Where I say: "Notice the period at the end of cm.", that's in reference to the fact that it's not a period at the end of the field, because it continues with the +e. It's cleary an abbreviation.
Michele ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michele Estep" <mes...@scad.edu> To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA Sent: Friday, March 1, 2013 3:36:58 PM Subject: Re: [RDA-L] Use of ISBD punctuation with RDA. And a workshop. I will have to confess my ignorance about metric "symbols." Until I began studying RDA, I thought cm and other "symbols" were abbreviations. (Am I the only one so ignorant? If so, I'm embarrassed.) So I understand what you mean. cm without a period has nothing to do with RDA. But what about AACR2 300 fields such as: xxv, 980 p. : ǂb ill. (some col.) ; ǂc 24 cm. + ǂe 1 CD-ROM (4 3/4 in.) This is an LC record from 2010. Notice the period at the end of cm. I'm curious as to when "cm" and other metric symbols changed from being an abbreviation to being a symbol. Has it been months, decades or has it always been that way? I suppose I could look it up myself. Why have AACR2 records continued to use an abbreviation instead of a symbol? I'm curious about the story behind this. Such a small little thing, a period. Thanks. Michele ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin M Randall" <k...@northwestern.edu> To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA Sent: Friday, March 1, 2013 12:55:31 PM Subject: Re: [RDA-L] Use of ISBD punctuation with RDA. And a workshop. The lack of abbreviations in RDA has been exaggerated. Abbreviations for units of measure are used in: Dimensions (B.5.1) Extent of Storage Space (B.5.2) Duration (B.5.3) Additional Scale Information (B.5.7) Right Ascension (B.5.8) And abbreviations are also used in: Numeric Designation of a Musical Work (B.5.4) Numbering of Part (B.5.5) Medium of Performance of Musical Content (B.5.6) Date (B.5.9) Other Distinguishing Characteristic of a Legal Work (B.5.10) The mention in several places in Appendix B about not using a period after "cm" is simply a reminder that "cm" is not an abbreviation. Apparently this reminder is absolutely necessary, given the discussions that keep popping up. The matter of whether or not to use a period at the end of MARC field 300 is entirely due to very silly inconsistency in the relationship between the MARC bibliographic format and ISBD display conventions (not to mention that the "no period after 'cm' unless there's a 490" rule does not take into consideration changes in ISBD*). It has nothing whatsoever to do with RDA. I, for one, will be *very* happy when we finally have moved to a metadata format that lets us leave out ISBD punctuation completely. And until then, I'm not going to worry about whether or not any particular record has the "correct" period or lack of period at the end of field 300. *My reading of the latest ISBD Consolidated Edition is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a period at the end of Area 5, no matter what the paragraphing style for the display happens to be: A.3.2.3 "Each area of the description other than the first is preceded by a point, space, dash, space (. --), unless that area is clearly separated from the preceding area by paragraphing, in which case the point, space, dash, space may be replaced by a point (.) given at the end of the preceding area." Kevin M. Randall Principal Serials Cataloger Northwestern University Library k...@northwestern.edu (847) 491-2939 Proudly wearing the sensible shoes since 1978! From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA] On Behalf Of Joan Wang Sent: Friday, March 01, 2013 11:26 AM To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA Subject: Re: [RDA-L] Use of ISBD punctuation with RDA. And a workshop. There is an exception for abbreviation, min. for minutes, while we say that RDA is not use abbreviations any more. We can explain the reason why not use abbreviations. But how can we explain the exception? Let's have fun with RDA :) Joan Wang Illinois Heartland Library System
