[DCRM-L] FW: RDA label "Early Printed Resources" -- revision proposal

[Noble, Richard]

I dare say that JSC's relutance has a lot to do with copy cataloging, in
the context of which "early printed resources" are a minority safely
segregated from the bulk of resources to which RDA applies. A degree of
complexity is expected in the resources themselves, and tolerable where it
is reflected in records for them.

Nevertheless, as I think my two Lincoln-related examples indicate, it is
incorrect to assume that the printed resources of the post-handpress period
are necessarily less complex. When actual complexity is ignored the result
is oversimplification, and work that fails to realize the purposes
expressed as "functional requirements for bibliographic records".

We are all sympathetic to the administrative realities that underlie the
reluctance to deal with complexity; but "resources" are messy things, and
our job as librarians and information professionals is not to pretend
otherwise. The bibliography of Ezra Pound is no less crazy than that of
Alexander Pope--I cannot, with a kit of blunted tools, correctly catalog
the manifestations of the works of either one.

RICHARD NOBLE :: RARE MATERIALS CATALOGUER :: JOHN HAY LIBRARY
BROWN UNIVERSITY  ::  PROVIDENCE, R.I. 02912  ::  401-863-1187
<Richard_Noble at Br <RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU>own.edu>


On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 11:03 AM, JOHN C ATTIG <jxa16 at psu.edu> wrote:

> You should be aware that the scope of "early printed resources" in RDA was
> raised by ALA in its responses to drafts of RDA.  There was reluctance to
> broaden the scope to include more recent special collections, and the
> phrase and its definition were agreed upon.
>
> This does not mean that the JSC would not be willing to reconsider the
> question, but you should be aware that this was an intentional decision and
> that the arguments you cite here were made at the time.
>
> John Attig
>  ALA Representative to the JSC
> jxa16 at psu.edu
>
>
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