First-Timer MARC Issues

Working on a few initial descriptive cataloging exercises, the questions are compounding daily. There seem to be so many grey areas that require judgement calls by a cataloger. I can't see how anyone can ever reach "expert" status, because so much seems open for debate. No wonder MARC cataloging is such a hot issue in the library profession right now.

One issue I've run into deals with the 260 tag. The place of publication is the first, "a" subfield and being such pretty well requires an entry of something. The options are to enter the actual place of publication, if you are so lucky to have one clearly represented on the title page (chief source) or verso of the title page. Or it appears you can enter an [S.l] to represent an unknown place of publication. Being the obsessive-compulsive person that I am, I feel that something is better than nothing. I did have the publisher name, which included a physical address. So I decided to place the publisher's city in brackets in subfield a with a question mark at the end (i.e. $a [Worthington, Ohio?].

I guess the ultimate question is: is it better to input some information, even if identifying it as questionable? Or better to simply input the [S.l.] until better evidence can be found to identify the publisher's place of location?

Issue two deals generally with sound and video recordings. This whole "title main" thing is really giving me fits (trying to differentiate between major and minor contributors--such as composers vs. performers). I've seen so many variations. One specific exercise dealt with a cd of Brahms compositions performed by several individuals. I did not include 1xx tags for this; instead, I input a 245 (title main?) entry. I could not figure out what to put for 245's subfield c statement of responsibility, though. Does one performer's name go there (there were more than four)? The distribution company? I ultimately decided to put "performances of Brahms compositions. Further 505 and 700 tags gave the exact performer names.

And don't even get me started on the 007 tag right now!!!