Bryan Baldus wrote:
> On Monday, March 16, 2009 8:32 AM, Ross Singer wrote:
>
>> What is this an argument for?
>>
>
> That translating headings into "Author" rather than retaining a statement of responsibility is not always a simple solution.
It would be if the information in the statement of responsibility were
encoded in the record in a machine-actionable form, but it isn't. The
problem is not trying to use the catalog record's headings in the place
of the SoR, the problem is that the statement of responsibility is a
language phrase with no encoding of its contents, and therefore not
interpretable by machine. So there is no way to present that information
to users because we haven't provided it in the record. So instead of:
by John Smith, illustrated by Mary Jones, with a grant from NSF...
We should be encoding:
creator: John Smith
illustrator: Mary Jones
funder: NSF/type=grant
It's so far from rocket science I'm embarrassed to have to point it out.
kc
> It's an argument against the practice seen in several systems of displaying a programmatically uninverted heading with a label "Author" or appended to the end of the title with "by", making up a statement of responsibility rather than using the one transcribed from the item (leading to the appearance that the book is "by" someone rather than "edited by" or "compiled by" or "retold by", or "defendant,"). Another instance where this might look odd would be where the item is in a non-English language but the computer rearranges/creates its own statement of responsibility using English "by" rather than the transcribed foreign words indicating the function of those who are associated with the work.
>
> I'd agree that something should be done to improve the way the statement of responsibility is coded, like making it have hyperlinked (or otherwise associated) names to the authorized form of name.
>
> Bryan Baldus
> Cataloger
> Quality Books Inc.
> The Best of America's Independent Presses
> 1-800-323-4241x402
> bryan.baldus_at_quality-books.com
>
>
>
--
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Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
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Received on Mon Mar 16 2009 - 10:23:43 EDT