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No, this does not in any way violate the basic goals of FRBR.  FRBR says nothing about how data is stored.  And punctuation is ignored in indexing, so lack of punctuation does not affect search results.  As you say, ISBD was created with the idea of presenting metadata in sentence form.  But modern ILS systems do not display metadata in ISBD format.  If one wants to display non-ISBD data with ISBD punctuation, there are algorithms which can automatically insert ISBD punctuation for display purposes.  Nor is non-ISBD metadata a radical idea.  Not all varieties of MARC use ISBD punctuation, and even MARC21 has codes to indicate whether or not ISBD punctuation is present.

 

                                                                                Steve McDonald

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From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Gene Fieg
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2018 2:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] New policy regarding limited use of ISBD punctuation in bibliographic records

 

I think we should remember that ISBD and cataloging manuals based on it thought of the bibliographical records in sentence form.  Getting rid of punctuation will remove that factor; and might and probably will make the patron work harder to search the catalog and find what he/she wants; and when he finds it, more difficult to understand if that is the item that he was looking for.  Recall the goals of FRBR.  Does this new direction violate the basic goals of FRBR?

 

Gene Fieg

 

On Wed, Dec 12, 2018 at 12:17 PM Xiaoli Li <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

PCC colleagues,

 

At its recent meeting, the PCC Policy Committee reaffirmed its decision to allow bibliographic records with limited ISBD punctuation to be treated as full-level PCC copy. This decision comes after reviewing feedback from test participants who evaluated three test sets of records provided by Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and OCLC. For more information about the test, please read the message below or click here.

 

Beginning in spring 2019, PCC libraries will have three options to handle ISBD punctuation when authenticating new records: 

  1. Continue current practice
  2. Omit terminal period in any field*; code Leader/18 (Descriptive cataloging form) ā€œiā€
  3. Omit ISBD punctuation between subfields of descriptive fields and omit terminal period in any field*; code Leader/18 (Descriptive cataloging form) ā€œcā€

* Exception: Terminal periods integral to the data (e.g., recorded as part of abbreviations, initials, etc.) should not be omitted.

 

Options 2 and 3 are optional, not mandatory. However, creating records with limited punctuation is expected to save time for catalogers, simplify training of new catalogers, make it easier to map data to and from other formats, and allow for an easier transition to linked data or vice versa (e.g., mapping BIBFRAME to MARC).  

 

To facilitate the implementation, PCC will:

  1. Develop and maintain style guidelines for records with limited punctuation;
  2. Provide adequate training resources for catalogers and revise PCC documentation to update policies and include examples with limited punctuation;
  3. Request that LC Network Development and MARC Standards Office and bibliographic utilities revise MARC 21 documentation to include examples with limited punctuation;
  4. Work with bibliographic utilities and other interested parties to develop tools and specifications to automate the process of removal or reinsertion of punctuation;
  5. Encourage vendors, bibliographic utilities, etc., to explore functionality to index and display records with limited punctuation as defined by the PCC;  
  6. Encourage vendors, bibliographic utilities, etc., to explore functionality to allow their users to easily add or remove punctuation as needed.

The Policy Committee is in the process of developing a detailed implementation plan which will include the aforementioned style guidelines. I will share more information with you as it becomes available. In the meantime, if you have questions, suggestions, or comments, please feel free to contact me.

 

Sincerely,

 

Xiaoli Li

PCC Chair

Head of Content Support Services

UC Davis Library

(530) 752-6735

 


From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Lori Robare <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 6, 2018 3:08 PM
To:
[log in to unmask]
Subject: [PCCLIST] Testing use of limited ISBD punctuation in bibliographic records

 

Hi all,

 

Last spring it was announced that the PCC was moving forward to implement the recommendations of the PCC ISBD and MARC Task Group (Revised Final Report 2016). The timeline called for a period of testing and outreach, but there were some delays in getting that started. Now we are ready!

 

Please see the attached announcement for details. The announcement is also available on the PCC website.

 

I would like to emphasize that the purpose of this test is to gather feedback about how bibliographic records with limited ISBD punctuation function in library systems and other applications, and to enable the PCC to make decisions about the feasibility of a policy change. This announcement will be shared widely so that libraries, vendors, and others who make use of MARC data are aware of the test.

 

The test will run through July 1, 2018. The announcement includes links to a website with sets of test records and to a survey for providing feedback.

 

Lori Robare

PCC Chair

University of Oregon Libraries

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