 |
 |
Hi Jane! My understanding has always been that the <genreform> element in EAD was intended to correspond to the 655 field in MARC. If you read the 655 field definition at http://loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd655.html, you'll notice the language describing <genreform> is very similar. The wisdom of mimicking MARC in EAD can certainly be debated, but at least there is a reason behind the mashup that is <genreform>. Now the reasoning why MARC combined genre, form, and physical characteristics into 655 predate me, so I can't shed much light there. I have always assumed it was a practicality intended to save a MARC field or two. Mike On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 4:29 AM, Jane Stevenson <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > HI there, > > i’ve never been quite clear about the <genreform> tag. > > > The EAD2002 and EAD3 guide says: > > "A term that identifies the types of material being described, by naming > the style or technique of their intellectual content (genre); order of > information or object function (form); and physical characteristics. > Examples include: account books, architectural drawings, portraits, short > stories, sound recordings, and videotapes.” > > But genre is a style, like ‘gothic’ architecture or ‘romantic’ literature > or ‘garage’ music. So, you might say the ‘form’ is a short story or a > videotape, but the genre is ‘comedy’ or ‘documentary’. > > It just doesn’t seem like these are the same thing and I’ve never > understood why they are put together. > > I just wondered if anyone has any thoughts on this. I’ve just never been > able to convey it to our contributors in a way that makes sense to me > because describing something as a ’short story’ seems very different from > describing its style as, say, ‘romantic’ in terms of genre. I’ve never > understood why we put these together. > > cheers, > Jane > > Jane Stevenson > Archives Hub Service Manager > [log in to unmask] > > Jisc is a registered charity (number 1149740) and a company limited by > guarantee which is registered in England under Company No. 5747339, VAT No. > GB 197 0632 86. Jisc’s registered office is: One Castlepark, Tower Hill, > Bristol, BS2 0JA. T 0203 697 5800. > > Jisc Services Limited is a wholly owned Jisc subsidiary and a company > limited by guarantee which is registered in England under company number > 2881024, VAT number GB 197 0632 86. The registered office is: One Castle > Park, Tower Hill, Bristol BS2 0JA. T 0203 697 5800. >