“AACR2 COMPATIBLE” HEADINGS
With the implementation of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2) in 1981, the
Library of Congress implemented a policy of “AACR2 compatible” headings to reduce somewhat the
immense workload of adopting AACR2 and abandoning the policy of superimposition at the same
time. The “AACR2 compatible” headings policy was to retain headings that differed only slightly
from the “pure” AACR2 form such that they would still be easily found by the user. In the continuing
effort to work toward the goal of simplifying or eliminating outdated cataloging policies, practices,
and documentation, the Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO) has recommended and
Acquisition and Bibliographic Access management has approved, the eventual elimination of the
“AACR2 compatible” headings effective August 2007. Although it has always been LC policy when
revising an existing heading for any reason to fully upgrade that heading, the recent policy change
to add death dates to headings has resulted in some uncertainty among catalogers when doing so on
“AACR2 compatible” headings. Many catalogers have used their good judgment when adding the
death date or making other changes to “AACR2 compatible” headings and fully updated the headings
while other catalogers have been uncertain about doing this. This has resulted in a variety of
practices.
To stem the confusion, CPSO has created revised Library of Congress Rule Interpretations
(LCRIs) to replace the current policy with a new, more relaxed policy for dealing with “AACR2
compatible” headings. While the immediate impact of this change will be that some catalogers may
spend more time cleaning up authority and bibliographic records, CPSO believes that this is part of
the cost of doing business in a shared environment.
Benefits
1. While there will continue to be a variety of practices there will be documentation that
clearly states what catalogers must do and what options catalogers may exercise.
2. The authority file eventually will be rid of these “AACR2 compatible” headings.
3. Bibliographic records will be more uniform as the associated bibliographic file
maintenance will lessen the mixture of AACR2 and “AACR2 compatible” headings in the same
record..
4. The new guidelines have removed the information from the LCRIs that only those who
lived through the transition to AACR2 remember, thus simplify the training of new catalogers (PCC
and LC); the eliminated examples of “AACR2 compatible” headings will be posted on the
Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Web site for historical and training purposes.
5. Documentation will be reduced