[78-L] Schwann Catalog(ue)s

[Michael Biel]

The librarians over on the ARSC-List would more likely give you the 
answers according to catalog rules, I can tell you that even with the 
variations you list below, you have just scratched the surface of the 
different publication names they used.  In some cases they are in a 
continuity where the new name just superseedes the old, but then they 
started having many parallel simultaneous publications, of which you 
only include a few, like Opus.  At the very end around 2001 they had 
parallel to Opus: Spectrum, Artist Issue, and Popular, and they also had 
a monthly magazine in the 1990s.  But what will be most disturbing to 
you is that the publication  was originally simply titled "Long Playing 
Record Catalog" and that the only place the name Schwann shows up is as 
the publisher and copyright name, W. Schwann.  I don't have handy the 
manuscript of my history of Schwann which I presented at ARSC in Austin, 
Texas in 2005 where I noted exactly when the name change happened, but 
from the catalogs I have here, the change came between the April 1952 
and May 1953 issues.  It was about that time when "The Long Player" 
catalog came out in competition.  (I have a nearly complete set of these 
and "Jazz and Pops" in bound volumes.  I have at least one per year of 
Schwann till 1958 when I am about 75% complete, although I have a lot of 
holes in my Schwann Supplementary/Schwann 2 holdings.)

As a user I feel that it is absolutely necessary that the catalog show 
the EXACT title that is on the publication because they ARE different 
once you get into the parallel publications.  Although once they get 
into the supplementary split it is necessary to use these in conjunction 
with the main issue, I shelve them separately, partially because they 
have different time periods -- the main is monthly and the supplementary 
is quarterly or semi-annually (although it should have been the 
opposite!!!)  This would match your listing below.  BUT it can't be done 
alphabetically, it needs to be done chronologically.  There are 
difficulties such as where to put the split-offs and the several times 
they re-joined or unified them back together again. And then there are 
the tiny occasionals such as the Childrens and Country and Western 
catalogs!

SO, I think you are going about it correctly thus far.  I would have an 
umbrella heading in the listing of "Schwann Long Playing Record Catalog" 
and the note [Published under various titles.]  Some libraries try to 
note the full publishing periods for each name and then show "Library 
has:"  This might help if you get this info once you are further along.  
R&H might have the most complete collection and is where I got some of 
the name changes in the gaps of my holdings.  I have some of the changes 
in my narrative, and now I see that I really need to go back to it and 
rewrite it as a Journal article.  (Oy vey, another project!  Just what I 
needed!)

Hope this helps.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbieol.com



On 8/16/2011 10:33 AM, D P Ingram wrote:
> Hi.
>
> We are needing to index a few Schwann catalogues and whilst it is no problem entering the data, I am wondering about the "index" data.
>
> I.e. we have a "title" title (examples given below) which is more unique based on the actual title, year etc, but have a separate "index" title that would be used to allow an automated link be generated so that similar "in the series" can be viewed, just as you would do for say ARSC journal, so it might be ARSC JOURNAL - YYYYMMDD and thus one can automate the search by the date.
>
> But Schwann titles seem to vary, also by title, which is understandable.
>
> The question is, as a user, would "lumping" all the Schwann's together be a "problem" from a user experience perspective, or are there clear "lines" i.e. the classical opus might be different to the record/cds one. Ideally we want to keep it sweet and simple, but....
>
> Here is a quick extract of a few of the Schwann's indexed to date:
>
> Schwann Long Playing Record Catalog - Vol. 6 No. 10 - October 1954
> Schwann Long Playing Record Catalog - Vol. 6 No. 12 - December 1954
> Schwann Long Playing Record Catalog - Vol. ? No. 11 - November 1968
> Schwann Record&  Tape Guide - No. 10 - October 1971
> Schwann Records Tapes - No. 4 - April 1975
> Schwann - 1 Record&  Tape Guide - Vol. 29 No. 11 - November 1977
> Schwann - 1 Record&  Tape Guide - Vol. 30 No. 10 - October 1978
> Schwann Records Tapes - No. 7 - July 1980
> The New Schwann February 1986 150 New Compact Disks. No 2
> Schwann - Vol. 41 No. 4 - Fall 1989
> Schwann Cd - Vol. 4 No. 1 - January 1989
> Schwann Cd - Vol. 4 No. 5 - May 1989
> Schwann Cd - Vol. 4 No. 7 - July 1998
> Schwann Opus - Vol. 1 No. 1 - Spring 1990
> Schwann Opus - Vol. 4 No. 1 - Winter 1992/1993
> Schwann Opus - Vol. 4 No. 4 - Fall 1993
> Schwann Opus - Vol. 5 No. 2 - Spring 1994
> Schwann Opus - Vol. 5 No. 4 - Fall 1994
> Schwann Opus - Vol. 6 No. 1 - Winter 1994/95
>
> So it seems that there are several "series" but is it "acceptable" to lump them together ? If not, how does the common view suggest we could "part organise" them?
>
> I am guessing "Schwann Artist Issue - 14th Ed." would be something different too.
>
> Any insight from the North American list members in particular welcome.
>
> Thanks, Darren
>