On 8/23/07, Weinheimer Jim <j.weinheimer_at_aur.edu> wrote:
> But the contents of the authority records is something else. What would you
> change other than some fixed field information? The heading is needed (although
> this could be expanded as well. I gave a paper in Norway on this a few years ago).
Those crazy Norwegians probably didn't understand what you were
saying, but agreed anyway because they think foreigners are cool, and
they'll do anything to offer up half-rotten fish and grilled sheep's
head. :)
> The references are needed, with see and see-alsos, and broader terms and narrower
> terms. Then there are scope notes and sources of the information, plus a very
> small amount of technical information here and there.
I think the biggest problem of them all is the lack of proper identity
control, so cross-references and lookups are solely based on text
comparison methods.
> For example, at one place I worked, the big thing was "ontologies" which
> attempt to expand the current cross-reference structure, but that becomes
> very tricky, not from the system point of view, but from the clarity point of view.
Well, ontologies can be a true pain in the butt when anything is
concerned. And then, they can be the rescuing beacon in a storm. We
shouldn't hate nor love them at this point.
> And if you have the cataloger determine that relationship at the time of cataloging
> (which one causes which?) that would take substantially more time as the
> cataloger would have to actually read and digest the document.
Ah, the crux of all library matters ; the human that sits behind and
tries to control the outcome.
> Cataloging and catalogs must change, and change profoundly, but I think they
> should change in other ways. Catalogers must stop caring about the fine points
> of punctuation and focus on the real issues of access and description in a
> networked world.
Big amen to that. In fact, we should ban punctuation, slashes,
brackets and that visual aid ilk from MARC *now*, and then address the
whole issue of findability from the point of the users instead of the
providers.
Regards,
Alex
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Received on Wed Aug 22 2007 - 17:56:17 EDT