16.12.2013 23:39, John Hostage:
We need to be able to enter data in MARC fields without punctuation and let the punctuation be generated as necessary on output. The punctuation could even differ in different contexts. (We can dream, can't we?)
This dream has long since been reality in non-MARC systems. In MARC, it is nothing but an anachronistic leftover from card production, the original primary task fulfilled by MARC. The current movement away from MARC, as LC has finally initiated it, needs to clearly separate field content from labeling and punctuation. However, MARC without labeling and punctuation is very well possible since presentation software can supply all of it, as systems outside MARCistan, and even MARC-based systems, have proven over and again.
I agree with Kevin Randall that a compilation, like any other work, is best identified by the title it is published with (or rather an AAP based on same). Even if by some misfortune it fails to become known by that title, it's hard to see that the solution is to catalogue it with a title no ordinary user would know it by.
There can be no excuse for not recording a title in the title element. This is what even MARC is in fact doing. All that's needed for collections, and this is from long-time experience outside MARCistan again, is not a made-up uniform title but an indicator or flag saying the thing is a collection. This is language-independent. Presentation software again can turn that into "Collection" or "Sammlung" or whatever the context requires, placed conveniently where it doesn't irritate but still add to the information displayed. More distinctive collection type information can be left to subject indexing which, intentionally, is to become an integral part of RDA anyway. B.Eversberg To unsubscribe from RDA-L send an e-mail to the following address from the address you are subscribed under to: lists...@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca In the body of the message: SIGNOFF RDA-L
