[DCRM-L] ESTC and the revision of SCF

[Laurence Creider]

I'm in favor of not expanding ESTC.  For one thing, like OCLC, the 
abbreviation has meant a couple of things over the years.

Larry

Laurence S. Creider
Special Collections Librarian
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM  88003
Work: 575-646-7227
Fax: 575-646-7477
lcreider at lib.nmsu.edu

On Tue, 9 Sep 2008, Randal Brandt wrote:

> 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.
>