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I’d like to step back for a minute here. My assumption is that we want to
create metadata statements that follow a standard. To give a metadata
statement validity outside of our local context, we need to identify the
standard used. Different metadata statements in a description set can use
different standards; we do this all the time (RDA + LCSH, etc.). Because of
our training and the overall context, we have an implicit understanding of
which elements in a MARC 21 Bibliographic record are associated with a
particular standard; some of this identification is explicit, but some is
not. We also recognize that it is important to accurately identify which
standard is being used; it’s not useful to misidentify MeSH as LCSH, or
Dublin Core as RDA.

The RDA element set has been developed based on the semantic web, with an
assumption that libraries want to make their resources discoverable on the
open web, and not exclusively through our carefully curated silos. RDA is
an implementation of the IFLA Library Reference Model, which was informed
by work that had already been done by CIDOC (The International Council of
Museums Committee on Documentation) and IFLA in creating the
object-oriented version of FRBR (FRBRoo). Work first started on harmonizing
these library and museum conceptual models in 2000. The much-discussed
change of “agent” no longer encompassing fictitious entities is an
outgrowth of this harmonization.

As PCC proceeds in determining how to implement the post-3R RDA, we will
make important decisions about elements to require and to ignore, and we
may also wish to make additional refinements. I strongly recommend that we
do not make these decisions on the basis of what we currently do with MARC
21 records, our legacy data, or our systems, and how we understand these
today. For example, we will need to make a decision about the nature of our
authority records: are they controlling the use of a given name, or are
they collections of data about a person? This difference has a profound
impact on how we treat pseudonyms (e.g., one “record” for Mark Twain, or
separate “records” for Twain / Clemens / Snodgrass / etc.). As many of the
institutions participating in the PCC Wikidata Pilot have discovered, when
we expose our data on the open web, we are no longer fully in control of
the content, use, or even the guidelines applied to a given piece of data.

It is certainly PCC’s choice about how much of RDA to implement. However,
it will also be important for PCC to develop, document, and maintain any
alternative standards that are used in the place of existing RDA elements.
PCC will need to seriously consider the costs and benefits of such
alternative approaches, not just for catalogers, but also in terms of how
various types of descriptive metadata elements will play together on the
open web.

Kathy

Kathy Glennan
Head, Cataloging & Metadata Services, University of Maryland Libraries
[log in to unmask]
Chair, RDA Steering Committee
[log in to unmask]
(she/her/hers)

On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 2:15 PM McDonald, Stephen <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> The report of the PCC Task Group for Coding non-RDA Entities in NARs does
> not say anything about recording relationships.  It is exclusively focused
> on how to code these entities in the Name Authorities File.  Recording
> relationships is part of the discussion on attributions, which was
> determined to be outside the scope of that task group.  I don’t know of any
> PCC proposal yet for recording under LRM the relationship of a non-RDA
> entity attributed to be a creator or contributor.  I don’t think those
> policies have been developed yet.
>
>
>
>
> Steve McDonald
>
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Program for Cooperative Cataloging <[log in to unmask]> *On
> Behalf Of *Kevin M Randall
> *Sent:* Monday, March 15, 2021 12:20 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: [PCCLIST] AIs as authors
>
>
>
> When I talked about "true" RDA, I didn't mean that every single element in
> a record would be an RDA element. What I meant was that there would be
> nothing in the record that would *violate* RDA. That is, a "true RDA"
> record may contain non-RDA elements, but all RDA elements would be used
> only in ways authorized by RDA. That is a very significant difference.
>
>
>
> What PCC is proposing is an elaborate mechanism to make our records "true
> RDA" as I describe above, by using different relationship elements to
> relate WEMI to fictitious and non-human entities than those used to relate
> WEMI to RDA agents. This is going to require complex programming in LMS and
> discovery systems to make the different classes of relationships (RDA and
> non-RDA) work together seamlessly and transparently for library workers and
> library users. After all of the progress we have made over the years in
> getting our metadata to represent the resources in ways our users expect,
> we are going to be going backward and making the metadata more vague and/or
> difficult to search, navigate, interpret, and manipulate.
>
>
>
> I would much rather that PCC choose instead to ignore RDA's restrictions
> by either allowing fictitious and non-human entities to be considered RDA
> agents, or allowing RDA relationship elements for agents to be used with
> non-RDA entities (such as fictitious and non-human entities).
>
>
>
> Kevin M. Randall
>
> Principal Serials Cataloger
>
> Northwestern University Libraries
>
> Northwestern University
>
> www.library.northwestern.edu
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> 847.491.2939
>
>
>
> Proudly wearing the sensible shoes since 1978!
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Program for Cooperative Cataloging <[log in to unmask]> *On
> Behalf Of *McDonald, Stephen
> *Sent:* Saturday, March 13, 2021 6:04 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: [PCCLIST] AIs as authors
>
>
>
> There are quite a few pieces of metadata in our records which are not RDA
> elements.  We are not and I don’t believe we ever will be creating pure RDA
> records.  In RDA terms, our metadata description sets are partially
> conformant.
>
>
>
>
> Steve McDonald
>
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Program for Cooperative Cataloging <[log in to unmask]> *On
> Behalf Of *Kevin M Randall
> *Sent:* Friday, March 12, 2021 10:45 AM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: [PCCLIST] AIs as authors
>
>
>
> The problem with using non-RDA entities is that, if we are going to code
> our data as "true" RDA data, then we cannot use the agent relationships
> with these non-RDA entities. So, we can't use the "creator" or
> "contributer" etc. relationship elements with animals, fictitious
> characters, AI systems, etc. However, I would be perfectly happy if we go
> ahead and violate the RDA guidelines and use those relationship elements
> anyway, if that's the only way we're going to be able to create metadata
> that our users expect and that will work with all of the other metadata we
> have.
>
>
>
> Kevin M. Randall
>
> Principal Serials Cataloger
>
> Northwestern University Libraries
>
> Northwestern University
>
> www.library.northwestern.edu
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> 847.491.2939
>