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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>As <SPAN
class=460492617-23022005>somebody who served on (even</SPAN> moderated<SPAN
class=460492617-23022005>)</SPAN> the relevant Working Group (WG 2) at the DCRM
Revision Conference, Yale, in March 2003, my memory is that our concern was
exclusively with the exceptions (French, Scandinavian, etc.) which we did
agonise over; I don’t remember that we seriously questioned the separation of
the ae and oe ligatures in (e.g.) Latin.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I’ve read some of the other
postings on this, and I cannot see that this is a question of content as opposed
to form.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I suspect the ESTC
thinking was influenced by the possibility that transcribing ae and oe ligatures
as such in records for (e.g.) editions of Caesar’s works would sometimes help
distinguish between editions.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>One
could point out that to the same end it would be useful to transcribe long S
(lowercase) as a different character<SPAN class=460492617-23022005>
-- </SPAN>I don’t think any descriptive cataloguing rules have tried to
prescribe this, but because ae and oe ligatures had traditionally been retained
in the printing trade, it seemed acceptable and possible to retain those in
transcription (when I began cataloguing in 1977, typewriters used by NLS
cataloguers had these ligatures).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It does seem to me to be an arbitrary line we’re drawing here and not a
distinction between content and form.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-US>Where some modern languages do now use ligatures,
there may be a case for using those ligatures, but as we don’t use ae and oe
ligatures now in printing Latin, there may be a case for not using
them <SPAN class=460492617-23022005>--</SPAN> even though we could.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In the vocabulary of DCRM(B) principles,
are these cases of how we balance representation and standardization?</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
lang=EN-US></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Here in NLS I
remember we did transcribe ae and oe ligatures when we began MARC
cataloguing<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>and I also remember the
problems of OPAC display (e.g. instances of “Casar”, I think) and retrieval that
caused us to revise the practice.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<DIV><o:p></o:p></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><SPAN
class=460492617-23022005><FONT face="Times New Roman">This is an entirely
personal view: no consultation at all.</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Brian</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<P>******************************************** <BR>Dr Brian Hillyard <BR>Rare
Book Collections Manager, National Library of Scotland <BR>George IV Bridge,
Edinburgh, EH1 1EW <BR>b.hillyard@nls.uk: 0131-226 4531 (voice): 0131-466 2807
(fax) </P>
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