Dear Daniel, Many thanks for considering RDA proposal 5JSC/LC/8, and for urging Cataloging Committee members to do the same.
As I mentioned at the convention, LC Hebraica Team members in general preferred other approaches (see http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/BibleOTtable7.pdf), but accepted this compromise solution to ensure that some type of proposal might be put forward to raise awareness and initiate a dialogue about concerns. I would like to note the following for the group's consideration regarding your draft response: * Keep in mind that these are recommendations for RDA, and do not address if and how LC and/or the PCC might apply the alternative. I agree, however, that the question of how the use of sanctioned but alternative forms of headings would impact collocation does require some further consideration from a practical standpoint. In thinking about this issue, I envision the Virtual International Authority File, which Barbara Tillett described at the convention, as a model, and hope that a similar type of approach could enable linkages between variant forms of headings which could be alternatively selected for display in a given catalog or by an individual catalog user. * Regarding the points raised about hierarchy, the authorized forms of Bible headings currently do not reflect the hierarchy demonstrated in the tree diagram, for example, the authorized heading is "Bible. O.T. Exodus" not "Bible. O.T. Pentateuch. Exodus." LC's database, for example, does not index "Bible. O.T. Pentateuch" followed by the individual five books. Everything after "Bible. O.T." is strictly alphabetical. The conceptual hierarchy "Bible. O.T. Pentateuch. Exodus" doesn't even appear in the authority structure as a 430, but perhaps it should. Again, there needs to be some follow up consideration of how headings might be referenced to allow the full range of relationships to be reflected in the catalog to assist with indexing and discovery. * The proposal does address the issue of canonical differences with regard to entering individual books directly under "Bible." * The proposal is not encouraging contradictory headings to coexist in individual catalogs (although such a scenario is one of the models LC considered but did not advance). "Tanakh. Ezekial" could be assigned to all works on/about the book of Ezekial represented in a catalog, and bibliographic file maintenance, supported by a good global update capability, could preclude split files. I urge the Cataloging Committee members to consider the draft proposal further, and in addition, to take a look at the other alternatives which LC considered (see the document cited above, as well as the analysis at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/bibleprocon.pdf Perhaps the group could endorse one of the "rejected" models or could recommend yet anthoer approach not previously considered. Thanks again, Lenore >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/18/06 5:06 PM >>> Dear colleagues, I have received comments from three of you, and so far (with myself making 4) there seems to be a consensus that the adoption of proposal 5JSC/LC/8 would not in fact serve the interests of AJL libraries. Of course, four opinions is not a statistically valid sample of our group, and I recognize that some of your are on vacation (or just became parents!) and therefore might not be able to respond. But the deadline is Aug. 27th, and I need to be able to give some kind of feedback to CCDA before then. Please take a look at the attached report and let me know what you think. It really only covers the first point of the proposal, since the other two were relatively minor (e.g., substituting abbreviated forms with spelled-out forms). I would like to get an up or down vote from each committee member so I can speak on behalf the full committee. If there turns out not to be a consensus--or even majority opinion--I can indicate this in the report too. I also very much value input from those not on the committee. Thanks for your interest. Daniel ------------------------------- Daniel Lovins Hebraica Team Leader Catalog Department Sterling Memorial Library Yale University PO Box 208240 New Haven, CT 06520 [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: 203/432-1707 fax: 203/432-7231
