Quoting Peter Murray <[log in to unmask]>:

> On Sep 13, 2011, at 9:05 PM, Karen Coyle wrote:
>>
>> From a technical viewpoint I think that we *should* have both  
>> transcribed strings and "data" in our descriptions, since they have  
>> different functions.
>
> Perhaps I'm more technologist than librarian (someday someone will  
> probably quote me on that), but I could use a refresher as to why  
> the transcribed strings are useful.  I get why the colocation  
> function of identifiers for attributes like publisher and  
> publication location are important.  In the current era, though, I  
> don't see the use cases for transcribed strings so am hard pressed  
> to assign a value to the activity.

Peter, I was hoping we'd hear from some catalogers, but here's my take:

The transcribed parts are intended to be a surrogate for the title  
page (primarily). That way, if you have metadata for two books (or one  
book and metadata for a similar book) you should be able to compare  
the transcribed fields and see if they are the same.

HOWEVER...

Not all of the transcribed data is transcribed "as is." For example,  
the case of titles is changed to sentence case, regardless of the case  
of the title on the title page. This is because the title, like so  
many data elements in cataloging, performs more than one function in  
the catalog record. It is both a surrogate (which in fact it isn't  
quite) and an entry element. So although titles often look like:

     Semantic Web FOR DUMMIES

that would be "transcribed" as

     Semantic web for dummies

The concept of providing a surrogate for the title page is a useful  
one, IMO, but the "sorta/kinda/almost" way that it is done in  
cataloging makes it less useful.

(Note: since some of you may mis-interpret my meaning, I am NOT saying  
that the access title must follow the case, etc., of the actual title  
page title. I AM saying that we should not have single elements that  
attempt to represent different and conflicting information. If you  
have two kinds of information, you should have separate elements for  
them.)

kc

>
>
> Peter
> --
> Peter Murray         [log in to unmask]        tel:+1-678-235-2955
> Ass't Director, Technology Services Development   http://dltj.org/about/
> LYRASIS   --    Great Libraries. Strong Communities. Innovative Answers.
> The Disruptive Library Technology Jester                http://dltj.org/
> Attrib-Noncomm-Share   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/
>
>



-- 
Karen Coyle
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