject headings that were assigned when the work was originally cataloged in another format.