Mike Tribby
Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:24:54 -0700
> Without taking a position one way or the other on the usability RDA as a > ruleset or the software ALA has wrapped it in, I'll just say that It's not > fair to say that there's been no feedback from the library community about > the content of the RDA instructions. The content of RDA has been in > development since 2002, when the Joint Steering Committee began revising > AACR2, and there's been a lengthy review and comment period after every > draft. The drafts were publicly available, and the means of commenting on > them were widely publicized in the library community as they were happening.
This is indubitably so. It is also the case that there were frequent and very public calls for input and comment, yet many catalogers seem to have been unaware of the project at all, or at least as to the specifics of what was being undertaken. I wonder if it might not have been advantageous to take the lack of widespread feedback as an indication of disinterest, whether in the process or in the need for radical change in the first place. Then, of course, one could argue with whether what has emerged is radical enough for those who seek change, I suppose. I do think it's clear that a groundswell of approval has not ensued, but I'm not sure that indicates anything more than more disinterest. Mike Tribby Senior Cataloger Quality Books Inc. The Best of America's Independent Presses mailto:mike.tri...@quality-books.com