I guess I still fail to see why RDA should not be concerned with access point construction. RDA is all about--repeat, ALL ABOUT--creating bibliographic metadata that can be used as widely as possible, with the primary environment being the library world. How that goal can possibly be met without explicit instructions on creation of access points is just beyond me. If I'm missing something crucial, please enlighten me.
Kevin M. Randall Principal Serials Cataloger Bibliographic Services Dept. Northwestern University Library 1970 Campus Drive Evanston, IL 60208-2300 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone: (847) 491-2939 fax: (847) 491-4345 From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Damian Iseminger Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 2:06 PM To: RDA-L@INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA Subject: Re: [RDA-L] RDA comments My point, which I inelegantly phrased in the quoted sentence below, is that perhaps RDA should not be concerned with how the access point is constructed, but rather that an access point exists. In a shared environment, I agree that we do need standards for construction. I just think that maybe those standards could be issued by affected groups instead of being mandated in RDA. For example, OCLC could say that access points should be constructed by a certain set of standards in order to contribute or the PCC would mandate that access points be constructed in a certain way in order to be a member. I realize that maybe RDA has a role to play by recommending best practices for access point construction, but I don't think it should be the final word. There are other possibilities out there. Damian Iseminger
