Michael Gorman
525 W. Superior #225,
Chicago, Illinois 60654
Student:
> I have been reading your articles* about RDA. I contacted someone
> working with the group planning the "trial" of RDA, and asked him
> what influence your articles have had on RDA. He is sure that you
> have influenced the conversations and caused those involved in the
> writing to re-examine their work.
> I have a few questions about your views. First, what is your
> current belief about RDA?
MG:
I think that RDA is a solution in search of a problem and that it will
fail to enlist all the googlers, technocrats, and twitterati while it
fails to meet the need of cataloguers and catalogue users. There is
no Third Way--you either have authoritative cataloguing or you do not.
> In the introduction to The concise AACR2, there are statements
> about it being "intended for cataloguing students...persons
> working in small libraries...paraprofessionals...cataloguers
> working in non-English speaking environments". How will RDA be
> able to serve those same needs?
It won't. The fact that a Concise RDA is inconceivable is a sure
sign that it lacks internal coherence.
> I have also considered that ... takes small groups of students on
> trips to disadvantaged countries to help set up libraries. How
> will changing to RDA benefit these international communities and
> promote library use?
Not at all. Consider the case of Vietnam, in which the translation
of the Concise AACR2 is widely used. What are they to do?
> You have written about the service element of being a librarian in
> many publications. How do you think RDA will affect this?
If adopted it will make catalogue entries less useful and, combined
with the inadequacies of many current online catalogues, will degrade
service.
> I know all of these questions are related, but this is the way I
> am thinking about it. I have spoken to 14 school librarians, 2
> public librarians, and a librarian at A&M University about RDA.
> None of them know much about it, and no one thinks it will "happen
> anytime soon". It appears as though those with whom I have
> spoken are happy to go on using AACR2 and wait and see.
That light at the end of the tunnel may be the headlights of the truck
that is going to hit us.
===================================================================
Thanks to Michael for giving permission pass this along.
__ __ J. McRee (Mac) Elrod (m...@slc.bc.ca)
{__ | / Special Libraries Cataloguing HTTP://www.slc.bc.ca/
___} |__ \__________________________________________________________
*http://slc.bc.ca/rda1107.pdf
