DateFri, 1 Jul 2015 091503 -0400.docVIP

Date:???????? Fri, 1 Jul 2005 09:15:03 -0400Reply-To:???? Program for Cooperative Cataloging PCCLIST@LISTSERV.LOC.GOVSender:?????? Program for Cooperative Cataloging PCCLIST@LISTSERV.LOC.GOVFrom:???????? Sherman Clarke sherman.clarke@NYU.EDUSubject:????? Re: Proposal to allow the addition of dates to established????????????? personal name headings The universe of shared cataloging and shared authority work is built onthe assumption that headings will be as stable as possible. Thelongstanding policies to continue to use headings that are accurate butincomplete are built on this assumption. Bibliographic and authorityrecords have long legs as they are used by libraries around the world,at different times. Thus, we have open headings for people who arefamously dead, and we have headings without dates. I think thisconservatism in headings is generally reasonable. Unfortunately, theusers probably suffer more than catalogers do; reference librarianshave to try to justify the open date for Warhol or Lady Di, end usersdont get the date context when no dates are included in the heading.Maintenance of records may be easier now than it was in the past buteven with automated assistance and global change, it is effort thatcould be spent in cataloging new items. If we are going to have moredynamic headings, perhaps we should think about adding more 400s with$w for earlier forms of the heading; this could expedite vendorauthority processing. Of course, depending on the system, it wouldresult in unhelpful references, unless we could teach our systems tointerfile open date 1928- with date range 1928-1987.MARC encodes our headings which are based in AACR. The new catalogingrules are moving toward being element-based. When you think of a nameas an element, the life dates become an attribute of the name. Encodingschemes other MARC have other ways of dealing with dates than buildingthem in headings. This is probably not relevant in our catalogs now butha