[DCRM-L] ESTC and the revision of SCF

[dfarren]

In the face of UNITED OPPOSITION from YOU CATALOGUERS, I argue in favor of
the expanded form, "English short title catalogue," thinking that the
purpose of citations is to serve the ignorant, not the knowledgeable. The
knowledgeable know not only what ESTC means but also that a relevant
publication will be cited in ESTC without being told so. There is nothing
wrong with being ignorant when out of one's field. For instance, I recently
encountered a book by a poet that was cited (in a bookseller's catalogue,
granted) as "Bleiler ..." and "Reginald ..." Given such laconic citations I
had to take the trouble to educate myself that these works are
bibliographies of science fiction. I think of the author in question as a
poet without knowing anything about science fiction, but those who think of
the author as a writer of science fiction know immediately what Bleiler and
Reginald are. I would have been helped by an expanded citation, the
knowledgeable of science fiction didn't need help.

 

My second argument is that YOU CATALOGUERS are not the right focus group to
consult on this question .

 

 

Donald Farren

4009 Bradley Lane

Chevy Chase, MD 20815-5238

dfarren at concentric.net

voice 301.951.9479

fax 301.951.3898

mobile 301.768.8972

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On
Behalf Of Randal Brandt
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 11:46 AM
To: DCRM-L
Subject: [DCRM-L] ESTC and the revision of SCF

 

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/inde
x.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.

 

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