Riley, Jenn wrote:
OK, but you need to take that a step further - what exactly is it that users of some type we care about can do because a record is "accurate" or "thorough" that they can't do if it's not? (What does "thorough" mean anyways? The record doesn't say the book is blue. Isn't that missing information? Couldn't you say the record is then not "thorough"? Well, yes, but what purpose does it serve and do we care about that purpose to the degree that we'll put money behind it? These are the discussions we need to have.)
Let me give an example that I think fits this discussion. I have done some reading of the RDA documents, and when I get to a rule that doesn't immediately strike me as obvious I wonder: why? Why is is the rule? And the answers are not included in the cataloging rules, which I find frustrating. (Of course, then they'd be about 4,000 pages long...) As a simple example, I've been going around asking people this question: Why do libraries not use title case for titles? I've never gotten the same answer twice. This is something that we've done for decades (I haven't found the first time that rule was given -- somewhere between Cutter and AACRI). Presumably we do this to make something better, but what is that thing? Here are some of the answers I have gotten: - It's the same as all of the citation rules (no, it's not; some use title case for journal titles, but sentence case for article and book titles). - It's easier than following the title page title (? easier? You have to figure out which are the proper names, and in multiple languages) - It makes for more uniform display in the catalog (this one makes sense, but to me isn't a deal breaker) So here's something very basic and very simple, and all I want to do is connect to a reason that "facilitates access to materials." Once we figure out that reason we can also begin to think about "is it worth the effort?" kc -- ----------------------------------- Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kcoyle.net ph.: 510-540-7596 skype: kcoylenet fx.: 510-848-3913 mo.: 510-435-8234 ------------------------------------
