>From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access >[mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA] On Behalf Of Ford Davey >Sent: July-28-13 9:57 AM >To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA >Subject: Re: [RDA-L] ] The "A" in RDA
... >That disturbs me, a lot! I would like to know how those of you who can >"explain" to the rest of what the 33x fields are all about (and to be honest >>those explanations are far too wordy for me to follow!) .... How do you >explain them to your users, you know the folks who actually want to find >>stuff! Separating content from carrier is a basic deduplication issue. One should be able to easily assert: "This text in this volume is the same text as found in that microfilm and the same text you see online." as well as "The text in this volume is the same work as that spoken word form found in that e-audiobook." Various methods have arisen that help users find and distinguish these various forms for the same content. Currently my online catalog uses a mixture of descriptive fields and authority headings, along with icons and terms generated off of MARC fixed fields. All of this already capture some of the essence of what RDA is about, but not to the extent that would be most helpful to users. The main problem now is the vast complexity of the AACR2/MARC structure, originally and still rooted to a large extent in card display restrictions requiring vast manuals to wade through to figure what works and what doesn't in any one online environment. Consider the complexity of how MARC fixed fields work-- selecting certain general codes trigger subsequent groupings. Selecting certain Leader fields will generate different 008 fields. The first code in a 006 or 007 determines the sequence that follows. The RDA content-media-carrier terms follow very closely what MARC has always done-- general categories give way to more specific attributes related to the general category. So in explaining this to other librarians and to users, there are really only two salient points to get across: 1. Recognize that the same content can be found in different carriers, and there are ways of defining the character of this content separate from the details for the carrier. 2. General categories are used to group more specific categories. Users will often need those specific categories to select what they need (they may want "Blu-Ray" and may not find the general term "videodisc" that useful). But general categories do what they've always done-- group related information together, and allow for a layer of comparison between different things. Basically RDA took all of our existing general categories (from the GMD, from MARC fixed fields, etc.) and hammered out a general layer of categories that are more consistent among themselves. Thomas Brenndorfer Guelph Public Library
