Angelina Joseph asked:
>Every now and then I see the word "Bibframe" in emails. Is it replacing MAR=
>C? How is that going to be?
You will have answers from those more in the loop than I, but there is
my *very* biased answer.
Bibframe is a work in progress, so no one knows if/when it will
replace MARC.
IMNSHO it is a *giant* step backward, in substituting English names
for language neutral MARC field tags (in the form <bf:title>), all in
the name of being more consistent with Web data. Seems to ma XML MARC
would fill that need. There is also the matter of the ambiguity of
language, leading to wrong use of the element names. (Remember the
now storied cataloguer who enter the donor in Dublin Core's
"contributor"?)
Bibframe has Works and Instances, as opposed to WEM, so will be little
if any better than MARC for RDA. Expressions are treated as works.
There was talk of including relationship in authorities (read access
points), meaning an an authority for each role, and one assumes
multiple entries for the same person in the same Instance, e.g.,
director/actor, author/illustrator. I think that one has been
squashed. or at least reduced. (The access point in the data would
have a URI, pointing to the established form.)
There is talk of allowing only one ISBN per Instance, leading to
separate Instances for the same edition, e.g., different bindings,
simultaneous publication by more than one publisher. serials and sets
with an ISBN for each issue/volume, kits with multiple parts having
their own ISBN. No headway seems to have been made on that one.
My impression is that those doing the work have not been on the front
line of cataloguing, and are not fully aware of the messy nature of
the bibliographic universe.
There is talk of URIs being shared. e.g., if one library establishes
an authority its URI could be used by other libraries Iwhat if the
first library drops the authority when withdrawing the relevant
work?). The use of VIAF is also being talked about. (My name there
had four forms I think before I complained.)
Bibframe proponents assume technical ability and resources many small
libraries will lack. If implemented, there will be a divide between
have and have not libraries.
__ __ J. McRee (Mac) Elrod (m...@slc.bc.ca)
{__ | / Special Libraries Cataloguing HTTP://www.slc.bc.ca/
___} |__ \__________________________________________________________
