29.07.2013 8:53, Tillett, Barbara:
RDA is about describing bibliographic resources and their relationships and enabling access to those resources to meet our users needs. It is intended to be used as an online tool that can be consulted as needed once a cataloger has learned the basics. That is not different from earlier cataloging codes.
One cannot help but interject: Except for the price.
What is different, is that now we can access those instructions online and we can build on the expertise of thousands of people to help improve those instructions and vocabularies...
Here, one wonders how many thousands are actually participating in this way. What statistics are there? How many subscriptions, how many searches and rule accesses per day? How many participants in discussions inside the Toolkit environment, having tackled how many issues? And how many are staying out because of the costs or for other reasons? Is the latter figure very low or, if not, a matter of concern for the JSC? I understand that the online aspect, with all it entails, is something radically new that will take its time to fully evolve. But still, making those statistics, and the growth of those figures, available might create more confidence in this endeavor. B.Eversberg
