[DCRM-L] ESTC and the revision of SCF

[Johnson, Elizabeth L.]

I am in the Randal Brandt camp.  I think ESTC is OK as it is.  Elizabeth J.

Quoting Randal Brandt <rbrandt at library.berkeley.edu>:

> As those of you who follow the work of the RBMS Bibliographic
> Standards Committee already know, a revision of _Standard Citation
> Forms for Rare Book Cataloging_ (SCF) is underway (please see the
> agenda and draft minutes from the Bib Standards meeting held in
> Anaheim in June 2008 for more information:
> http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/conference-docs/index.html)
>
> One of the key principles of the revision is to make citations used
> in bibliographic records (in MARC tag 510) more understandable to
> researchers (and, by extension, other catalogers). In order to do
> that, citations will be based, as much as possible, on the AACR2
> entries for the works being cited. Current single-name or single-word
> citations will be expanded.
>
> However, at the Anaheim meeting, a lively discussion took place over
> the citation for the ESTC. The room was basically split over what to
> do about it. Many favored leaving it alone; "ESTC" is so widely known
> that the existing citation is sufficient. Others favored following
> the new, AACR2-based principle and expanding the citation to "English
> short title catalogue."
>
> At the meeting, it was decided to take the ESTC debate to this list
> and see what the wider rare materials cataloging community thought
> about it. I'll get the discussion rolling by stating my own opinion.
>
> I am in the camp that believes that "ESTC" is OK as it is. The
> acronym is sufficiently well-known and does not need to be spelled
> out. Researchers and catalogers alike all know what it means. More
> importantly, a title keyword search on "ESTC" in OCLC WorldCat
> retrieves the bibliographic record for the resource.
>
> What do the rest of you think?
>
> Randal Brandt
> Chair, ACRL/RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee
>
> --
> __________________________
> Randal Brandt
> Principal Cataloger
> The Bancroft Library
> (510) 643-2275
> rbrandt at library.berkeley.edu
> http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
> "It's hard enough to remember my opinions without remembering my
> reasons for them"--The Streets.
>
>