Opportunities and Challenges Of Cataloging Soviet Materials Of the Margarita Mazo Collection

Abstract

Cook Music Library at Indiana University recently acquired the collection of internationally known Russian ethnomusicologist Margarita Mazo, professor emerita at Ohio State University and renowned scholar of vernacular traditions, classical music, and musical life in the Soviet Union. Her collection comprises 1,350 books and 350 music scores—most of which were published in the U.S.S.R. between 1950 and 1990—and includes many unique items. Processing this collection has entailed searching, enhancing, and creating bibliographic and authority records as well as proposing Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms and LC Medium of Performance Terms. We have identified recurring issues in the bibliographic records of materials published in languages spoken in the Soviet Union such as improperly applied subject headings, genre/form terms, LC call numbers, Romanization practices, and understanding the format of materials. We will discuss the opportunities and challenges we have encountered while cataloging this collection.