[DCRM-L] Consulting the RBMS Pubs Committee

[Laurence S. Creider]

Jackie,
I apologize for my confusion on section hierarchy.  As a cataloger, I am
always amazed at my carelessness about corporate body names and
organization outside of bibliographic and authority records.  On the other
hand, if the Publications Committee has to approve any publication of the
DCRB manuals, then the two committees are not functioning on the same
level on a particular issue.  The Publications Committee obviously can
contribute expertise to publishing in web or print form, and that would be
welcome.

I suppose I should have kept my mouth closed, but I spent two terms on the
RBMS Publications Committee.  I did not find the experience pleasant.  I
witnessed unanticipated changes of the chair.  I did not see that there
was a steady direction to the committee's efforts, although part of the
difficulty came from the evolving position of websites in general combined
with ALA/ACRL's demands for control over websites and the use of a CMS
that was less than responsive.  The most uncomfortable time for me was the
revision of Your Old Books.  Other members of the committee at that time
probably have different perspectives.  Of course, I would not make any of
these statements about the current Publications Committee, but my
experience makes me a bit cautious.  The reason that the Directory of Web
Resources for the Rare Materials Cataloger remains at NMSU is a testimony
to my enduring nervousness about "remote control."


Larry
-- 
Laurence S. Creider
Interim Head
Archives and Special Collections Dept.
University Library
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM  88003
Work: 575-646-4756
Fax: 575-646-7477
lcreider at lib.nmsu.edu

On Wed, February 27, 2013 7:22 pm, Jackie Dooley wrote:
> Larry said: ³P.S. I just saw Richard's note, which makes many good
points.
> I would
> prefer doing something on the BSC level rather than the RBMS publication
committee because there seems to be some sort of organizational law that
the higher up in the structure you go, the less understanding there is
of
> what life on the ground is like.  The rare materials cataloging
community
> has done a remarkably good job of keeping its focus on improving and
making standards public.  With the constantly changing membership of the
section Publications Committee, we are likely to get a Pharoah who did
not
> know Joseph and end up making bricks without straw.²
>
> With all respect, Larry, BSC and the Pubs Committee are on the same
level
> in
> the RBMS hierarchy, but the latter is responsible for publications,
including web publications. Why would they do anything unreasonable? But
forgive me for commenting if you were only hyperbolizing.* :)
>
> --Jackie
>
> * Apologies if my made-up word is inappropriate!
>
> --
> Jackie Dooley
> Program Officer, OCLC Research
> & President,
> Society of American Archivists
>
> dooleyj at oclc.org
> 949.492.5060 (work/home) -- Pacific Time (GMT ­8)
> 949.295.1529 (mobile)
>
>
>
>