I wouldn't mind if Mr. Brenndorfer developed such a handbook either!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Adam L. Schiff
Principal Cataloger
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA 98195-2900
(206) 543-8409
(206) 685-8782 fax
asch...@u.washington.edu
http://faculty.washington.edu/~aschiff
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Wed, 16 Mar 2011, Arakawa, Steven wrote:

Or, wait for "Maxwell's handbook for RDA." I'm sure there will be a market for 
a how-to book or books for libraries that only need to perform original cataloging once 
in a while, and there will be plenty of lead time to develop such a text. As Mike 
implies, there will undoubtedly be a long transition period before everyone is on board. 
I wouldn't be shocked to learn that even today some records are being contributed to OCLC 
that are not based on the most current version of AACR2. At the same time, if one wants 
to participate in an online discussion about the rules themselves, I agree with Adam that 
the current iteration needs to be referenced. I think this thread is mixing up different 
needs.

Steven Arakawa
Catalog Librarian for Training & Documentation
Catalog & Metadata Services, SML, Yale University
P.O. Box 208240 New Haven, CT 06520-8240 
(203)432-8286 steven.arak...@yale.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access 
[mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA] On Behalf Of Mike Tribby
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 3:18 PM
To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA
Subject: Re: [RDA-L] "actual RDA"

I wrote:
So far we at QBI are leaning toward utilizing Mac's cheat sheets.

To which Adam Schiff replied:
"Which were put together based on drafts that might not represent the final 
published instructions.  I haven't compared them to see if they accurately reflect 
the current RDA, but users of them should proceed with caution.
They also won't be able to be kept current if Mac does not have the RDA Toolkit 
available.  It's also highly likely that there will be further RDA revisions as a result 
of the U.S. RDA test, and any such revisions would need to be taken into consideration 
when creating "cheat sheets."
Information on the current pricing of the RDA Toolkit and the print version is 
available at http://www.rdatoolkit.org/pricing";

Thanks for all the cautionary verbiage, Adam, but as you may have noted I also 
said that not a single customer of ours has expressed any interest, positive or 
negative, in RDA. Moreover we, like many libraries and other cataloging 
agencies, are not in a position to afford the subscription and, as you and 
others have made abundantly clear, the print version will never be current for 
very long at a time whenever one might purchase it.

I don't think smaller libraries and cataloging operations were targeted for 
disenfranchisement by the backers of RDA, but I do think that to varying degrees 
disenfranchisement will result. I would be interested in hearing what remedies--other 
than buy the printed version and hope--RDA enthusiasts would offer us. It seems obvious 
that in the planning and creating of RDA the emphasis would be on getting it right rather 
than planning for the have-nots who will always exist regardless of what initiative is 
undertaken. If all cataloging matters were held up until all cataloging agencies were in 
a position to participate fully, no initiatives could ever be successfully undertaken. 
When we get to the end of the adoption consideration process, it will be interesting to 
see what suggestions are made for non-adopters, if any are. So far it seems to pretty 
much be: "Go fish."



Mike Tribby
Senior Cataloger
Quality Books Inc.
The Best of America's Independent Presses

mailto:mike.tri...@quality-books.com

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