[DCRM-L] RBMS Controlled Vocabularies moratorium

[Randal Brandt]

Please excuse any cross-posting
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Introduction

Controlled Vocabularies for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections 
Cataloging 
(http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_vocabularies/index.shtml) 
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.

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.
 
Background
 
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 (http://rbmsthesauri.pbwiki.com/), 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.
 
Details
 

    * A moratorium will be placed on the acceptance of new term
      proposals for inclusion in the RBMS Controlled Vocabularies.
    * The moratorium will go into effect on June 9th, 2009, one month
      prior to American Library Association's Annual Conference in July.
    * Any new term proposals that are received before the moratorium
      will be discussed at ALA Annual Meeting in 2009.
    * The subcommittee will continue to work on any term proposals that
      are outstanding until they are resolved.
    * During the moratorium, institutions and individuals may submit
      term proposals for consideration once term review commences.
    * The moratorium will be in effect for two years.
    * If additional time is needed, the current editor will petition the
      Bibliographic Standards Committee for an extension.
    * Regular progress reports on the work of the Controlled
      Vocabularies subcommittee will be made at BSC meetings, allowing
      interested parties to track our progress.


Questions and suggestions may be sent to the Controlled Vocabularies 
editor, Nina Schneider: nschneider at humnet.ucla.edu


Randal S. Brandt, Chair
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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