Comment on AUTOCAT (partly edited, with previous replies omitted) from a non-PCC-list cataloger with direct experience with POD, forwarded with permission. Comments directed to the author of the post should be sent to AUTOCAT or to his email address at the bottom of his part of the message.
Stephen T. Early
Cataloger
Center for Research Libraries
6050 S. Kenwood
Chicago, IL 60637
773-955-4545 x326
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CRL website: www.crl.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: AUTOCAT [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Noble, Richard
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2014 1:33 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACAT] Draft Policy Statement for RDA 1.11
As I read it, the whole policy regarding PODs and photocopies falls down seriously in its assumption that all such resources are created equal--that they all fulfil the basic criterion: "Use this technique only when the content of both the whole original resource and the whole reproduction is identical."
I've recently encountered one case of a POD of a book published in 1792, purchased on approval, which proved to be based on laughably bad OCR from (I think) Google Books, omitting the first three pages of the text--it was, in fine, ten dollars worth of useless. If the facts about that POD are, at best, buried in some local extension, then it joins the stable of indifferently cataloged repros that will be provided willy nilly to patrons via ILL or other facilities that depend on the provider neutral record for something that can be used outside a special collections reading room.
The policy as drafted seems to discourage both analysis and rapportage.
Given the proliferation of these things it's easy to understand why economies of scale might be sought, but this may well be at the expense of the service we are supposed to provide.
If this reservation reflects a misinterpretation of the policy, I'd be delighted to be told how. As it stands, the key statement--"It is important to stress that there should only be one record for all POD/photocopied reproductions of a given source document, regardless of who manufactured the POD or made the photocopy, or the date upon which it was produced"--seems also to imply "regardless of whether it's any good or not."
RICHARD NOBLE :: RARE MATERIALS CATALOGUER :: JOHN HAY LIBRARY BROWN UNIVERSITY :: PROVIDENCE, R.I. 02912 :: 401-863-1187 <[email protected] <[log in to unmask]>own.edu>
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