________________________________________ From: J. McRee Elrod [m...@slc.bc.ca] Sent: October-05-13 6:40 PM To: Brenndorfer, Thomas Cc: RDA-L@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca Subject: Re: [RDA-L] Uniqueness of titles proper
>>RDA 5.3 says to record additional elements to differentiate identical ?titles of works. >In real life, I suspect most will add data to make titles unique only >for title main entries, and for author/title subject and added entries >for works in the *very* rare case of two works by the same author >having the same title proper. Otherwise, I suspect most will ignore >identical titles proper; they are very common. The access point with >an author can be unique, even if the title alone is not. The PS seems >to me to support that supposition, referring as it does to access >point rather than preferred title. RDA 5.3 can also be read as not requiring those differentiating elements be added to the authorized access point when the overall access point (1XX+240) is unique. Rather RDA 5.3 provides the option that the data could be recorded elsewhere, as is now possible with the new RDA-influenced MARC fields, if even in anticipation of possible conflicts. Regardless of potential conflicts, there is great value in that data for users, especially Date of Work. >>But when they are created, the policy is to follow RDA 5.3 to >>differentiate works by creating unique authorized access points for >>works. >I assume the reason you want an 046 date is that the 264$c applies to >the manifestation rather than the work? The MARC21 definitions of 046 >subfields seem also to apply to manifestations. Since all we now >have are manifestation records, our clients are quite happy with >differences in the description making that differentiation. While >some use is made of 008 dates one and two, I am aware of none of our >clients making use of 046 in their ILS. Date of Work maps specifically to 046 $k. That's a great field to add to bibliographic records, such as for motion pictures, where users want the original date of the movie, not the date the DVD was published. The 500 note for the details of the original movie is not machine-actionable and often buried in the record. We've added a single element line for Date of Work based on the 046 values to our brief displays. In the brief display, that Date of Work is of great significance because the 130 uniform title is not mapped for display there. Adding these qualifiers to the access point for the work does the job of creating a unique identifier for the work that can stand on its own. But in the end the user task these individual elements serve is "identify." What matters is that the identifying data be presented somewhere to the user. The RDA approach of first emphasizing discrete data elements, rather than authorized access points, opens up so many doors for great functionality, such re-shaping web-based displays and entering data to be more amenable to machine action. >>The RDA records are much simpler, much cleaner, and far easier to >>understand than the MARC records. >For you perhaps. One only has to spend a short time with them to come to conclusion. No tag numbers to memorize. No subfield codes. Little to no punctuation requirements. Logical consistency in element name labels for the same function, such as relationships between entities, and identifying variants, and co-ordinated notes on main elements instead of generic MARC 500. It's better to start with that, and then go ahead and teach the special implementation rules, such as constructing entries for collocation in card catalogs. One can start from the same base RDA instructions and then create an entirely different kind of catalog based on reciprocal relationships and hyperlinks, with more machine-actionable data. If that didn't exist today I would imagine people would be clamoring for a cataloging code that wouldn't be out-of-step with all the new technology and methods of organizing and displaying data. A clean break wouldn't cut it either, as others would be clamoring for a bridge from legacy catalogs to newer systems. Thomas Brenndorfer Guelph Public Library
