L-30. Rare Book Cataloging
Deborah J. Leslie
Assisted by Amy Tims (1–6 June) & Jessica Grzegorski (20–25 July)
“Every single day was as useful and relevant as the last. I’m walking away not only a better, ‘sleeker’ cataloger, but an inspired one as well!” — 2017 student
Course Length: 30 hours
Course Weeks: 1–6 June 2025; 20–25 July 2025
Format: in person, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA
Fee: $1,495
Aimed at catalogers who find that their present duties include (or shortly will include) the cataloging of books in their rare materials or special collections and want to be trained in applying Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books). Emphasis will be on books of the hand-press era, with some consideration of nineteenth- and twentieth-century books in special collections. Topics include:
- application of codes and standards, especially DCRM(B)
- transcription, collation, and physical description
- concepts of edition, impression, issue, state
- genre/form terms, relationship designators, other special files
- copy-specific description
- cataloging policy in institutional contexts
This course is restricted to working catalogers experienced in AACR2 and/or RDA and MARC 21, and general cataloging principles and practices. No prior knowledge of early books is necessary. The goal of the course is to provide instruction and practice in each of the primary elements of the rare book catalog record, so that students will be equipped to catalog their institution’s rare books and special collections materials to national standards. Please note that this course covers printed monographs only—not serials, manuscripts, maps, music, graphics, or scrapbooks.
Special note on RDA: Instruction in this course will be on DCRM(B)—both classic (based on AACR2, as published) and RDA-compliant (as amended by the PCC Bibliographic Standard Record). Please also note that, although Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (RDA Edition) has been published, for the time being this course will continue to use DCRM(B) as the standard, until the Library of Congress and the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) have fully implemented the Official RDA toolkit.
Admission criteria include:
- sound knowledge of standard cataloging principles and practices, demonstrated by the bibliographic sample records
- practical experience with AACR2 or RDA records in the MARC format, demonstrated by the sample records and detailed in the personal statement
- relevance of the course to the applicant’s current or immediately forthcoming position and duties, as articulated in the personal statement. Include a brief description of the types, languages, and date range of materials that the applicant expects to catalog using DCRM(B)
To apply: In their personal statement, applicants should describe their experience producing AACR2/RDA MARC cataloging, and provide a brief description of the types, languages, and date range of materials they expect to catalog with DCRM(B). In addition, applicants are required to submit three typical bibliographic records of materials they are currently cataloging, preferably of modern books. The submissions may be original or copy cataloging; if the latter, please submit before-and-after versions. The three bibliographic records should be combined and submitted as a single PDF.
Format attached filenames following the these guidelines:
- personal statement as <LastName>-<FirstInitial>-<course#> (e.g., Lion-R-L30)
- bibliographic records as <LastName>-<FirstInitial>-<course#>-records (e.g., Lion-R-L30-records).
Please note that this course will be offered twice in 2026 (2-7 June and 5-10 July). If you are applying for both, please submit a separate application for each session, and add a line at the beginning of your personal statement identifying your session preference, if any.
Course History
Faculty
Deborah J. Leslie
Deborah J. Leslie is Senior Cataloger at the Folger Shakespeare Library, before which she held positions as Rare Book Cataloger at Yale University and the Library Company of Philadelphia. She chaired the RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee (BSC) from 2001 to 2007 and was Chief Editor of Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books), as well as serving as an advisor for Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Serials) and Chair of the DCRM Steering Group. She was a member of the ACRL/RBMS Descriptive Cataloging for Rare Materials Task Force (2014–17), the RDA Steering Committee Rare Materials Working Group (2016–19), and is currently active on the BSC’s RBMS RDA Editorial Group (2019–). In addition to giving presentations and workshops on rare book cataloging in the United States and abroad, Leslie served on the faculties of the California Rare Book School and the Australasian Rare Book Summer School. Her primary faculty affiliation is with Rare Book School at UVA; since 1998, she has taught more than 35 week-long courses in basic and advanced rare book cataloging to nearly 400 students.
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