[DCRM-L] How to transcribe an abbreviation

[Erin Blake]

As one of the editors of DCRM(G), I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Mary
for asking, and to Noah and Kim for answering, because there's a back story
here....

Before publication of DCRM(G), there had been pressure to remove the
instruction "always transcribe a period in an abbreviation at the end of
the abbreviation" alongside examples of superscripts that *follow* the
dot. I can't remember if it was at a BSC meeting or at the public hearing,
but I definitely remember having to make the case that the instruction was
necessary. It isn't in DCRM(B) or DCRM(S), and the DCRM principles say that
the same text used in previously-published modules must be used "unless
there is a material-specific reason" to deviate. The people who objected to
including it said it wasn't necessary, because people already know that
abbreviations end with a period, that it wasn't something "different" about
graphic materials, and it hardly ever comes up anyway. We argued that
although it hardly ever comes up with letterpress text, it comes up a
*lot *with
engraved and handwritten text, and we provided examples of the same
engraved abbreviation being transcribed with an internal dot and with a
terminal dot in different catalogs.

Long story short, this is me saying "I *told *you so!" to the nay-sayers
(and I can't remember who they were, so if anyone is feeling personally
slighted by my gloating, there's no need).

Cheers,

Erin.


----------------
Erin Blake, Ph.D.  |  Senior Cataloger  |  Folger Shakespeare Library  |
201 E. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC, 20003  |  eblake at folger.edu  |
office tel. +1 202-675-0323  |  www.folger.edu





On Wed, Jan 9, 2019 at 11:10 AM Person, Mary <person at law.harvard.edu> wrote:

> Many thanks, Noah (and Kim, who replied privately) for your speedy and on
> point replies.  My eyes obviously brushed too quickly over 0.G9!
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Mary
>
>
>
> *From:* DCRM-L [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] *On Behalf Of *Noah
> Sheola
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 09, 2019 11:02 AM
> *To:* DCRM Users' Group
> *Subject:* Re: [DCRM-L] How to transcribe an abbreviation
>
>
>
> I believe this situation is covered by section 0.G9 of dcrmb. So "Thos."
> would be the transcription.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 9, 2019 at 10:50 AM Person, Mary <person at law.harvard.edu>
> wrote:
>
> Good morning Collected Wisdom,
>
>
>
> I‘m looking at an engraving from 1753. One of the creators’ names is
> printed as “Tho.s Gibson” –but the “s” is suspended above and to the right
> of the period (.) --not on the same line as the rest of the name.  In the
> catalog record I’ve transcribed it as Tho.s Gibson –is that correct?  Or is
> there a rule about that situation that I’ve overlooked?
>
> He also needs a name authority record so I want to be sure I’m handling
> the abbreviation properly there, too.
>
>
>
> Thank you so much for insights!
>
>
>
> Mary
>
>
>
> Mary Person
>
> Rare Books Cataloger/Reference Librarian
>
> Historical & Special Collections
>
> Harvard Law School Library
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Noah Sheola
>
> Special Collections Cataloging Librarian
>
> John J. Burns Library
>
> Boston College
>
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