Hello, I am attempting to upgrade an AACR2 LC record to RDA. The LCCN is 2012032101. This book contains two small collections of Ladino poems by a Shephardic Jewish woman who grew up and lived a part of her life in Salonika Greece. These poems were never published. One of the collections documents daily life and customs of Shepardic Jews in Salonika prior to the Nazi invasion of the city. The second collection documents the "miseries that the Germans inflicted on Salonika, 1941-1943". The poems or Coplas were written by Bouena Sarfatty Garfinkle 30 years after the War, and she later gave them to Renee Levine Melammed. Levine Melammed was not able to begin working with the poems until several years later, by which time Garfinkle had died. The poems were organized by Garfinkle in to the two collections mentioned above, however the collections were not organized chronically or by subject, they were merely numbered as she composed them. Levine Melammed, in addition to providing a short background of Garfinkle's life before, during, and shortly after the War, reorganized each collection of poems in to smaller sub-themes, but she included the original number that Garfinkle had assigned to each copla beside it. In this book Levine Melammed has presented the Ladino verses and provided an English translation on facing pages. In addition she has provided a glossary for non- Ladino words used by Garfinkle in the coplas which were borrowed from other languages (Arabic, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish).
Under AACR2, LC has Levine Melammed as the author. About half of the book is the poems by Garfinkle, the other half is by Levine Melammed (and again this includes: a brief history of Garfinkle's life before, during, and shortly after the War, and brief description of what life was like for Jews in Salonika during this same time period; the glossary of words borrowed from other languages which appear in the Ladino poems; bibliographic notes; a bibliography, and indexes). In LC's AACR2 record Garfinkle appears only as a subject. I feel that Garfinkle should receive a 700 as well in this record, but my major problem is what relationship designators to assign to Levine Melammed. She is the author of material that is essentially editorial matter to accompany the true focus of the book, the Ladino poems, however there is more to this editorial matter than just a glossary, bibliographic notes and indexes. She has also provided relevant historical background material to explain the topical matter of the poems, so I don't mind Levine Melammed being in a 100 field and I will add a |e of author under RDA. I will also add a |e translator. My problem is in how to describe her other roles in producing the book. She is a compiler of sorts, and an editor of sorts, as she re-organized the collections of the poems in to sub-themes, and she has also created the glossary, the notes, and the indexes. But I'm having trouble deciding how best to describe her non-author roles-is she also to be considered an editor, a compiler, or an editor of a compilation? This is a compilation of sorts, in that these poems have never been published before and Levine Melammed did have a role in how they are presented, but there is more to the book than the poems, she did write accompanying material. Can one have a |e for author and |e for compiler at the same time? And if I have a |e for compiler, does that imply editing as well? In other words, would I also need a |e of editor, or if not editor, then a |e editor of compilation. I think my major problem is in understanding exactly what a compilation is. LC , under AACR2 did not even have a 700 for Garfinkle, but with RDA's greater focus on relationships, I think this book would perhaps be considered a compilation of sorts, in which case I should have a 700 for Garfinkle, and at least one 100 |e that would indicate that the book is a compilation. If anyone can help me with my understanding of what a compilation really is, and how you would handle this book I would greatly appreciate your advice. Apologies for the repetition in this message--it certainly is reflective of my floundering about with RDA though! :-( Thanks very much. Sincerely, Dana Van Meter Catalog Librarian Historical Studies-Social Library Institute for Advanced Study Princeton, NJ 08540
