Cataloging Versions of Classic Works
Descriptive Cataloging | Children’s and Young Adults’ Cataloging Program (CYAC)
When works are published in many versions, such as classic folktales and fairy tales or classic works of children's literature with an author (Hans Christian Andersen, for example), a three-level system of identifying them is used to help determine what cataloging treatment to give them. The three levels are defined in the table below.
| Level 1 | The original story or work, or a translation thereof. | |
| Level 2 | 2 | A retelling of the story or work in a simplified form but containing the basic plot elements of the original. |
| 2a | A retelling of the original story or tale where there is no original author, such as Baba Yaga set in the southwest, or Beauty and the Beast illustrated by Paul Zelinsky. | |
| 2b | A retelling of a story or tale as it appeared in a movie. All the Disney books that are tie-ins to the animated movies, such as Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are included. | |
| Level 3 | A "character spin-off" of the original work, featuring characters from the original story or movie to tell a new, different story that is unrelated to the original. | |
Cataloging Treatment
Once the cataloging level is ascertained, the following are added to regular CYAC cataloging. Examples appear below the table.
| Level
1 |
The primary access point is the original author (i.e. Hans Christian Andersen) or the preferred title in the original language of the work. | |
| Level 2. | 2a | For versions of classic folktales, the adapter or reteller and title of the book are used as primary access point entry and title proper. An added entry is made, with MARC tag 730, with the preferred title for the classic work established from English language reference sources, followed by the language of the work in hand (English, usually). The cataloger will search the name authority file to see if a name authority record exists for the preferred title, established in the form found in English language reference sources (ex: Snow White and the seven dwarfs not Schneewittchen). If so, that preferred title is used for the additional access point. If not, the cataloger will make the name authority record and add the preferred title to the work being cataloged. If the original collector or compiler (ex: Grimm) is named prominently in the work, an additional access point is made for him/her as well. For versions of literary classics which have an author (e.g. Alice in Wonderland, The Hunchback of Notre Dame), a name-title access point is given for the original work rather than a preferred title added entry. |
| 2b | For books that are basically retellings of movie versions of a work, the descriptive cataloger makes a preferred title additional access point (730) for the movie title, (ex. Disney's Beauty and the Beast). | |
| Level
3 |
There will be no additional access points linking the book to the original story or movie since these books are so far removed from the original that it would be misleading. Moreover, most of these books have in the title or somewhere else prominently, the name of the movie, which would be reflected in the descriptive cataloging, often in title fields (245, 246), which are searchable. | |
CATALOGING EXAMPLES
Level 1
130 0# $a Bremer Stadtmusikanten. $l English.
245 14 $a The Bremen Town musicians / $c the Brothers Grimm ; illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger ; translated by Anthea Bell.
Level 2a
100 1# $a Askew, Amanda.
245 10 $a Cinderella / $c adapted by Amanda Askew ; illustrated by Marsela Hajdinjak.
730 0# $a Cinderella. $l English.
100 1# $a Baicker, Karen.
245 14 $a The fisherman and his wife : $b a tale about being satisfied / $c retold by Karen Baicker ; illustrated by Len Ebert.
500 $a "Based on the original story by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm."
700 1# $a Grimm, Jacob, $d 1785-1863.
700 1# $a Grimm, Wilhelm, $d 1786-1859.
100 2# $a Wynne-Jones, Tim.
245 14 $a The Hunchback of Notre Dame / $c by Victor Hugo ; retold by Tim Wynne-Jones ; illustrated by Bill Slavin.
700 1# $a Hugo, Victor, $d 1802-1885. $t Notre-Dame de Paris.
Level 2b
100 1# $a Margulies, Teddy Slater.
245 10 $a Walt Disney’s Snow White and the seven dwarfs / $c story adapted by Teddy Slater Margulies ; illustrated by Guell.
730 0# $a Snow White and the seven dwarfs (Motion picture)
Level 3
100 1# $a Levine, Gail Carson.
245 10 $a Betsy Red Hoodie / $c by Gail Carson Levine ; illustrated by Scott Nash.
100 10 $a Lewis, Zo¨e.
245 10 $a Disney's Beauty and the beast teacup mix-up : $b a sorting book / $c by Zo¨e Lewis ; illustrated by Phil Wilson.
