[DCRM-L] FW: OCLC matching/merging question for BIBCO: place of publication

[Sotelo, Aislinn]

See the below messages.

I had the same question as Francis when I saw this message and I’m interested to hear other people’s thoughts about this.

I know that at my institution many of our Special Collections records are not coded as bdrb, dcrb or dcrm[x] and fall after the cut-off date to be considered rare, yet records that accurately represent their publication information is nonetheless important.

Aislinn

Aislinn Sotelo

Head, Special Collections Technical Services |The Library | UC San Diego | • 858-534-6766 | • asotelo at ucsd.edu<mailto:asotelo at ucsd.edu>

From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:BIBCO at LISTSERV.LOC.GOV] On Behalf Of Whitacre,Cynthia
Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 10:31 AM
To: BIBCO at LISTSERV.LOC.GOV
Subject: Re: [BIBCO] OCLC matching/merging question for BIBCO: place of publication

Hello Francis:

That’s an excellent question.
Currently we protect and do not merge based on both date of publication criteria and/or coding in the 040 subfield e to define “rare”.

Dates:
For cartographic materials, anything pre-1900 is considered rare (based on the recommendation of MAGIRT).
For all other materials, it is pre-1830.

The codes in 040 subfield e that would prevent us from merging are:
bdrb or dcrb or dcrm[x] (i.e., any $e code beginning with the letters dcrm)

We’d welcome input on this criteria also.  If there are other codes we ought to add to this list to define “rare”, please let us know!

Cynthia

Cynthia M. Whitacre
Manager, WorldCat Quality & Partner Content Dept.
OCLC
800-848-5878, ext. 6183
whitacrc at oclc.org<mailto:whitacrc at oclc.org>




From: Lapka, Francis [mailto:francis.lapka at yale.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 11:25 AM
To: Program for Cooperative Cataloging
Cc: Whitacre,Cynthia
Subject: RE: OCLC matching/merging question for BIBCO: place of publication

Cynthia,

As you note, “Distinctions like this will continue to matter for rare books.”

For option B—Modify the current policy to allow the merging of records (and matching of records) with different places of publication for non-rare materials if everything else matches)—how would OCLC define “non-rare materials”?

Thanks,
Francis


_________________________________
Francis Lapka, Catalog Librarian
Yale Center for British Art, Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts
1080 Chapel Street, PO Box 208280, New Haven, CT  06520
203.432.9672    francis.lapka at yale.edu<mailto:francis.lapka at yale.edu>

Please note:  The Study Room is closed due to the Center’s refurbishment project, and access to the collections is limited and by appointment only. Requests for materials from Prints and Drawings and Rare Books and Manuscripts should be made at least two weeks in advance by e-mailing ycba.prints at yale.edu<mailto:ycba.prints at yale.edu>. It is expected that normal services in the Study Room will resume in early January 2014.



From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:BIBCO at LISTSERV.LOC.GOV] On Behalf Of Whitacre,Cynthia
Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 9:57 AM
To: BIBCO at LISTSERV.LOC.GOV<mailto:BIBCO at LISTSERV.LOC.GOV>
Subject: [BIBCO] OCLC matching/merging question for BIBCO: place of publication

Hello BIBCO Colleagues:

This is an admittedly long message, but please read all of it, as your opinion and thoughts are requested.
OCLC is contemplating making a change in our “when to input a new record” standards as published in Bibliographic Formats and Standards Chapter 4, as well as in our internal merging standards for what is considered a duplicate.  We’d like your help in reaching a decision.  The element in question is the place of publication.

Currently in Chapter 4 of BFAS (http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/input.html) under 260 subfield a (we know we need to add 264 to this) we list some instances where minor differences in place are acceptable for considering the records to be the same.  However, the basic statement says that “differences in the place of publication justify a new record.”

One of the reasons we have traditionally NOT merged “duplicate” records when everything else is the same is when place of publication differs.  Here is what our current internal merge instructions say:
260
Subfield $a guidelines
·         Records may be considered duplicates for merge even with the absence or presence of the subfield a.
·         Always match 1st place of publication.
Examples:
·         New York matches New York, Toronto
·         London, Orlando matches London, Toronto
·         New York does not match Toronto, New York
·         New York, Bombay does not match Bombay, New York
Note:  Places of publication within the same country are considered a match and justify a merge.
·         New York, Chicago matches Chicago, New York
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For example, look at these 3 publication statements from 3 WorldCat records for the same title:
264 1 Cheltenham, UK : ǂb Edward Elgar, ǂc [2013]
260    Cheltenham : ǂb Edward Elgar, ǂc 2013.
260    Northampton, Mass. : ǂb E. Elgar Pub., ǂc 2013.
Under our current OCLC criteria for place, we would merge the first two but not the third (assuming everything else matched).

Looking at the cataloging codes, here’s what AACR2 says:
1.4C5. If two or more places in which a publisher, distributor, etc., has offices are named in the item, give the first named place. Give any subsequently named place that is given prominence by the layout or typography of the source of information. If the first named place and any place given prominence are not in the home country of the cataloguing agency, give also the first of any subsequently named places that is in the home country. Omit all other places.

[cid:image001.jpg at 01CED0C8.CB70D890]

And, RDA says:
2.8.2.4
More Than One Place of Publication
If more than one place of publication is named on the source of information, record the place names in the order indicated by the sequence, layout, or typography of the names on the source of information.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our thinking, in random order:

·         It has always seemed that cataloger’s judgment is at play regarding what gets recorded, no matter which code is in use.

·         RDA gives a bit more leeway than AACR2.  In our discussions, we are of two minds regarding this.

·         In the past, when the same content was published in two countries (UK publication and US publication for example), it often came out at different times and may have had bibliographic significance.  We are not so certain that is the case today.

·         Many reported duplicates and perceived duplicates exist in WorldCat because of the policy of not matching places of publication in different countries when everything else matches.

·         End users really don’t care about these distinctions when it comes to obtaining the content and find the multiple records confusing

·         Records for remote electronic resources, are often created by content providers through automated means, and careful checking of the actual publication is often not done; thus the accuracy of place of publication may be meaningless in many records for electronic resources.

·         Distinctions like this will continue to matter for rare books.

So, we are left with some choices:
A) Continue with the current policy, and require different WorldCat records for different places of publication
B) Modify the current policy to allow the merging of records (and matching of records) with different places of publication for non-rare materials if everything else matches.
C) Stick with the current policy for tangible resources, but allow matching/merging of records for different places of publication for records for remotely-accessed resources only.
D) Another alternative entirely; suggestions welcome!

We would welcome discussion and input on this matter.  Which of the choices, A, B, or C do you prefer?  If you prefer D, please suggest the alternative that you have in mind.  We have asked BIBCO colleagues, since we believe this is a larger issue with records for monographic materials rather than with records for continuing resources.  Please share your thoughts on the BIBCO list.  If you prefer to send a message directly to OCLC, send it to askqc at oclc.org<mailto:askqc at oclc.org>, as that will go to the appropriate people.  We welcome comments through November 15, as we will be discussing this again at OCLC the week of November 18 to try to reach a decision.

Thank you!

Cynthia M. Whitacre
Manager, WorldCat Quality & Partner Content Dept.
OCLC
800-848-5878, ext. 6183
whitacrc at oclc.org<mailto:whitacrc at oclc.org>



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