"there is no reason for anyone to have to key a publisher name for a modern book with an ISBN -- the identity of the publisher is inherent in the ISBN and that information could be system supplied (using a barcode scanner)"
Is this true of very small publishers who buy their ISBNs in tiny blocks--like 10 or so at a time? If so, great, but that seems like it would require an awful lot of work by Bowker Of course more power to them if they do it. And what about ISBNs that are resold? (If one's answer is unawareness that this happens, then we're back to square one on this question, aren't we?) "Many people were quite affronted when the Future of Bibliographic Control report suggested getting as much data as possible from the publishers. There is data that they obviously have and presumably could pass on. And a simple identifier like the ISBN is actually a window to a whole host of information that could be used to populate a bibliographic record." As one of the many who were affronted--although I prefer to describe the phenomenon as being baffled by why anybody would think most publishers would be interested in or capable of providing much information of a quality and in a form that could be easily used for bibliographic control--I'm not convinced. Whenever the chestnut that publishers are just waiting impatiently to particpate in cataloging comes up, I and the rest of the affronted masses ask who has successfully explored this rich source of untapped information with a publisher and gotten positive results? I keep a list of the publishers who erroneously claim that LC CIP is available for their books when it isn't, and the list is very long and getting longer. If publishers can't get this right (or knowingly lie about it) and can't--or won't--get publishing dates or locations right, why do we keep trying to tell ourselves that they have anything approaching "a whole host of information that could be used to populate ! a bibliographic record" and that they would provide it in a useable and reliable form? Publishers have trouble telling LC (or providers of P-CIP) who their authors are going to be for specific titles and whether these authors have published in the past. I'd feel a lot more sanguine about this strategy if someone would relate their positive experiences in getting such useful information from publishers. And it'd be nice if some of the cooperative publishers were of the more-than-ten-titles-per-year variety. At QBI we have a great deal of experience in getting--or trying to get--information from publishers, and very little reason to suspect this is a workable idea. And we provide the incentive that we're selling their books! Mike Tribby Senior Cataloger Quality Books Inc. The Best of America's Independent Presses mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
