[DCRM-L] Diacritic transcription in DCRMR

Mon Dec 13 11:51:20 MST 2021

Dear Colleagues,

In response to your concerns regarding transcription and data provenance raised by the option to add diacritical marks (0.4.12.2<https://bsc.rbms.info/DCRMR/general-rules/Transcription/#0412-letters-and-diacritical-marks>), the RBMS RDA Editorial Group has decided to remove this optional instruction from DCRMR. We will remove it in the coming weeks before the official publication of the standard.

As both Deborah and Bob noted, the discussion around this instruction touches on broader issues of data provenance, which may be recorded using new guidelines in Official RDA. The Editorial Group plans to revisit these broader issues and provide guidance in a future iteration of DCRMR.

We are grateful for the feedback from our community regarding DCRMR and rare materials cataloging. Your contributions to discussions raised in threads like this one go a long way toward making DCRMR a clear and useful standard for all who use it.

Best,
Jessica Grzegorski, co-editor of DCRMR

________________________________
From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> on behalf of Robert Maxwell <robert_maxwell at byu.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 9, 2021 11:47 AM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Diacritic transcription in DCRMR

What Deborah suggests is, I think, right in line with “new” RDA’s guidelines and possibilities for recording data provenance information. See Guidance > Data provenance<https://access.rdatoolkit.org/Guidance/GuidanceById/5aa610aa-92b9-482e-80ab-af983151e311> in the “official” RDA. Of all communities that would want to make use of (and maybe even expand on) these new data provenance guidelines, I would think the rare materials cataloging community would be right at the front of the line.

To quote from RDA: “Data provenance provides information about the metadata that is recorded in an element or set of elements.” Transcription options followed would be a good example of information about the metadata.

Bob

Robert L. Maxwell
Ancient Languages and Special Collections Librarian
6728 Harold B. Lee Library
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801)422-5568

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> On Behalf Of Deborah J. Leslie
Sent: Thursday, December 9, 2021 9:05 AM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Diacritic transcription in DCRMR

This option was added during early stages of the of what we were then calling DCRM2, on analogy with ijuv. If memory serves, it was along the lines of "well, if we do this with IJUV, shouldn't we do it with diacritics too?" Conceptual rather than practical or experiential grounds. Bob makes a really good case for removing the option.

The method of transcription is really significant in how far it is used to identify variants and the like, and is even more significant with original vs normalized punctuation. I would like to see it become a required note in every record identifying it. It may seem tedious, but DCRM(G) requires that every record identify the source of the title, and serials cataloging gives a "Description based on" note. If we were to go this route, this community could come up with normative wording that is brief but descriptive enough to alert catalog users to the parameters of transcription.

______________________________

Deborah J. Leslie, MA, MLS | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare Library | 201 East Capitol St., SE, Washington, DC 20003 | djleslie at folger.edu<mailto:djleslie at folger.edu> | www.folger.edu<http://www.folger.edu> | Opinions her own

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu>> On Behalf Of Jessica Janecki
Sent: Thursday, December 9, 2021 10:21
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Diacritic transcription in DCRMR

I agree Robert, it is so important to know what was actually printed on the piece!

I also feel that the easier to interpret one can make a rule, the better.  Case conversion is fraught enough, optionally inserted diacritics is really too much.

Jessica Janecki

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu>> On Behalf Of Robert O. Steele
Sent: Thursday, December 9, 2021 10:06 AM
To: dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: [DCRM-L] Diacritic transcription in DCRMR

Hello,

I note with some surprise that the draft edition of DCRMR includes the option of adding diacritics where they are not present on the piece at hand. Granted, this is in the limited situation of converting from upper to lower case, but I think it introduces potential confusion for researchers trying to distinguish between states or issues… or even editions, in the case of anonymous and clandestine but oft-reprinted works, such as some French Revolutionary pamphlets.

I have attached the detailed response I posted as feedback on the Public Review of DCRMR site. Please feel free to comment.

The main points: 1) Since the rule is optional, I will not know which rule you are applying, so I will not know if what you saw is really different from what I see on the piece in hand. 2) The rule only applies to case conversion, so in French EDITION can be édition, but not Édition. Why? 3) The “pattern of the text” in early modern spelling can be difficult to discern without some advanced knowledge, so I suspect anyone applying the rule will merely add diacritics where they would be expected in modern usage, which in my opinion is the equivalent of correcting spelling rather than using [sic].

Thanks for any feedback you might have.

Robert O. Steele

Cataloging Librarian

Jacob Burns Law Library

George Washington University

Jessica Grzegorski
Principal Cataloging Librarian
(312) 255-3650
Newberry Library
www.newberry.org<https://www.newberry.org/>

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