I'm wondering where to send questions about RDA examples that I believe
need changing.

Under 19.2.1.3 (Recording Creators), in the Examples of "Two or More
Persons, Families, or Corporate Bodies Responsible for the Creation of the
Work Performing Different Roles" we find "Snoopy, Dr." listed as the author
of a work, with Charles Schulz as the illustrator. The Snoopy choice is
suspect to me for various reasons. Leaving aside the philosophical problems
of creating "person" entries for fictitious characters, my problems are
twofold.

First, I've read that "Dr." will no longer be allowed, under RDA, to
disambiguate headings. So perhaps the heading should be "Snoopy, Doctor".

Except that--as a second consideration--if we're going to go ahead and
create a record for Snoopy, wouldn't it make more sense to create a generic
one? That way, if we have a military manual by Captain Snoopy later, or a
philosophical treatise by Professor Snoopy, we won't need to create new
Snoopy headings, or be forced to use the "Dr." one everywhere. Particularly
since a fictitious character can't actually BE a doctor, etc., it seems
foolish to qualify things this way. And if these will be replacing subject
headings, as the LCPS for RDA 9.0 seems to imply, it would behoove us to
make the headings as generic as possible, so that books about Snoopy don't
have to be about "Snoopy, Dr."

So, I would suggest the entry by changed to simply "Snoopy", as I doubt
there is an authority conflict. Who do I need to send my arguments to?
Thanks in advance for information and help, or for alternate opinions if
there are any.

Deborah Tomaras, NACO Coordinator
Librarian II
Western European Languages Team
New York Public Library
Library Services Center
31-11 Thomson Ave.
Long Island City, N.Y. 11101
(917) 229-9561
dtoma...@nypl.org

Disclaimer: Alas, my ideas are merely my own, and not indicative of New
York Public Library policy.,

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