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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>I think an asterisk is by definition
positioned above the middle of the line, aligned (more or less) with the upper
half of ascenders – the OCLC version is just a little smaller and higher
than many. Unicode has a “low asterisk” character (U+204E),
which would seem ideal for the collational formula, but it’s available in
very few fonts. The Wikipedia article on asterisk has a chart with a
couple of dozen variants of asterisk found in Unicode.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>We could have fun with the definition of “superscript”
(does it describe any character that lives high on the line, or does it
describe a character that has been reduced in size and positioned higher than
normal?). The OED defines the noun in terms of the adjective: “A
superscript character”; and then defines the adjective as: “Written
above a letter, or above the line of writing.” (Seems to imply
manuscript.) Wikipedia has an interesting article on
superscripts/subscripts, focusing on typographic design.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>But as Deborah says, we have only one
choice in the character set available to us; otherwise, we have to spell it
out, and there are enough cumbersome work-arounds in signature collations in
OCLC records as it is ([superscript pi], e.g.).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>Of no relevance whatsoever to this
particular discussion, Richard Wilbur has quite a good poem on the asterisk,
which happens to be one of the pages accessible in the Google Books preview version
of his <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Collected Poems 1943-2004</span></i>;
see<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a
href="http://books.google.com/books?id=0JiVqqFx_X8C&pg=PA386&lpg=PA386&dq=asterisk+%22richard+wilbur%22+%22games+one%22&source=bl&ots=fy60Ge0PdV&sig=3JCQGwgnIfwx3ww0MMgMBBnggj8&hl=en&ei=k9DXSsQ5jqWUB762lKEB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CA4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false">http://books.google.com/books?id=0JiVqqFx_X8C&pg=PA386&lpg=PA386&dq=asterisk+%22richard+wilbur%22+%22games+one%22&source=bl&ots=fy60Ge0PdV&sig=3JCQGwgnIfwx3ww0MMgMBBnggj8&hl=en&ei=k9DXSsQ5jqWUB762lKEB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CA4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false</a>
(or Google the combination <asterisk “richard wilbur” “games
one”>)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>--<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>John Lancaster (<a
href="mailto:jlancaster@amherst.edu">jlancaster@amherst.edu</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=DE style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>P.O. Box 775<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=DE style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>Williamsburg, MA 01096-0775<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>413-268-7679</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
dcrm-l-bounces@lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces@lib.byu.edu] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Deborah J. Leslie<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, October 15, 2009
5:59 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> DCRM Revision Group List<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [DCRM-L] signatures
with *</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#1f497d" face=Calibri><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1F497D'>Hello Charles,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#1f497d" face=Calibri><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#1f497d" face=Calibri><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1F497D'>About the
supersriptness of the asterisk, I think that a superscript asterisk is what is
in the character set; we don’t have an option to make a baseline
asterisk. So, technically it IS a superscript.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#1f497d" face=Calibri><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#1f497d" face=Calibri><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1F497D'>I also use the * in
signature statements as I think most (all?) of us do, but it does sometimes
make parsing the signature statement confusing and difficult. What would be the
alternative? Using “[asterisk]”?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#1f497d" face=Calibri><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
dcrm-l-bounces@lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces@lib.byu.edu] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Kate Moriarty<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, 15 October, 2009
17:39<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> DCRM Revision Group List<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [DCRM-L] signatures
with *<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Charles,<br>
<br>
I've always gone ahead and used the * character even though it looks like a
superscript (though from Mike's response it sounds like it may not be) and
looks a bit odd preceding a superscript number. I've interpreted DCRM(B) 7B9.2
as allowing the use of the character since the character it exists, but that
may be because I've gotten used to automatically reading asterisks in signature
statements as baseline characters, not superscripts. <br>
<br>
-Kate<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 2:41 PM, Mike Garabedian <<a
href="mailto:m.garabedian@gmail.com">m.garabedian@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>This certainly isn't DCRM SOP, but I just tried an experiment in
MS-Word, typing two asterisks, then formatting the second one as superscript.
What obtained was a smaller asterisk oriented slightly closer to the ascender
line.<br>
<br>
My point is that even though * is above x-height, technically it's not
superscript,right? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 12:28 PM, Charles F Tremper <<a
href="mailto:cftrempe@syr.edu" target="_blank">cftrempe@syr.edu</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>Having recently encountered several books with gatherings
marked with * , I am unsure of the preferred way to represent this.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>While the character is available, it displays as a
superscript. Is that acceptable, or is a descriptive term in brackets the
way to go?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Calibri'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>Thanks <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Calibri'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>Charles F. Tremper<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>Catalogue Librarian<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>Special Collections Research Center<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>Syracuse University Library<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'>(315) 443-9775<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Calibri'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Calibri'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'> </span></font><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Calibri'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
<br clear=all>
<br>
-- <br>
Kate S. Moriarty, MSW, MLS | Rare Book Catalog Librarian |
Pius XII Memorial Library | <br>
Saint Louis University | 3650 Lindell Blvd . | St. Louis, MO
63108 | (314) 977-3098 (tel) | (314) 977-3108 (fax)
| <a href="mailto:moriarks@slu.edu">moriarks@slu.edu</a> |
<a href="http://libraries.slu.edu/">http://libraries.slu.edu/</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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