-------- Forwarded message -------- Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 13:17:11 -0700 From: Michael Gorman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Collective entities
Dear Mac Greetings from Seoul! Could you post the appended (or the attached) ... Thanks, Michael COLLECTIVE ENTITIES At first glance one of the very few things that I liked about the chaotic mess offered as the proposed Rules for descriptive cataloguing (RDA) was the addition of "families" when "corporate bodies" are mentioned. On second thought, though families are entities that are important to descriptive cataloguing, they are but one of the collective entities that need to be recognized in catalogues but fit uneasily into the overall category of "corporate bodies". Other obvious and long-standing examples are performing groups, conferences, expeditions, and exhibitions, That being so, I propose a generalization of the whole category under the name COLLECTIVE ENTITIES in whatever code of rules arises from the rubble of the RDA Collective entity: a group of persons identified by a collective proper name. Collective entities include commercial enterprises (IBM, Microsof, Time/Warner, Intercontinental Hotels); associations and societies (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Royal Society, National Collegiate Athletic Association); institutions (British Library, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Tate Modern); performing groups (Rolling Stones, Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Blue Man Group, Staples Family Singers, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Royal Shakespeare Company); conferences (Third International Conferenceon Semiotics, Council of Trent); families (Montmorency Family, House of Windsor); and governments, government agencies, and government officials (United Kingdom, London Borough of Haringey, Staffordshire County Council, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Prime Minister of Australia). Collective entities do not include groups of people lacking a name or lacking a proper name (citizens of Paris, senior citizens, blogosphere) Michael Gorman August 2006
