Re: [ARSCLIST] Cataloging sound recordings

["Steven C. Barr" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

See end...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Karl Miller" <lyaa071@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> On Fri, 6 May 2005, George Brock-Nannestad wrote:
> > So, instead of bashing the old systems for their content, let us find
ways to
> > translate their fields into new fields in new systems. Interactive entry
> > would automatically enter the various delimiters that are so typical of
the
> > old systems. They were needed, because the logic to control the print
codes
> > for the cards intended for searching was quite primitive. By all means,
do
> > still use them, but get a better interface for entry.
> If there isn't a form of interactive entry, why?
> I believe I understand the differentiation between the format (MARC),
> rules for entry (AACR) and the interfaces for both the user and the
> cataloger. It seems to me that all of these functions need
> to be viewed systemically, and not in isolation. For example, it seems to
me
> that AACR 2 exists to feed the MARC format. The MARC format, in turn,
> determines the information sets available to the user interfaces.
> However, there are new components in the system, most importantly, the
> computer, which can free us to some degree, from the linearity of our
> information systems of the past. Then we have the added consideration
> of the exponential growth of information, coupled with a huge backlog of a
> body of uncataloged information, sound recordings, that, until fairly
> recently, were considered ephemeral by libraries. True, some institutions
> decided early on that recordings should be a part of libraries, but
consider
> how most Universities relegated recordings collections to the music
> department...for example, at this University, it was only about 30 years
> ago that the Library took over responsibility for the recordings
> collection.
> As for the notion of bashing...I like to think of it of as questioning.
Since a MARC data record appears to be a simple text document, designed to
simplify terminal display and/or printouts, including cards, of the data
it contains, it would be a relatively simple task to create a user
interface which would appear to the user as a series of text boxes to
be filled in, with labels identifying each data field in the data record.
The program could then appeand the contents of each text box to the
necessary
field identification, and assemble all of these into a text-based data
record for the phonorecord (or other entity) being catalogued. Note that
it would be possible to do the same thing to create HTML-displayable
data records (one could even choose the form of the output!). This could
easily be done in Visual Basic; might be possible in MS Access; and should
be possible in Visual C++, where I lack fluency.

All the user would see is a set of "fill in the blank" boxes on the screen.
To me, the only problem is the lack of discographic data fields in MARC if
used to catalog phonorecords; the library community seems to think of these
as flat round books, which they aren't! MARC apparently allows user-defined
fields (though the number may be limited); if this is the case, it then
becomes the task of ARSC (or some other group) to standardize these
fields when used for discographic data...so that West Dakota State Tech
and the University of Hooflungdung could read one another's databases.

Steven C. Barr