Adam, I think what you have demonstrated here is the difference between
the act of cataloging and the resulting catalog data. The catalog data
encodes the selected main creator and any secondary creators or
contributors, but there is nothing in that data to provide evidence as
to why the decision was made - e.g. if it was the order of the authors
or the prominence of one author's name on the title page. If I show you
a catalog record for a book you have never seen, you probably could not
tell me what cataloging rule was used or what decision was made. Which
is fine unless that information is essential for understanding the
resulting catalog record.

Any information that is essential for the functionality of the catalog
must be made explicit in the coding of the data. Any information that is
not coded is not available to the developers of systems nor to the user
of the catalog. In that sense, for the current discussion, the
cataloging rules are only relevant to the extent that they can be
understood from the resulting record. I am NOT saying that the decisions
made by catalogers are not important -- what you describe below is
essential for the consistency of data across libraries -- but no actions
can be taken on machine-readable data except where the information is
explicitly coded in the record itself.

So the question then becomes, of the information you give below, what is
essential for the functionality of the catalog data once it is created?
Or, to put it more bluntly, what do you want systems to do with the
information you have given here? Then, once that has been clarified, the
next question is: how can it be coded in the machine-readable data so
that its meaning is clear?

kc

On 4/21/15 12:00 PM, Adam L. Schiff wrote:
> On Tue, 21 Apr 2015, Karen Coyle wrote:
>
>> There is no reason why we cannot have an ordered list of equally
>> responsible creators where that is the case. But there is a
>> difference between "first named author" and "main entry" -- and
>> although catalogers may be aware that the main entry is often the
>> first named author, the user looking at a library catalog display
>> can't be expected to know what it means that one and only one author
>> *heading* is listed with the short display. And, no, I don't think
>> that the "statement of responsibility" explains all, even if it's in
>> the display.
>
> While the "main entry" usually begins with the first named creator,
> that is not always the case. RDA 6.27.1.3 says that for collaborative
> works, the work is named
>
> by combining (in this order): a) the authorized access point
> representing the person, family, or corporate body with principal
> responsibility
> b) the preferred title for the work
>
> If two or more persons, families, or corporate bodies are represented
> as having principal responsibility for the work, construct the
> authorized access point representing the work by combining (in this
> order):
> a) the authorized access point representing the first-named of those
> persons, families, or corporate bodies
> b) the preferred title for the work
>
> However, RDA notes that the entity with principal responsibility may
> not necessarily be the first named entity.
>
> 6.27.1.3 goes on further to say:
>
> If principal responsibility for the work is not indicated, construct
> the authorized access point representing the work by combining (in
> this order):
> a) the authorized access point representing the first-named person,
> family, or corporate body
> b) the preferred title for the work
>
>
> There are works in which the principal responsibility is indicated by
> means of typography rather than by the order of the names in a
> statement of responsibility. RDA 6.27.1.3 has one such example:
>
> Bishop, Henry R. (Henry Rowley), 1786–1855. Faustus
> Resource described: Faustus : a musical romance / composed by T.
> Cooke, Charles E. Horn, and Henry R. Bishop. Bishop's name is given
> typographic prominence, appearing in all uppercase letters and in a
> larger and different typeface from that of the others
>
>
> Adam
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Adam L. Schiff
> Principal Cataloger
> University of Washington Libraries
> Box 352900
> Seattle, WA 98195-2900
> (206) 543-8409
> (206) 685-8782 fax
> [log in to unmask]
> http://faculty.washington.edu/~aschiff
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--
Karen Coyle
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m: +1-510-435-8234
skype: kcoylenet/+1-510-984-3600