I guess I have to wade into this one! Bernhard, where are you??
One of the problems here is what we mean by "right" and "wrong". Simply put, in a catalog,
what is "right" is based on precedent--what has been done in the past. For example, Mr.
Fausto di Biase may not like the form of his name, but if all we do is put the form: "di
Biase, Fausto" on all the new records, it is--by definition--"wrong". In order to make the
situation "right", we must update all the former "Biase, Fausto di" records to the new form.
We must think of the catalog as a whole and not only of individual records.
In short, the catalog is not there to make people happy--it's there for people to find
things, and the best way for people to do this is to have a single, consistent, form of the
name, be it personal, corporate, geographic, title, or subject. Some of these forms may seem
ridiculous, e.g. "United States--Politics and government--To 1775" before there was a United
States. But for the sake of consistency, we don't worry about such logical conundrums.
This is why I have problems with the "quick and dirty" solution. Let's say that the form is
"Biase, Fausto di" but somebody doesn't like it and thinks "I'll make it 'di Biase,
Fausto'". Somebody else might say "Fausto di Biase", and who knows what somebody else will
want.
What if somebody prefers to make it: "Great Britain--Colonies--North America--Politics and
government--To 1775"? Sure--someone may find any of these forms, but how will they know of
the others?
If metadata creators can do whatever they want without having to tell anybody else, or do any
sort of maintenance, there wil be nothing but chaos in the database, which will be only a
slight step above what exists today in Alta Vista.
In this way, "quick and dirty" to me, means making everything dirty--a synonym for
"impossibility of finding works in the catalog".
I believe--if we are going to promote DC as a genuine solution--we had better make sure it's
a solution that we truly believe will work, because when it doesn't work, our credibility
will go down the toilet. Our training lets us know that quick and dirty can't work in the
long run, so we must speak out.
I think there are solutions to this problem, so all is not lost.
Jim Weinheimer
Princeton University
[log in to unmask]
> > I am simply worried that without a strong set of rules DC will lead nowhere...
>
> I would guess that James Weinheimer and Bernhard Eversberg have something to say
> here ;-)
>
> Best regards,
> - Michael
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