On Oct 6, 2007, at 11:22 AM, Christiaan Hofman wrote: <snip>
> The mappings of MARC are pretty vague and non-unique. For example > field 653 is described as a :uncontrolled index term". Also how they > are used in practice varies widely. So we only map fields that seem > sensible and widely used consistently. Otherwise you get a lot of > wrong and messy bibtex. > <snip I have wanted to help out with this for some time, but I am not sure how. There is in fact, at least in the English-speaking world, which for many years has used what is called the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR), pretty-well established practices for putting certain things in certain fields, using standard punctuation and sub-fields. Many old records have been converted from cards or other catalog records that pre-existed MARC (or any digital exchange of library catalog information). As a former cataloger, I have some (not a lot) of knowledge of this, but most of all, I know many of the reference sources describing the cataloging practices. One approach that strikes me as potentially successful is that, if people notice that certain fields in the library record don't come out right, they could let me know what they are, and I will try to see if more order can be brought to them. I don't do enough searching with Z390.5 servers just now to notice if there are any patterns or general problems. Whether Christiaan or other developers can do anything with this information, I don't know, but I would certainly be willing to try. Unfortunately, this won't help Simon or other users of European libraries that don't use the AACR rules. -Adam ================================= Adam M. Goldstein PhD Assistant Professor of Philosophy Iona College -- email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.iona.edu/faculty/agoldstein/ tel: (914) 637-2717 post: Iona College Department of Philosophy 715 North Avenue New Rochelle, NY 10801 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ _______________________________________________ Bibdesk-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bibdesk-users
