On 17/12/2013 14.07, Heidrun Wiesenmüller wrote:
<snip>
But, is it possible to make collective uniform titles useful and
functional for today's information tools? I believe they could and
that people would appreciate it, but that would take complete
reconsideration from the user's point of view--something I don't see
happening very soon.
I don't think that a complete reconsideration is necessary. It's just
a question of changing how the data is presented.
No witchcraft would be required to make use of the information in a
sensible manner. For a long time, I've suggested presenting our users
with reasonable next steps (in the form of links) whenever they view a
title record. For example, when a manifestation of a work by author X
is displayed in the catalog, reasonable next steps could be (among
others):
...
</snip>
I completely agree that a lot *could* be done. For instance, changing
how the data is presented can be achieved without changing a single
rule; all that needs to be done is change into a more modern format and
play around. A lot already has been done with the new methods of
indexing records that now allow facets, such as in Worldcat, as I
continue to point out. That is not magic or witchcraft. It is XML (even
MARCXML) with Lucene-type indexing and incredibly enough, it is
available for free! Far more could be done using these tools.
But nobody is dancing in the streets. This has been such an incredible
technological advance, and it seems that the cataloging world hasn't
even noticed. Also, the public has definitely changed their searching
behavior and their information "expectations" in lots of ways but it
seems as if catalogers still believe that people browse for information
in alphabetical order! I've actually had to argue the case. The
collective uniform titles are a case in point. It was more important to
change everything from "Selections" to "Works. Selections" as if that is
going to help anybody at all! Of course, people can't find "Selections"
now, but they can't find "Works" either....
I have suggested all kinds of changes in how the data could be
presented, and many others have too.
All of this explains why I think there needs a complete reconsideration
*from the user's point of view* before anybody will begin to see any
real differences.
--
James Weinheimer weinheimer.ji...@gmail.com
First Thus http://catalogingmatters.blogspot.com/
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Cooperative Cataloging Rules
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