Anyone have any thoughts for how to catalog in AACR2 or RDA the fact that a novel has been inspired by a work of art? We have an inner and outer sarcophagus of an Egyptian named Pa-debehu-Aset (you can see them at http://magart.rochester.edu/OJB10407 and http://magart.rochester.edu/OJB10408) that has inspired a [self-published] novel, and would like to put links into our online catalog record to the collections database records for the coffins…I’m thinking just a 500 note that would quote the prefatory material that indicates the relationship. Our catalogers shared all sorts of possibilities in RDA, including “based on,” “adapted as a novelization,” and “novelization of”, all from J.3.2, but I’m not sure that any of those quite fit, or that we need anything that specific.
There must be other examples out there. I see that Girl with a Pearl Earring uses the cataloging Vermeer, Johannes, 1632-1675—Fiction. But the problem here is of course that there is no artist name to link the “Fiction” tag to, although we do know the name of the person the coffins were made for (and who presumably was buried in them—no sign of the mummy yet, unfortunately). So perhaps we could use his name followed by the Fiction tag. Currently we’re using Egyptology--United States--Fiction.
Any suggestions welcome!
Lu Harper
Librarian/Webmaster
Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester
http://magart.rochester.edu (collections website)
585.276.8997
Fashioning Kimono: Art Deco and Modernism in Japan
January 31–April 4, 2010
in the Grand Gallery
Rembrandt. Master Etchings from the
Collection of Tobia and Dr. Morton Mower
February 26th to May 23rd, 2010
in the Lockhart Gallery
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