"I cannot wait for the day when (assuming we do implement RDA) instead of a blank template in OCLC that we have to encode in MARC, we get a screen which prompts us to fill in values for RDA elements. Catalogers shouldn't need to know the behind the scenes coding and communication standard, we should just have to supply the metadata. If we need the record to be output in MARC, the system should be able to do that for us. But I hope we will get to the point where we are creating records in OCLC or other systems just by recording data for each core RDA element and for other elements that our communities/cooperative programs/individual agencies/cataloger judgment deems important. Give me check boxes to indicate what types of illustrations the resource has. Let me use identifiers for entities so that I don't have to copy or key long character strings and so if the authorized form of access point for the entity changes, all my records that point to it will automatically get the revised form. Now how do we get OCLC and system vendors to develop these tools? Well we first need to make an implementation decision and then see what we can push for I think."
That would all be great, and I think most of what Adam describes could be delivered by ILS vendors today or at least very soon. And that's the significant doubt I have about it: nothing has been keeping ILS vendors from creating more advanced systems other than perhaps their security in the idea that they don't have to make the effort to stay in business. We should indeed see what we can push for. If adopting RDA facilitates making ILS vendors responsive, so much the better, but up to now they haven't shown a great deal of interest in quantum improvements. Also: "assuming we do implement RDA"? Can anyone imagine a cataloging world post-non-implementation? Regardless of any amount of sentiment against RDA, I have a hard time imagining those who have worked so hard for so long to make RDA a reality accepting a decision not to implement. Perhaps my belief that it is not a done deal is faltering. Mike Tribby Senior Cataloger Quality Books Inc. The Best of America's Independent Presses mailto:mike.tri...@quality-books.com
