At 09:49 AM 5/9/2003 -0400, Bruce D'Arcus wrote:
>I wonder if another analog is different expressions (in the language of
>the FRBR, which I'm only just learning about) of the same work. Can
>MODS account for this with its related item element? Could one have a
>record for a Beethoven Symphony as an intellectual work, and then link
>to different expressions (performances/recordings) records?
Well, you were fortunate enough to miss the ten years of discussions of how
to do this in MARC ;-). We ended up not doing it.
Although creating different levels and linking between them is conceptually
neat, there are various reasons why it doesn't work well in practice. The
first reason is that at the time of creating a record in your database or
context you often do not have the information you would need to know about
the various levels (is this is first publication? How many others are
there? how do they relate? -- you don't know this from the one item in
hand). The other compelling reason is that it makes it harder to move data
from one context to another because individual records have dependencies on
other records in your data set. Although it can be annoying at times, the
unitary nature of the MARC record makes it ideal as a communications record
because each record is independent and can be taken and used out of context.
Now, having said that, there are libraries that employ these methods, most
notably in Germany. My understanding, however, is that there is less data
exchange that takes place between libraries than in the US, so perhaps that
makes this method more suitable. If anyone is on board here from one of
those libraries, it would be interesting to hear how you handle the record
links when records are exchanged.
kc
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Karen Coyle [log in to unmask]
University of California Digital Library
http://www.kcoyle.net 510/987-0567
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