Supplement: BRBL Guidelines

This manual outlines local decisions of the Beinecke Archival Description Unit for cataloging manuscript and archives collections coded as record type p in Yale’s online catalog. This manual conforms to and is used in conjunction with Yale Library’s Manuscript and Archives Collection Cataloging Guidelines. Consult the Yale-wide Guidelines first and refer to this manual for Beinecke Archival Description Unit decisions about local practice and additional descriptive options.

A longer version of this manual, Orbis Cataloging Manual: Mixed Materials Format, served as a basis for creation of Yale’s Manuscript Cataloging Guidelines in 2006. A revision of Manuscript Unit cataloging documentation in 2011 eliminated information duplicated in the Yale-wide Guidelines, integrated new local cataloging decisions, and simplified the format to support use as a supplement to the Yale-wide Guidelines. Instructions for single items were revised in compliance with Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Manuscripts) (DCRM(MSS)) in 2017.  In 2021, the manual was migrated from SharePoint to the Yale Sites platform.  After the migration, unit cataloging coordinator Stephanie Bredbenner revised and streamlined the manuals and added appendices for the visual materials, music, and cartographic cataloging manuals, which were previously maintained on the Manuscript Unit Sharepoint site. The manual was updated in 2024 and migrated to Confluence to reflect changes in unit and staff names and responsibilities and to remove single manuscript cataloging instructions, which are now maintained by the Beinecke Bibliographic Description Unit.