Re. Mac's "two medieval stone masons being asked what they were doing. One replied that he was chipping at a stone. The other replied that he was building a cathedral. As cataloguers, we need to stop just chippping stones, and return to cathedral building, a task we abandoned to the automation folk when we moved from card catalogues. Our task should be to build catalogues, not just create bibliographic records".
I love this idea. And it does not necessarily preclude continuing to shape the best possible stones. -----Original Message----- From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA] On Behalf Of J. McRee Elrod Sent: Friday, July 26, 2013 8:59 AM To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA Subject: Re: [RDA-L] ] The "A" in RDA James said: >... we have seen >lots and lots of discussion among catalogers about >the "D" (Description) but relatively little about "A" (Access). Perhaps because RDA says nothing about indexing and display, both vital for access? >... what about new methods of access *using the data we already have*? Yes, what we most need is development of ILS/OPACs, as opposed to new rules or a new coding scheme. I seem to recall a story of two medieval stone masons being asked what they were doing. One replied that he was chipping at a stone. The other replied that he was building a cathedral. As cataloguers, we need to stop just chippping stones, and return to cathedral building, a task we abandoned to the automation folk when we moved from card catalogues. Our task should be to build catalogues, not just create bibliographic records. __ __ J. McRee (Mac) Elrod (m...@slc.bc.ca) {__ | / Special Libraries Cataloguing HTTP://www.slc.bc.ca/ ___} |__ \__________________________________________________________
