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As of December 4, 2010 306 people signed the Petition to Support Wojciech
Siemaszkiewicz’s Memorandum on OCLC’s RDA Testing. I think that it is very
important to bear in mind that this petition was generated through an
outrage over the way the RDA test was “imposed” on the cataloging
professionals through a way that I compared to “a military coup d’état.”
I would like to emphasize that “the US RDA Test Coordinating Committee has
disregarded all the demands of the November Memorandum Against RDA Test,
which has been signed by 306 catalogers from around the world as of
December 4, 2010.” I also emphasize that “I am also disappointed that OCLC
has relegated its responsibility for its bibliographical utility
maintenance to the Committee.”


I think that many of 4,122 recipients of the OCLC-CAT mailing list feel the
same. However, it is no reason to feel hopeless. Yes, the ALA, LC, PCC, and
OCLC have abandoned professional catalogers in the name of the phantom
called RDA in order to radically rewrite cataloging rules and procedures.
However, the discussion generated by our opposition to the RDA test has
probably produced far more positive feedback than all the years of
tailoring in obscurity by RDA inventors. Our discussion have produced far
more understanding of current confusion than any RDA training could have
done.


Therefore, I would like to encourage all those who have been silent,
sitting on the  fence or simply too terrified to voice their opinion to
come out and join our discussion in the open on the OCLC-CAT list, which I
think is the best vehicle for such a discussion. The RDA test conducted in
OCLC database is the topic of our discussion. It is very relevant to our
daily work right now. I would not recommend relegating our discussions to
the RDA list or AUTO-CAT. Such a move would relegate our discussion into
obscurity, which probably was the case with original RDA discussions that a
few paid attention to until it was forced upon us in a “live test.”


I would remind all the twitterers that all the excitement over the Iranian
Revolution and the Twitter role in it just a few months ago has been
relegated into obscurity by the brutal religious or theocratic dictatorship
and repressions. So I would invite twitterers to join us in discussing
professional matters that directly affect our profession.


To keep our hopes that we can influence, change or plainly stop the RDA
advance alive, I would like to remind all of that our strength lies in our
number, so, please sign the petition (http://bit.ly/noRDAtest ) and add
your voice to this discussion on the OCLC-CAT list.


Thank you.


 Wojciech Siemaszkiewicz


New York Public Library
Library Services Center
31-11 Thompson Ave.
Long Island City, N.Y. 11101
(917) 229-9603
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Please note, any opinions expressed above do not necessarily reflect those
of The New York Public Library.