On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 4:26 AM, Weinheimer Jim <j.weinheimer_at_aur.edu> wrote:
> The barriers to entering into the information world we both want are not problems with the ways we input our data:
Note: I am not now, nor I have ever been a cataloger. I have not
personally used a cataloging client, but I have seen many and I have
seen them in use.
It is my recollection that pretty much every cataloging client works
by a person typing into a text box next to a display that reads
something like "100 ‡a". In this box they enter all of the ISBD
punctuation, by hand, to signify the specifics of the data.
Now, is this more or less correct?
If not, ignore the rest of what I'm about to say.
If so, it seems like this is exactly what we need to be moving away
from. If ISBD/AACR2 rules were as simple as confining these things to
a single subfield, well then the machine could probably figure things
out enough to keep the status quo for data entry. But that's not the
case. This says to me that some retraining would need to be done just
to overcome the roadblocks that current practice throws into the path.
Now, maybe there's a happy medium. I don't know. Really, in the end,
the interface should work this out anyway (IMO).
-Ross.
Received on Mon Nov 09 2009 - 12:41:04 EST