Mike Tribby wrote: > Thomas provides an iteration of what RDA says about information that may be > used in an authority record, but I think Gene's point has more to do with > what we _should_ include in an authority record rather than what various > information RDA sanctions for possible use. There is a difference.
The choice of elements to be included in an authority record are entirely up to the policy of the agency creating the record. It should be remembered that RDA is intended to be a guideline (and element set) suitable for use by a wide variety of agencies. Any given element may or may not be appropriate for any given agency's purposes. Just because an element is defined does not mean that it must be recorded. Having all of these elements defined in RDA helps toward the purpose of sharing the data between databases. For example, it is not unimaginable that the U.S. Dept. of State would continue having "traditional" authority records in its Voyager catalog for its library, while having much more detailed records for persons and corporate bodies in a different database, and then using the RDA element definitions to allow linkages between the data in the two different systems (viewable elements determined by security clearance, of course...) Kevin M. Randall Principal Serials Cataloger Bibliographic Services Dept. Northwestern University Library 1970 Campus Drive Evanston, IL 60208-2300 email: [email protected] phone: (847) 491-2939 fax: (847) 491-4345
