Jenn Riley said:
>If the distinction between 130 and 240 can't be expressed in words (in
>any language), how can anyone ever *learn* this distinction?
It can be expressed. 130 is uniform title as prime entry. 240 is
uniform title as filing title after a prime entry.
>Why then does it exist if it can't be explained to a person?
I'm no fan of either. But cataloguers of, among other things, sacred
works and classical music, would be loath to give them up. The
difference between them is vital to OPAC display.
>The full rich semantics of the field definition shouldn't be
>imparted into a simple field label in English, any more than it
>should be to a numeric code for a label.
I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. You are advocating
"uniform title as prime entry" and "uniform title as filing title" to
be used for labels? These to be somehow linked to the same phrases
in other languages?
Give me language neutral 130 and 240 please. The "1" of 130 tells me
it is prime entry; the "3" that it is a controlled title. MARC is
mnemonic; 430 and 830 are controlled series titles; 730 is controlled
uniform title added entry. The "2" of 240 tells me it is in the
descriptive paragraph, the "4" that it is a title, and "0" a uniform
one (as opposed to "5" title on item, or "6" varying form of title).
Avrom did for coding what Dewey did for classification.
> ... surely the same people who are expected to read some
>documentation to learn and interpret the meaning of a numeric code
>can be expected to read some documentation in their native language
>to learn and interpret the meaning of a language-based (alphabetic)
>field label that may or may not be in their >own language, no?
Why should they have to? What is the advantage? Will you be wanting
subject headings on spines rather than class numbers next?
Numbers, in addition to being language neutral, have the advantage of
creating a natural order which arranges the elements of the
bibliographic description in the arrangement later codified by ISBD
(at least until MARBI started mucking about with it).
__ __ J. McRee (Mac) Elrod ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
{__ | / Special Libraries Cataloguing HTTP://www.slc.bc.ca/
___} |__ \__________________________________________________________
