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Please excuse any cross-posting<br>
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<br>
Introduction<br>
<br>
Controlled Vocabularies for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections
Cataloging
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_vocabularies/index.shtml">http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_vocabularies/index.shtml</a>)
is developed and maintained by the Bibliographic Standards Committee of
the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (ACRL/ALA). The Controlled
Vocabularies subcommittee is placing a moratorium on all new term
proposals for the RBMS thesauri beginning June 9, 2009. <br>
<br>
This moratorium will allow the subcommittee to concentrate its efforts
on rectifying problems and creating scope notes for current terms so
that the seven thesauri, Binding Terms, Genre Terms, Paper Terms,
Printing & Publishing Evidence, Provenance Evidence, and Type
Evidence, can be reconciled into one controlled vocabulary for rare
materials.<br>
<br>
Background<br>
<br>
The Controlled Vocabularies subcommittee meets in person semi-annually
at the American Library Association conferences. Typically, the
majority of the allotted meeting time is spent discussing new terms.
However, the reconciliation of the separate vocabularies into a single
thesaurus has been identified by the Bibliographic Standards Committee
as a high priority for the subcommittee. Although the subcommittee's
efficiency has grown with the use of a wiki
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rbmsthesauri.pbwiki.com/">http://rbmsthesauri.pbwiki.com/</a>), it will take several years to
combine the thesauri if the subcommittee cannot concentrate more fully
on this project. An ongoing OCLC Terminologies project is also at a
standstill until certain discrepancies are resolved between terms,
hierarchies, and thesauri. It is for these reasons that the
subcommittee will put a temporary stop to consideration of new terms.<br>
<br>
Details<br>
<br>
<ul>
<li>A moratorium will be placed on the acceptance of new term
proposals for inclusion in the RBMS Controlled Vocabularies.</li>
<li>The moratorium will go into effect on June 9th, 2009, one month
prior to American Library Association’s Annual Conference in July.</li>
<li>Any new term proposals that are received before the moratorium
will be discussed at ALA Annual Meeting in 2009.</li>
<li>The subcommittee will continue to work on any term proposals that
are outstanding until they are resolved.</li>
<li>During the moratorium, institutions and individuals may submit
term proposals for consideration once term review commences.</li>
<li>The moratorium will be in effect for two years.</li>
<li>If additional time is needed, the current editor will petition
the Bibliographic Standards Committee for an extension.</li>
<li>Regular progress reports on the work of the Controlled
Vocabularies subcommittee will be made at BSC meetings, allowing
interested parties to track our progress.</li>
</ul>
<br>
Questions and suggestions may be sent to the Controlled Vocabularies
editor, Nina Schneider: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:nschneider@humnet.ucla.edu">nschneider@humnet.ucla.edu</a><br>
<br>
<br>
Randal S. Brandt, Chair<br>
RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
__________________________
Randal Brandt
Principal Cataloger
The Bancroft Library
(510) 643-2275
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rbrandt@library.berkeley.edu">rbrandt@library.berkeley.edu</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://bancroft.berkeley.edu">http://bancroft.berkeley.edu</a>
"It's hard enough to remember my opinions without
remembering my reasons for them"--The Streets.
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