On Tue, 2 Dec 1997, Andrew Waugh wrote:
> Stu wrote...
> > I would recommend that you follow standard proceedures that you would
> > employ for other cataloging activities ... so, for names, I should
> > think Last name, first name, middle initial would be most desirable.
[...]
> My bad old days in electronic directories taught me that the best
> stored name is the name preferred by the person. This causes the least
> amount of havoc when you are suddenly presented with an unusual name
> (especially if the person concerned is sensitive about their name).
> This is particularly true when you consider that the order of the name
> components need make no difference to searching in DC.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It can make a vast difference to a browsable display of DC records though.
DC is oriented towards resource 'discovery'; this isn't always the same
thing as searching. If we treat searching as the only application of DC,
we risk creating records that are hard to display as, for eg,
alphabetically ordered lists. I've no argument with your main point
though - names are a mess. Just that we shouldn't forget the implications
for browsing when we decide how to work around this mess.
Dan
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