Re: [RDA-L] libraries, society and RDA

[Elizabeth O'Keefe]

Diane:   I actually think that OCLC has done a very good job integrating and making copy-specific information accessible on the Web. We were worried about making the transition from RLIN, with its individual records for each institution's copy of an item, to WorldCat, with its master record structure. We're quite happy with the way our institutional records work well and play well with master records. Now if they could just adjust the displays for visual materials so that they worked the same as for books or manuscripts, all would be gas and gaiters.    Liz O'Keefe    >>> "Diane I. Hillmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 11/13/2008 11:13 PM >>> Adam: Thanks for pointing this out--I've had little experience using WorldCat, and wasn't really aware of these particular problems.  This seems so counterintuitive--libraries have been complaining for years that their vendors have made so little use of the richness of MARC records, and here's OCLC building systems that use even less.  Liz's additional point about how the data is "dumbed-down" then reconstructed ignoring data that specifies the relationship of the person to the resource suggests to me that OCLC might be going the way of Ford/GM/Chrysler. The current downward trajectory of those three companies suggest that there isn't much hope for organizations who stick with their broken strategies despite  all indications that the world is changing around them. But at least the big three aren't requiring those who own their cars to wear teeshirts with their logos everywhere they go. Diane Adam L. Schiff wrote: >> Yet still, if you insist to be interested in none else than "Miller, >> Henry - 1891-1980", then as of yet there are only library catalogs or >> WorldCat to turn to. This ought to change, no? >> >> >> B.Eversberg > > Actually, you need to strike mention of WorldCat above, as it makes no > use > of authorized forms of names, and doesn't even show them.  A search in > WorldCat for Henry Miller does A KEYWORD SEARCH on the words Henry and > Miller.  You are never presented with a list of Henry Millers from which > you could narrow your search.  In the "Refine Your Search" window, under > "Author", you do get Henry Miller as a facet, and the results are indeed > pretty good, but they will also include works by and about the other > Henry > Millers in WorldCat records.  For example: > > Study of the at-risk population of infants and toddlers in Maryland : > final report > by Henry Miller; Nancy Peterson; Maryland. Infants and Toddlers' Program > Interagency Coordinating Council.; Center for Health Policy Studies > (U.S.) > 1989 > > The principles and practice of obstetrics. Including the treatment of > chronic inflammation of the uterus, considered as a frequent cause of > abortion. > by Henry Miller > 1858 > > The saucy little widow down in Pimlico > by Henry Miller > 1864 > > In displays such as above, the designers of WorldCat decided (god knows > why!) to remove any and all additions to names such as fuller forms of > name and dates.  This means that users who wonder if the well-known > author > Henry Miller is the same as the medical writer or composer of The saucy > little widow are left to figure that out some other way. Those statements > of responsibility in the WorldCat displays, by the way, are not taken > from > the statements of responsibility actually found in the OCLC record, but > are made up by taking all the main and added entries, reversing the > inverted forms, and throwing them all together preceded by the word "by". > > Adam Schiff > University of Washington Libraries > [EMAIL PROTECTED] >