[DCRM-L] Early works to 1800

[Noble, Richard]

I repeat my plea not that no one should misuse this subdivision to group
items by publication dates of editions. If it's truly free-floating,
then you're free not to use it, should it be truly inapplicable within a
discipline or, to your mind, disrespectful of the work. If you want to
group by publication date, program your catalog to make use of relevant
information elsewhere in the record (260 $c or fixed field dates) to
limit searches; or devise a local chronological index, if you need the
additional data element.

 

In short, please let's not expand its scope to index either date of
composition (of work/expression) or date of publication (of
manifestation). Functional ambiguity of this kind is death to a catalog
and bad for FRBR (which I regard as rather a pipe dream, absent a lot of
"cataloger judgment", but useful as an abstract guiding principle, to
remind us that we're constructing catalogs).

 

RICHARD NOBLE : RARE BOOKS CATALOGER : JOHN HAY LIBRARY : BROWN
UNIVERSITY
PROVIDENCE, RI 02912 : 401-863-1187/FAX 863-2093 :
RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU 

 

From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On
Behalf Of Rettberg, Dan
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 11:15 AM
To: DCRM Revision Group List
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Early works to 1800

 

It may be of interested that in the Jewish world we mostly view
classical texts written long before 1801 as of continual interest. It
would make no sense to me to add "Early works ..." to a 2006 printing of
Maimonides' "Mishneh Torah" (composed in the 12th century). Practically
speaking this subheading at least for large Judaica collections makes
more sense as another means of breaking down long lists of printings of
ancient or medieval works than it does as a means of indicating that the
work itself was composed before modern times. 

 

In short:

 

1.	Do keep the subdivision.
2.	Do expand its scope.
3.	Do make it free-floating.

 

Daniel J. Rettberg, Ph.D.

Rare Book and Manuscript Bibliographer

Klau Library

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

3101 Clifton Avenue

Cincinnati, OH 45220-2488

 

drettberg at huc.edu

 

 
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