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I agree. I'm not sure how valid the results of possible data mining projects will be if there is a lot of variability in the elements we choose to encode.
Linda S. Dausch
Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian
NACO Program/Authorities Liaison
Chicago Public Library
Technical Services/Catalog Unit
400 S. State St., 3S-12
Chicago, IL 60605
tel. 312-747-4652
[log in to unmask]
www.chipublib.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Maxwell
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 11:32 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] terms for sex in 375
This is one of the elements that we can infer. You don't need to find a statement somewhere stating "John Smith is male". Certainly you shouldn't make wild guesses, especially when a name is ambiguous like "Jimmie". But if the name is pretty clearly of one gender or another I encourage you to record the information. As Richard pointed out, it's very useful to have this information in the records even if it seems obvious to a human reader. It isn't obvious to a machine and it is going to be very useful to be able to sort or limit by gender for our users who want to produce works by groups like "Argentine women poets".
Bob
Robert L. Maxwell
Special Collections and Ancient Languages Catalog Librarian Genre/Form Authorities Librarian
6728 Harold B. Lee Library
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801)422-5568
"We should set an example for all the world, rather than confine ourselves to the course which has been heretofore pursued"--Eliza R. Snow, 1842.
-----Original Message-----
From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hall, Jack
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 7:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: terms for sex in 375
A new question: how do we determine the sex of a person. May we infer from the forename if we assume it is (usually?) used for one sex or the other? Do we need further evidence, and what might that be? I hesitate to email someone asking: What sex are you?
Jack Hall
Manager of Cataloging Services
Linguistics Librarian
University of Houston Libraries
Houston, TX 77204-2000
phone: 713 743 9687
fax: 713 743 9748
email: [log in to unmask]
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