Dian I. Hillmann wrote:
>If you think about why notes are there the way they are, it has
>everything to do with the limitations of those 3 x 5 cards we used
>to spend our time typing (those of a certain age, that is). The idea
>on those cards was very sound at that time--all the most important
>stuff would be in the first inch or so, and everything else
>relegated to some space further down.
How does this differ from the need to have relevant information in a
one line hit list, in a brief display, or on the first screen (since
many do not scroll down)? The ISBD serves all these needs very well,
and I see little need to invent a new wheel for description, or create
alternate modes of display. The wheel you are proposing to replace
this working one seems makeshift to me.
>I think if we're to ensure that we're as important to the future as
>we have been to the past we need to stop worrying so much about
>balance and start using machine processing in any way that we
>possibly can.
Certainly.
>... agreeing with my points about transcription being something we
>need to re-examine as a basic assumption underlying what we do.
Without *exact* transcription or scanning, how would a machine relate
an electronic description to the resource described? It seems to me
transcription becomes more vital than ever. We might need to stop
abbreviating, omitting, etc. as we transcribe, practices which *were*
based on the 4 x 5 card. We are at the moment doing a recon project
for engravings from shelf list cards; we have no way of knowing
whether "act 2 sc. 2" on the card was actually "act 2 scene 2" on the
engraving. What does "260$bThe Office" mean in a deconstruced ISBD?
Our departures from transcription come back to haunt us.
Accurate transcription is vital. It is not necessary to denigrate
centuries of good cataloguing practice to meet present and future
needs.
__ __ J. McRee (Mac) Elrod ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
{__ | / Special Libraries Cataloguing HTTP://www.slc.bc.ca/
___} |__ \__________________________________________________________
