I am trying to figure out what RDA says to do when the preferred source
has parallel titles and the content is equally divided among different
languages.
2.3.2.4 says:
Title in More Than One Language or Script
If:
the content of the resource is written, spoken, or sung
and
the source of information for the title proper has a title in more than
one language or script
then:
choose as the title proper the title in the language or script of the main
content of the resource.
If the content is not written, spoken, or sung, choose the title proper on
the basis of the sequence, layout, or typography of the titles on the
source of information.
This instruction does not address what to do if there is no "main content"
of the resource. I am wondering if something got left out of the final
paragraph or if there should be another paragraph that says what to do
when the content is multiple languages/scripts with no main content? My
presumption is that you should choose the title proper on the basis of the
sequence, layout, or typography of the titles on the source of
information, but nothing tells us to do this.
Here's a specific real example:
Title page has titles in this order:
Arabic title
Chinese title
English title
French title
Russian title
Spanish title
(Yes, you guessed, it's a UN document). The same content is present in
all of these language, but curiously the order of the content as you page
through the book is English text, French text, Spanish text, Chinese text,
Russian text, Arabic text.
AACR2 1.1B8 did say what to do: If the chief source of information bears
titles in two or more languages or scripts, transcribe as the title proper
the one in the language or script of the main written, spoken, or sung
content of the item. If this criterion is not applicable, choose the title
proper by reference to the order of titles on, or the layout of, the chief
source of information. Record the other titles as parallel titles.
It seems to me that RDA as rewritten from AACR2 gets the criterion wrong.
It shouldn't be that the content is not written, spoken, or sung, it
should be that there is no main content in a single language.
In any case, there is nothing in RDA at present that tells me what title
proper to choose in the example I've given above. Is a rule revision or
LC-PCC policy statement needed for this?
Adam Schiff
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Adam L. Schiff
Principal Cataloger
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA 98195-2900
(206) 543-8409
(206) 685-8782 fax
asch...@u.washington.edu
http://faculty.washington.edu/~aschiff
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
